| |
| Forest Roads 3686 & 3465, AZ | |
|
| | Forest Roads 3686 & 3465, AZ | | | |
|
|
Forest Roads 3686 & 3465, AZ
| | |
|
| Hiking | 5.50 Miles |
1,374 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.50 Miles | 2 Hrs 51 Mns | | 2.05 mph |
| 1,374 ft AEG | 10 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | Seeking another out-of-town hike with something new, a bit of elevation, a bit cooler yet not too much of a drive, this fit the bill nicely. Ok, so I had hiked part of it a year ago, Tracey had not so it would all be new to her.
Starting from the first saddle on Forest Road 626 it began as a short jaunt on FR 6262 followed by a longer & steeper downhill along FR 3686 into Cottonwood Basin. Halfway down we passed Cotton Basin Tank... at this point, just a muddy-looking pond.
At the bottom we made the right turn onto the only part of FR 3686 I had yet to visit. If I had done enough research last year, I would have known the reason this road was created was to service a series of mines. So now with that information in hand, we had a goal... or four. (There were four mines marked on the FS Topo map.)
For the most part the road was easy enough to follow, just continue along the wash until it starts to climb an easy slope. As we began the climb I happened to spot the top of some kind of structure using a bunch of old-and-gray 2x4's nailed together. So we backed up for a closer look. Not much to speak of so I'll let the photos describe it.
Now that we checked off that detour it was time to locate the mines. At the top of the saddle we spotted a rusty old refrigerator. Actually I had seen it from afar on the trek downhill but assumed it may have been a piece of mining equipment. I figured it had simply been abandoned.
Time to find some mines! From the saddle the road descends into a deep drainage before continuing up the other side. Although we found a large mound on the slope which appeared to have been mine tailings, we were unable to locate one specific site.
The next closest site appeared to be as inaccessible as I first surmised when looking at it on Route Editor using Satellite view, so with the knowledge we could find Prospect #1, what chance would we have of locating #2? So we skipped it and headed back up out of the drainage, took a left at the fridge and headed for #3. While it was easy enough to locate, it was nothing but a divot on the mild slope.
With nothing further to see we headed back down to retrace our steps along FR 3686 for a trip to our snack site under the bridge on AZ 87. Right about now is when I realized I had forgotten to mark Prospect #4 when I was using Route Editor... I rationalized it by the fact that half of the X on FS Topo was covered by an elevation marking and simply didn't mark it.
Oh well, on to our snack location under AZ 87, the same place as where I had lunch just over a year ago. A bit weird to hear vehicles crossing the bridge above us... more like a whooshing sound than tires on pavement. Snack and partial nap done, it's time for the hike back up 3686 to where we parked. Back at the car we hadn't had quite enough exercise so we decided to add a short out-and-back along FR 3465 before calling it a day. (Yup, a pretty short 'day' but we had plenty of outdoor chores back home) |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
