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| Backpack | 14.40 Miles |
2,455 AEG |
| | Backpack | 14.40 Miles | 4 Days | | |
| 2,455 ft AEG | | 50 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | This is from a hike in March 2021, ignore the late posting 
Thursday morning I picked up my buddy Jason from Seattle at his sisters house and then picked up my friend who we call Erik the Red... Total Viking looking dude. Went back to my place to meet up with Clayton, Jerbear, Dan, and Shaun. At this point we decided to ditch my Kia (should have taken it) and take Jerry's 2wd Taco... 4 of us rode in the Taco and 3 went in a 4wd F250. Off we went to Roger's Trough.
So.. Last time we tried this hike was a few years ago and we had to turn around because of WAY TOO MUCH SNOW (more on this later), this time made me realize just how bad the roads are. In 2011, I made it almost the whole way to Roger's Trough in a Corolla before I had to turn around. No joke, this time we almost didn't make it to the top because of a huge dip in the road on the way up. It took 4 attempts for my buddy's 2wd Taco to make it.. I seriously got out to help guide him through this debacle and was so irritated I walked the rest of the way up. At this point I knew I should have brought the Kia! (AWD)
Anyway, I've done this hike before and it was the first time we found Reavis' Grave on the way up. Was pretty interesting to see. When we got to the top of Reavis Saddle it was crazy to see all of the burn damage. There were pockets of trees that were still living but it was mostly a charred wasteland of trees.. Found a whole package of discarded backbacking equipment and was like WTF..
We got to Reavis Ranch at about 4 PM and set up camp and noticed there were about 3 groups of Backpackers already setup. We had been watching weather forecasts before our trip and it predicted snow or rain in most of Arizona for the weekend... Thursday night was pretty much the only day of calm weather. We set up camp, drank a few beers (and some whiskey) and went to bed. It rained on us off and on from about 1am to 3am and then it started snowing. I slept like a log anyway and woke up to see all of the other backpackers loading up and heading out. We talked to a few and they were cold the night before and didn't like the look of the weather so they left.
Friday we decided that due to the weather we weren't going to hike to Angel Basin through Frog Tanks and stayed where we were at. Instead we explored the ranch in light snow, rain, wtf ever and had a pretty decent day once it all stopped at about 2pm. Had a random group of people show up who were hiking the entire AZT around then to get water and wait for their friend to show up. The girl in the group is some youtuber who has quite a few followers. They had a smoke, joke, and a few shots with us before heading out without their partner showing up. We asked if they were going to wait and they said they had an agreement.. "Hike your own hike". (so true in some cases) We drank a bunch more beer and whiskey and went to bed after a fantastic steak dinner and some impromptu music and entertainment from Erik and Jason.
Saturday was a bit more glum because it rained and snowed almost all day off and on. I think most of us were not looking forward to hiking down a wet sloppy trail on Sunday. There were pockets of enjoyment but most of the day was spent trying to keep our fire going and ignore the crappy weather. I won't say it was bad (I was still out of Phoenix!), but it was mildly annoying that the weather didn't let up. Good thing is, I still slept like a baby
Sunday morning we woke up and had our coffee's and breakfast while we let everything dry out a bit. Weather was clear and crazily enough, the hike out was dry and very enjoyable. We made it to the trailhead at about 1pm and had a pretty uneventful exit on the way out other than seeing a car flipped over on the side of one of the inclines. We stopped for a look (and a pee) and the car was a Subaru about halfway down one of the hills (mountains?). There was no one it but I'm curious what happened.
Had I known Sunday would have been a cake walk I probably could have weathered the storm better on Saturday.. All in all, even though my last two trips to the Supes have not gone as planned, we had a good time. What's funny is both trips have had to be altered because of snow.. What are the odds.
We had a group of deer run into camp one day and there was plenty of water to filter. This is quite frankly what guides our backpacking trips so it was nice to see as it gives us more room for beer and extra perks Our original trip plan was to go to the Matazels and hike Barnhardt to Horse Camp but that hike seemed a little more sketch with this type of weather. Last time we did that in crappy weather was enough to change our plans.
I also must mention that Jason lost his wallet in my Kia before flying back to Seattle. We found said wallet while my wife and I were in Arkansas a few months later.. Not sure how he got back to Seattle. |
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