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| Hiking | 7.01 Miles |
820 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.01 Miles | | | |
| 820 ft AEG | | 8 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Today we visited Go John Canyon hiking a six trail loop clockwise. As per the usual, Bushnell's software is FUBAR and won't allow me to upload the route. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") It will be in the photoset instead of where it belongs. The first four trails are linked in the triplog and the last two are Flat Rock, (a fairly recent addition) and the old Military Trail on the west side of Cave Creek. As mentioned in our last triplog the Military Trail is a remnant of the original Cavalry route from Ft. McDowell to Ft. Whipple in Prescott via the way station in Cave Creek.
In lieu of our usual entry into this trail system from the east via the Surrey Hills trailhead we entered from the south using the P.A. Seitts trailhead which is part of the Desert Foothills Land Trust. It shortens the hike slightly but the real reason we did it this way today was because neither of us felt like doing the one mile "huffer" climb back out to Surrey at the end of the hike. Laziness exemplified. Plus, it's getting warmer.
After crossing the creek (flowing pretty good still) we went west on the Slate Trail to the Jasper Trail then north to the Go John. Near the end of the Slate we found "The Michelin Man" saguaro thanks to a recent post by HAZ member rrshort. We've walked by this spot many times and never encountered it. I've gotta quit looking at the ground! This saguaro is very strange indeed...totally different mutation than a crested or cristate specimen. I'll post some photos in the set.
After the crest of the Go John we took the Quartz Trail south to the new(ish) Flat Rock Trail which connects over to the Military Trail. We didn't see an obvious "flat rock" that gave the trail it's name but there was lots of Foliated Phyllite which does have flat surfaces. The eastern half of Flat Rock and the upper half of the Military trail flank Go John Canyon south of Go John mountain. Calling it a canyon is a stretch but it is steep in places and it has some killer waterfalls at times. Sadly it was not running today but was still very pretty. Surprisingly there were quite a few wildflowers out and about. The super-bloom continues! Since no one has posted any photos of flowers on this site for quite some time I will add a few to my photo set. 
I think it's noteworthy to add the fact that the trail ride horse people from the Recreation area use the Slate as part of their ride offerings to tourists. This means horse poop on the trail. No big deal...we all see it and we all walk around it. It's just part of hiking and sharing the trails. The reason I bring it up is because possibly there is a sick horse or maybe they changed the diet at the stables.  I'm reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer fed the horses Beef-a-Reeno. There were some droppings on the trail today that would "gag a maggot". I'm not joking...if you accidentally breathed this stuff you were down on the ground and out for the count. It was THAT bad.  Well, I've wasted a whole paragraph on stinky horse poop but it was very funny on the trail and in retrospect. |
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| "If you wait, all that happens is you get older" |
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