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| Hiking | 5.31 Miles |
279 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.31 Miles | 3 Hrs 10 Mns | | 2.04 mph |
| 279 ft AEG | 34 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The tagline for this hike should be: "Shubbery!" or perhaps "Trail? What trail?". Because there isn't one. Not really. There are plenty of fishermen use trails, but they really lead only to the water and nowhere else. Also, there is so much barbed wire surrounding the water, that is it unpleasant when trying to walk near the water while still avoiding the thick vegetation (aka shrubbery).
All this being said, the area is amazingly beautiful. Very lush and green (SHRUBBERY! a recurring theme!). And we saw zero people hiking (possibly because there is no trail! But I digress).
We left Phoenix at 5ish am and headed out to airplane Flats Campground. It was an uneventful ride, and the dirt roads to the CG were in great shape even after massive rains in the area the previous day. We arrived nearer to 730a with a temperature of 55F! Glorious!
We found the trail start at the edge of the Campground, and we were off! The trail is obvious at first, and upon reaching the creek, there is an obvious large trail on the other side. We crossed over and followed the trail, but the vegetation is super thick and it wasn't much of a trail. More connecting of routes down to the creek. After not too long, the trail dead ended in thick vegetation. We backtracked to the last creek access and crossed to the other side. No trail there either. Looking at route Scout, we saw the route was in fact on that side of the creek. We bushwhacked through super thick skinny trees and made it through to a meadow. A thin line of tail was apparent, and we started that way. Shortly thereafter, we entered the Shrubbery Forest. But the trail was there, we were just encased in shrubbery. After not too long, we were free of the shrubbery thicket, and the world opened to a beautiful expansive meadow with majestic trees. So pretty! Sadly, after 20 feet, the thin tail ended at a barbed wire fence. We hopped over and continued on through the meadow. After a while we came to the O.W. Bridge and the road. We walked along the road a bit until we started to see signs about fishing and restoration. There are wood fences to help with restoration, and then there are barbed wire fences on both sides of the creek. Every so often there is a gate in the barbed wire fence. We went through one of these access gates to get closer to the river. And we just walked along near to the creek as much as we could. But there is thick vegetation near to the creek, and we kept having go further away from the creek. Which is fine except then there is barbed wire. Not fun. This is how it went for a couple miles. Then we intersected the road and decided to head back on that.
Given the rain yesterday and lack of trail, our feet were soaked as soon as we started walking in the grass after departing the road shortly after OW bridge. Initially, we saw no people which was wonderful. But as the morning passed, we started seeing a lot of ATVs and also some trucks with fishermen.
While this area is truly beautiful, I don't think I will be back until there is more of a trail. I don't understand the double fencing. To keep out cattle or? Maybe the wooden fence is not enough on the road side. It was unpleasant to always be against barbed wire while negotiating vegetation near the water. Maybe when the official route was created there was less vegetation. Or maybe I am a giant wuss, as chumley's trip report makes no mention of shrubbery and barbed wire woe. I didn't want to stay on the road because there was a lot of traffic, and I wanted to be closer to the water. Alas. |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
Lots of wildflowers! All the colors of the rainbow. Queen Anne's Lace, thistle, sunflowers, daisies, and more! |
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