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| Picadilla Creek from Forest Road 11, AZ | | -
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| | Picadilla Creek from Forest Road 11, AZ | | | |
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Picadilla Creek from Forest Road 11, AZ
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| Hiking | 4.80 Miles |
1,158 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.80 Miles | 3 Hrs 25 Mns | | 1.44 mph |
| 1,158 ft AEG | 5 Mns Break | 20 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | With the gas prices I sought something close-to-town, yet new-to-me. So, why not wander through ground-zero from a slurry drop of red retardant on a fire over the Memorial Day weekend last year, east of Forest Road 11 and a some 2.5 miles south of the Ballantine TH.
(When I climbed Peak 3457, barely a mile farther south... a nice warm 98° day)
On the drive:
Barely 1/8 mile west on FR 1860 from AZ 87, what do I see but smoke wafting across the road? What?!!
As I approached I saw two young guys (18-20?) cooking four hefty-sized burgers on an wood-fueled open-fire mere feet off the road!
So I stopped, rolled down the window and when they asked what I wanted, all I could respond was:
Seriously?!
With all the bone-dry weather and the signs along the highway and you actually have an open fire?
Their response?
Well uh, we only saw the signs saying 'Use Caution'. (Can't fix stupid now, can we?)
(Which I have since realized those are on the freeways around Phoenix... so they didn't see the lit sign on a trailer barely a few miles south on 87 saying no fires.)
By now the burgers are well done, so I told them to put the fire out immediately or I'd call the local FS L.E.O. (Law Enforcement Officer), which they did, but as it turned out, not quite in time.
Side-note:
I left immediately to go hiking, but after talking to Robin (an LEO with the FS) this morning she told me a DPS officer saw the smoke from the fire being doused and issued a citation to the pair of idiots.
Being a first-time offense they will likely get off with the minimum fine of $250, but who knows, maybe the judge may see it differently?
"Ignorance is no excuse" in legal jargon.
Finally... the hike!
After a short jaunt from FR 11, while taking photos from a high-point, on a full zoom shot down into Picadilla Creek I noticed what appeared to be vehicle tracks. Yup, over a half-mile up the creek from FR 11 the closest legal road for vehicles.
So, naturally curious, I dropped down into the creek and followed the tracks as far as they went until reaching at least a 20' dry-fall, about 2.5 miles total from FR 11. I was beginning to wonder if they would ever stop because they had already crawled almost a dozen feet up and over one spot, and many other five to six-foot boulders.
Based on a set of mountain lion tracks which were on top of the vehicle tracks, along with plenty of other animal tracks covered by the crawler tracks, I'd estimate the rock crawler was there within the last week.
Whenever and whatever the case, it changed my hike from a wandering, looking for who knows what hike to something of more than a passing interest. And that it did.
And with enough other cool stuff, I decided I'd be back tomorrow to check out the next few washes to the south of Peak 3457.
Overall, a nice 'warm' hike yet whenever my hat was blown off by the wind (thankfully I had it tethered to my pack) I would get 'brain-freezes' and even shivered at times... all due to my EnduraCool beanie, neck gaiter, wrist bands & gloves, which if kept wet/damp will feel up to 30° cooler than ambient temps.
(When windy & low humidity they need to be wet every 50-60 minutes, but they do work well!)
8.5-minute YouTube slideshow including all 110 photos! |
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