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| Hiking | 14.99 Miles |
2,026 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.99 Miles | 6 Hrs 21 Mns | | 2.50 mph |
| 2,026 ft AEG | 21 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Ray was a late scratch for this one due to a lingering leg injury, so Wally and I did this entire section as another shuttle hike. Lots of fog early on in the predawn drive to I-10 across part of the res. Wally made the wrong turn to get on I-10 and was headed the wrong way to the next to turn around. We agreed to me at the usual exit before the final leg down SR83 and I was waiting 20 minutes wondering if he had an accident before he showed up.
We drove down to the Apache Springs TH first and dropped off his vehicle. The lot had quite a few people there already and a trail maintenance/building crew was also there looking like they were ready to head out. We drove back up to the Oak Tree Canyon TH and hiked southbound back to Apache Springs.
Weather was mostly sunny all day, but with patchy clouds that would frequently cover the sun and provide cool temperatures. Mt. Wrightson was prominent again throughout this hike, and got more so as we hiked closer to it. Most of the morning the top was covered by clouds. There was fresh snow on it from the rain the night before. A few of the thru hikers we was hiking NOBO mentioned the rain the night before and they seemed much happier to be in sunnier and warmer weather. One thru hiker was in from Pittsburgh hiking the trail. I gave her the latest updates on the big week the Steelers had in free agency, only to get back later and find out even more had happened.
We stopped for lunch just below the Morning Star mine. After lunch, I noticed the road going up over there and we went and checked that out. Turns out right by the mine entrances would have been a much better place to have lunch rather than on the road as the ATVs rumbled by. The entrances to the mine are closed off, but you can get some interesting glimpses into it. Very interesting area.
Before we did this hike, I downloaded the history fact sheet from the AZT website for this passage and I’m glad I did. It gave information about the placer gold mining that took place in this area and the settlements that arose briefly to support that. It make it cooler to see things while we were hiking and have a better idea of what we were looking at. Kentucky Camp was another good example of this, although they do have several interpretive placards there and along the trail to tell what some things area. Also, I just discovered that these history sheets on the AZT site are written by @PrestonSands. Thank you, Preston.
Just south of Kentucky Camp we saw a father and son who were panning for gold in the gulch. The father told us he found a gold flake. When the trail crossed the gulch a little later, Wally kicked a few rocks looking for gold, but only found some pottery sherds, arrowheads, a grinding stone, etc.  This area also had a lot of mounds and depressions that were from a mining technique that invented the term “pay dirt”, which was interesting.
The water line at the south end of this passage coincides with the trail for a short segment as it was built on top the bedrock there. One area where it crosses a gulch the line was gone, but the leftover rocks and wood braces for the trestle for it were still there.
Got back to Apache Springs and made very good time. Scenery was nicer than the north end of AZT6, and the history and mining ruins also added some interest.  |
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