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| Hiking | 17.80 Miles |
703 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.80 Miles | | | |
| 703 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Arizona Trail Segment Hike - Anderson Mesa # 30 - July 4th and 5th, 2016 - Milepost 554 to 564
We had a great time on this visit setting up camp just off the Ashurst Lake road past the 129 turnoff which is really close to the Horse Lake and Anderson Mesa Trailhead. From our fantastic camp at the Gravel Pits off the 9480 Road, we day hiked around exploring the area all the way up to Mormon Tank Lake then back, before making our way into Flagstaff for 4th of July Fireworks!
The next day was the best! Our family took off from Marshall Lake TH south towards Lakeview Campground and the brand new spur trail that leads downhill from the rim to Lakeview Campground! This trip was fantastic because WE TOTALLY LUCKED OUT!
The Housholder Family Hikers enjoyed an awesome, open-dome tour of Lowell Observatory's 72 inch / 1.82 meter Perkins Telescope thanks to Mr. Ralph Nye "The Telescope Guy!"
Luck was on our side as we were hiking segment 30 of the Arizona Trail from Marshall Lake southeast of Flagstaff towards Lakeview Campground's brand new access route, which passes the observatory's array high atop Anderson Mesa, when we met Ralph who was finishing some routine maintenance. He was generous enough to let us in and gave us a "custom-deluxe" tour of two scopes including the giant Perkins!
Thak You BIG-TIME Ralph!
Yeah! What an awesome opportunity we had to see these giant telescopes up close and personal. After the visit with Ralph we headed further south on the AZT 30 past the Prime Lake Refuge and onto the edge of Anderson Mesa looking down towards Upper Lake Mary and our first sight of Mormon Mountain in the far distance, near Mormon Lake which. It was an impressive lunch time viewpoint, that we enjoyed lots! Treking on we passed over 100 cows grazing and through a few fenced and gated ranch boarders,there was little shade along this stretch of Anderson Mesa. In no time at all we arrived at the AZT Milepost Marker UTAH 243 and MEXICO 558. This marker was real close to the brand new trail down off Anderson Mesa switchbacking into Lakeview Campground. What a nice trail this was full of great scenery and rugged canyonesque feel as we made our way downtown towards the campground. The only thing we did not like was they did not let any AZT hikers park their cars in the campground without paying for a space overnight, which added another half mile to our day's journey making our way across the street from the Lakeview Campground entrance, next to Lake Mary.
Totals official miles for the two days were 10 but we hiked a few more from the out and back and the new route down to Lakeview Campground which was also a highlight because the trail was so well constructed!
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Arizona Trail Segment Hike - Anderson Mesa # 30 - Milepost 554 to 548
May and June 2020:
The Housholder Family Saunterers enjoyed a wonderful weekend working on miles and camping high atop Anderson Mesa south of Flagstaff inside Passage 30. We were told by AZT Trail Angel Bruce aka Sequoia about a super nice and secluded camping spot which we thoroughly enjoyed and we finished a section of the AZT along Forest Service Road 129A from Mormon Tank Lake past Horse Lake and down the brand new Lakeview Campground Connector trail as well as the short scramble downhill from Camp Sequoia to Highway 3. This same connector trail we used four years ago to segment the other side coming in from Marshall Lake.
Horse Lake was incredibly remote and we had the place all to ourselves as we skirted the north shore. Here is what was posted on Facebook about the outing: "348 / 800 Miles Complete!
The Housholder Family Saunterers or as the kids would call us “The Misfits” we’re able to finally book another eight mile segment of the Arizona Trail over the past weekend high atop Anderson Mesa that we had initially started four years ago when we were invited inside the Perkins Telescope array from the Lowell Observatory by caretaker Mr. Ralph Nye.
The Horse Lake area of the AZT south of Flagstaff is now finished to Lake Mary Road joining a piece of trail we worked on from Marshall Lake to the fantastic new Lakeview Campground Connector Route, which we once more utilized this time around as the middle point to connect this very remote and super rocky area. Without this brand new middle connector trail we would have needed to do an overnight backpack to finish this area.
We are now continuing to gain traction, building upon a large chunk of the AZT that extends south from Kelly Tank high up north in Passage 34 at mile 612 down to the Lake Mary Road. We are needing to complete roughly thirty miles in between coming up from the town of Pine near its named Creek located at mile 460 in order to link the two together!
Previously we had done an “Exploratory Saunter” of this area up to Mormon Tank; a small lake on the way towards the much larger Horse Lake which is pictured here with the television and radio towers of Mormon Mountain as the back drop, that we are making our way towards. Also pictured in a telephoto zoom looking back north are the distant San Francisco Peaks which keep getting further away as we continue SOBO from Flagstaff.
We are super proud of our High School Senior Ben and his ALA Graduation Class of 2020 and look forward to many more hikes with him in the coming years ahead as he makes future technical and workforce plans, this time spent together as a family on the AZT will become all the more rare and precious... we are learning to cherish every moment we now have together!
Next time out we will be hiking South from Highway 3 towards Mormon Lake! In due time we will connect a segment from Pine up to Blue Ridge Reservoir that we have also been diligently working on! |
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