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| Gold Tooth Smith Spring (or bust), AZ | | -
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| | Gold Tooth Smith Spring (or bust), AZ | | | |
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Gold Tooth Smith Spring (or bust), AZ
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| Hiking | 7.10 Miles |
1,403 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.10 Miles | 3 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.89 mph |
| 1,403 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Get-out-of-town-hike #2
After turning around on Forest Road 177 yesterday I spent a bit of time on Route Editor to see just how far the old mining road past the end of FR 177 went. It turns it goes, a long way. But by following it on satellite view what caught my eye was a weirdly-named spring... Gold Tooth Smith Spring.
Hmmm, named after a Mr Smith who sported a gold-tooth? Sounds good to me.
Also in the vicinity were a number of old mines, both vertical and horizontal so this would definitely be a worthy destination.
Today we started just before the Cane Spring crossing of Forest Road 177 so the first part was just a rehash of yesterdays' road-trek. While a few spots appeared to be quite steep on Route Editor, nothing presented anything major so no real worries of losing footing.
Every so often we would encounter another of ultimately seven water tanks along the way, all fed from the Gold Tooth Smith Spring. (We did see one pipe tee'd off of the main pipe and followed it a few hundred yards before realizing it dropped down into a wide drainage and lost sight of it so It is very likely there is an 8th spring as well)
As we closed in on the location of the mines, which were supposedly with a hundred yards of Gold Tooth Smith Spring, the road faded away and the brush closed in. It was so thick and with plenty of erosion we wasted less than 5 minutes trying to locate any of the three mines (2 shafts, 1 adit). I believe we did locate the adit, but the whole side of the slope had slid down long ago, very likely covering the entrance.
Done with the mines, let's get to this weirdly-named spring which must be something fabulous if its feeding tanks over 2 miles away. We followed the black pipe as far as we could but the vegetation was far thicker than anything easily penetrated... or more aptly, anything Tracey was willing to push through. Of course I wasn't about to give up that easy... until I got us caught up in a dead-end of sorts... it wasn't so bad with-the-grain, but attempting to turn back because a real chore. Out came the small trimmer, but even then it took some time before we got ourselves unmeshed from the thick and thorny brush. The dead cat's-claw was the real nemesis.
So... unfortunately, until I return girded with a bit of armor and my titanium shears this Gold Tooth Smith Spring is a bust. I shall return!
(Although I'm not sure Tracey will be a willing accomplice next time.)
And like yesterdays' hike:
Number of Homo-sapiens encountered today = NONE |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
