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| Backpack | 14.50 Miles |
2,432 AEG |
| | Backpack | 14.50 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 2,432 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I spent the last couple of days helping out the Mazatzal Assault Party clean up passage #23 of the AZT. With all the time I've been spending on the AZT lately (and will be), and with the unusual amount of free time I have right now, I felt like it was time to start giving back.
John, Doug, Roger, and I met at the Barnhardt Trailhead Tuesday morning, and then hiked in to a camping spot about 1/10th of a mile north of the Barnhardt/Divide TJ. The hike up Barnhardt was extremely refreshing for me, I'm not sure if it was because of all the running water, the smells, the pines, or an entourage of all those things. The falls are running great right now!
There are still a few patches of snow on the north slopes, and the trail is icy in a few places, but nothing compared to what John described when he and the MAPers came out last month.
After setting up camp, we headed south on the Divide Trail to do some brushing for a few hours before returning to camp and calling it a night.
We spent all of Wednesday brushing and removing trees further south along the Divide Trail. It took us the whole day to do about a mile of trail. That really put into perspective how much work it takes to maintain the AZT. That New Mexican Locust is some nasty stuff.
It was fun to start the day having to fight brush and trees, and then at the end of the day returning to camp on an improved trail. Instant results!
While we were working we saw 2 hikers from Colorado who started in Sunflower. They told us they were postholing on the north face of Peely, and they showed off their cut up legs. Someone should have told them to wear long pants for this section! Naturally I had to ask them if they had done the Colorado Trail, they both had done it in sections, so we talked about that for a little while.
A fifth volunteer, Joe, showed up on Wednesday evening just before the sun set. He spent some time working on Barnhardt while on his way up to the campsite.
This morning I packed up and headed back down Barnhardt. On the way up Barnhardt, there were a number of large fallen trees that Joe and/or the Forrest Service Volunteers (we saw them at the TH) removed. There are still a few small fallen trees past the falls, but for the most part it is smooth sailing.
I told John to put me on his email list (he calls it his 'victim list') for further work events in the Mazatzals. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in the Mazatzals. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
