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| Hiking | 6.24 Miles |
453 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.24 Miles | 2 Hrs 44 Mns | | 2.28 mph |
| 453 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | On the drive up AZ-87, my wife & I hit a construction delay a mile north of Payson. In 10 minutes, no car moved either direction. Thirty more cars had arrived behind us. So, I doubled back into town, then took paved Houston Mesa Rd. to Whispering Pines, then dirt Fire Control Rd. / FR 64 to the town of Pine. The bypass doubled my distance, and halved my speed, but at least my wife & were moving. 
As I’ve mentioned several times this year, Rim Rd. / FR 300 is in the best shape I’ve ever seen it. Despite being in such good condition, as we passed by Milk Ranch Point, it was obvious there had been even more recent construction, including fresh gravel. At the top of Miller Canyon, we had to stop for another road crew. At least were the only vehicle waiting, and we enjoyed chatting with the flag guy.
Four hours into a three hour drive, we finally arrived at the head of Merritt Draw, parking at the intersection of FR 139 and FR 9735P. After my hike, rather than repeat the agony of construction delays, we headed east to the end of Rim Rd. / FR 300 — stopping at Woods Canyon Lake along the way   — to AZ-260, then back into Payson. It was longer, but took less time, due to no construction.
There are three “corrals” in the prairie, I assume to protect the vegetation. The corrals are each surrounded by 6 ft. high non-barbed fencing, that used to be electrified:
Corral #1, at Whistling Spring, was 72 paces wide by 214 paces long. (So, about 200 x 600 ft.) Corral #1 contained a small cluster of youthful aspen that had not yet turned.
Corral #2, at Merritt Spring, was 78 x 142 paces. There was some, but not much, water in the drainage below Merritt Spring.
Corral #3, the largest at 78 x 342 paces, has no named spring. There’s a gate at the southwest corner, but I did not open it. On the south edge, there is a small, non-functional, solar panel that used to power the fence. Inside the corral, several trees were individually fenced. Odd. 
After checking out the bird station, I left the prairie, crossing FR 9735P into the tighter part of Merritt Draw. Though it never got really bad, I did feel the effort of low crawling several logs, as I had not hiked the previous two weeks. (House issues. Yippee.) There is a goat trail up the west bluff a ½ mile before Maverick Canyon, that looks like it connects to FR 9732P or FR 9709F. There were several small pools of water, but no flow.
At the junction of Merritt Draw and Maverick Canyon, bailing up the bluff did not look difficult at all. On satellite view, Maverick Canyon looked more tangled than Merritt Draw, but from the junction it at least started out okay, so I continued my fall colors search up Maverick.
Whereas Merritt Draw was mostly pine (with a few aspen), there was oak, and especially bigtooth maple, on the floor of Maverick Canyon. The first 200 yds. or so, there was some early color high up in the maple, but none yet in the oak. After the maple, Maverick got a bit congested. I side-sloped for maybe a half mile, before it opened back up. From that point back to FR 139, Maverick was smooth sailing, as clear as Merritt Draw had been, but with more golden, fallow, bracken fern. 
A mile up Maverick Canyon, it splits: Grasshopper went left; I went right, and am glad I did. In another half mile, I encountered a grove of bigtooth maple that was only a mile from my trailhead, if I'd gone clockwise. Gorgeous trees full of lime, yellow, orange and crimson. Often mixed amongst each other for bold contrast. I was the best fall color variety I have experienced in 10 years of hiking Arizona! 
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Unfortunately, YouTube has "suspended" me, for what I do not know. Especially given I don't talk politics, post pr0n, harass / cancel people, or anything similar. (Social media companies rarely tell you what you did wrong: The fear of the unknown causes most to self censor themselves. Hopefully, I get unsuspended, but in the mean time, I am looking around for a new video hosting site. Probably Vimeo.
Hike Video: https://vimeo.com/464744541 ⬅ My first Vimeo effort, so please give it a  and let me know if it works / how it compares. Thanx!  |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Two spots in Maverick Canyon -- one near the top, the other near the junction with Merritt Draw -- are really good for maple right now. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
I found one paintbrush (at Corral #3), occasional dandelion, one Richardson's Geranium (in the dense part of Merritt Draw), light fleabane, one Canada violet, and one small cluster of Wheeler's thistle in Maverick Canyon. |
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
— to AZ-260, then back into Payson. It was longer, but took less time, due to no construction.
and let me know if it works / how it compares. Thanx! 
