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| Hiking | 6.60 Miles |
2,513 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.60 Miles | 7 Hrs 33 Mns | | 0.87 mph |
| 2,513 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | This hike has been on GH's list for a long time and he finally talked me into going along with him. I'm glad he did. The 8 mile drive on dirt roads from HW87 had only a few slightly bumpy stretches and we only took a wrong turn once when I forgot to keep an eye on the gps track we were following. That's probably the last time GH will allow me to be the navigator. There was plenty of parking space at the trailhead with only two other cars there. One was a green Tacoma with a HAZ sticker on the back window.
The trail starts out with a gentle uphill grade following Center Creek for the first mile which lulls you into expecting this to be an easy hike. Then the long steep uphill grind starts through the thick masses of manzanita the Mazatzal's are famous for. Fortunately the trail has been recently cleared by volunteers over the first approximately 2.8 miles. GH, who spends a lot of time on the HAZ website keeping tabs on HAZer activity, told me that HAZer, @Mazatzal, and other HAZers were involved in that activity. A big THANK YOU to all involved. My first solo backpacking experience in AZ was in the Mazatzal's in 2010. It almost turned into a disaster due to unmaintained trails and an off-trail manzanita nightmare leaving me with a preference to adventure elsewhere.
The section of trail past the recent maintenance was only slightly overgrown leaving me with only one minor wound from the sharp end of a broken branch. I suspect that with all the rain and snow this winter the manzanita will be quick to further intrude on that section of the trail.
I reached the waterfall several minutes ahead of GH so decided to scout out the gps track we had gotten from @FOTG where it continued to some great viewpoints of the cascading falls below the trail. Big mistake, I had forgotten the perils of trying to follow the gps track of a rock climber. After several attempts to follow his track I decided it was too dangerous for me and settled with the few photos I got from the trail. There was a nice flow of water over the falls making it quite picturesque. After GH showed up we rested up for a while eating our trail snacks before starting our uneventful return to the trailhead.
The highlights of this hike were the amazing long distance views towards the Mogollon Rim from the higher altitudes of the trail, the rugged beauty of the Mazatzal mountains, seeing the waterfall at a rare time when it had a good flow of water and of course getting out on the trails again with old hiking buddy, Grasshopper. |
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