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| Backpack | 31.09 Miles |
2,217 AEG |
| | Backpack | 31.09 Miles | 1 Day | | |
| 2,217 ft AEG | | 22 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | My plan was to hike the Black Canyon trail from end to end and continue to my home in three days. That's about 83 miles so I was hoping to cover 30 miles the first and second day and have an easy 23 miles the final day. I previously mapped out half mile waypoints of the BCT and mile 30 was at a good place to camp so that was my target.
My alarm went off at 5, earlier than I'm used to, so it took about 15 minutes to get moving. I broke camp and started my walk at 6, where I went to the Prescott Forest Boundary, to document my start time on the BCT: 6:05 AM. After half a mile, I made a quick stop at Russian Well, where I filled up a liter of water then continued. I carried way too much water on this trip as there was plenty of opportunities to get water throughout the day. I guess I'm used to the desert being a desert...
I enjoyed the sunrise as I was hiking and watching the landscape come to life. There are few trees on this portion of the BCT and the views are large. At about 4.8 miles, the trail crosses the Agua Fria for the first time. The river was flowing quite well even this for north, so I took my shoes off and waded across. The river lives up to its name as my feet got quite cold.
There was a lot of snow on the northern heights of the Bradshaw Mountains. I got to enjoy the views of the snowy mountains throughout the day.
Somewhere after nine miles, I met another backpacker heading north. He was heading to the north end of the BCT today, and planning to camp at Russian Well, then SOBO the BCT the following six days.
I was really hoping for 10 by 10, but missed it by 4 minutes. Shortly after that, I got to Big Bug trailhead and took a short break. Big Bug creek was flowing fairly well too, similar to the Agua Fria, so I took my shoes off and waded across.
A couple miles south of Big Bug, the trail has some areas that get muddy after rain. There were a few muddy spots, but nothing too bad and the rains earlier in the week had flattened a lot of the tracks from the runners sloshing through on the BCT 100K race last month.
When I got to the 15 mile mark, I had a quick break and ate another bar. A bit before windmill and cattle tank at mile 16, there was some running water across the trail. Around mile 17 I stopped to find geocache, Black Canyon Trail. A little past that, I met two lady equestrians coming the other way. I saw them leaving Big Bug when I arrived and they had turned around at Antelope Creek Rd and were heading back. We had a nice chat.
About a mile after crossing the road, the trail drops into a canyon. There was water trickling down it most all the way and there were flowers alongside the trail. I really enjoyed that part of the trail. After the canyon, the trail winds back and forth working in and out of drainages as it heads towards General Springs. It seems to take forever. Finally I made it to General Springs were I stopped to get water from the lower trough. There were four people there, two playing Frisbee. One asked me where I came from.
It was just past 4 pm when I left General Springs and I had about 7 miles left so I figured I'd have no problem making my thirty before dark. My legs were surely tired by then, but I felt good and had no trouble continuing. I like the stretch of trail from General Springs to Bumble Bee Creek. It's in good repair and is fairly level and easy to walk so I was surprised I wasn't making as good as time as I expected. I figured I was more tired than I felt. While the Bradshaws shaded me, the sun lit up the hills to the west.
The sky started to turn pink as I crossed Bumble Bee creek. From there the trail follows the road for a bit before turning onto an old road where it ascends for a bit before crossing another road and turning into single track. That was my 30 mile spot and I reached it when it was getting dark. I set up camp on the edge of the road as I didn't expect any traffic there, and there wasn't. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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