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| Hiking | 9.92 Miles |
364 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.92 Miles | 3 Hrs 52 Mns | | 2.92 mph |
| 364 ft AEG | 28 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | After many emails of planning our AZT three-day weekend of hiking/car camping for the Arizona Trail Section Crew we finally met up at the Cedar Ranch TH and took Shawn's truck up to the Powerlines where we would begin this 10 mile journey for Day One. On the way in, Google was calling Forest Road FIR; I got a big kick out of that. At least Hazel knows FR means Forest Road or at least FR.
As we started hiking Shawn informed us we should have no problem making 3 MPH. Uh, no, I don't think so but we'll definitely be able to make good time as it's mostly down hill and flat. This is an all road-walk but I like those so that I can "walk and gawk"; altho there's not a lot to gawk at but you do get some nice views once in awhile. Today it was particularly beautiful as everything was quite green from the recent moisture the area has received.
As you start heading Southeast you have nice views of Mesa Butte to your left. It stayed pretty sunny at the beginning but that would change as we got nearer to Tub Ranch. You do get one gate on this hike and it's just not the Arizona Trail unless you have to open/close a gate. The view from the hill there overlooking the vast prairie is pretty spectacular with it being so green right now. Here are your two switchbacks as you drop into the valley. Well it's not really a switchback but I thot it was funny when Shawn called it that.
You semi-circle around the ranch and continue onto the main road coming in and out. (It appears this road (if you follow it east and not north) goes all the way to Hwy 89 by Hank's Trading Post.) Here we would start to see some occasional wildflowers. We crossed the cattle guard and decided to have lunch when we could find some rocks to sit on. In a short time we found four in a row and that's where we sat below the rock shelf bluff. We could see rain showers here and there but our view was mostly to the east. So I tried out my new "Peakfinder" app that Wendy and I had discovered when in Glacier Park. I somehow figured it out and "wha la" we could now name all the hills and peaks in our view. And there's quite a few named features out there.
We continued on our hike below layers of an almost black cloud wondering if the rain was going to avoid us. We saw it on our drive in but felt like we were out-hiking it so to speak. Well it did try to sputter so we geared up; well I did with my umbrella and the others had jackets and/or umbrella. But you know how it goes sometimes; the spitting rain only lasted a short time.
We could see Cedar Ranch from quite a distance and as always, it seemed longer to get there than it should. There was a tank off to our west and some cattle. And we had seen up to about 1/2 dozen vehicles during this ten mile stretch. An advantage to hiking this southbound is you have nice views of the SF Peaks and we also got a couple good glances at Red Mountain in the distance. Every once in awhile the light would shine on it just right so I would zoom in to get a closer look. It's such a beautiful mountain.
We felt very good that we were able to get our first day hiked without getting wet. It was a beautiful day for taking pictures and I have to say I got some good ones. If it hadn't been for the cool sky, I would not have taken as many as I did and really, it wasn't much for normal Tibbermode.
We then drove our vehicles back to Hwy 180 and onto FR 523 where I had spotted a possible campsite near the AZT. Well we found one but it wasn't the one I had thot. However, it turned out to be a pretty good spot although, more traffic than we would have liked; surprisingly so really. There were quite a few people camping near FR 523.
We made our dinners and even got to have a fire. I tried my new Big Agnes lights in the tent and they are pretty cool. The highlight of the evening was watching Shawn and Tracy tackling a Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler once again. On one of our other car camping ventures, it got burned a little on the top so they went to great lengths to make sure that didn't happen. I don't think it's supposed to take two hours to bake the Cobbler  but it finally got done, more or less; so out came the whip cream and we all indulged ourselves.
Video 1 - Powerlines southbound to lunch place south of Tub Ranch [ youtube video ]
Video 2 - south of Tub Ranch southbound to Cedar TH and Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler making [ youtube video ] |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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