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| Hiking | 9.15 Miles |
1,829 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.15 Miles | 5 Hrs 7 Mns | | 1.79 mph |
| 1,829 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Awesome hike today. My goal was to do Anniversary Arch, but I was hoping to knock off a few things along the way, so I was hoping to approach Anniversary from the back end. I had not downloaded the gps route for Anniversary and I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to find coming in from the west. It worked out great!
Got to the Dutchman TH around 6:30. Still dark out, but I kind of like that. It makes the road walking more palatable. My first goal was to try to get to the Willow Connector via an unnamed road that “T”’s off of fs 1356. I was pretty sure this road led to a campsite that the Willow Connector passes through. I took 1356 in for about 1 mile (.96) to get to this road. Turning onto this unnamed road, I followed it for about .1 miles (1.09) where it came to the campsite and the Willow Connector. Check.
On one of my previous visits to the Goldfields I had done the Willow Connector only to discover afterwards that the Willow doesn’t start at Frankie GTH, but crosses over it and continues west. My goal today was to take the Willow to Frankie GTH and then to see where the Willow went from there. I took the Willow from the campsite over a saddle and down to where it intersects with FGTH (1.49). The Willow actually stayed with Frankie for about .05 miles (1.54), before veering off to the west. The Willow continues in a northwest direction, slowly climbing a slope to another saddle (1.87). The trail then descended down a rocky slope littered with fist-sized rocks. The trail played with a wash for awhile, before joining it. The wash (and the Willow Connector) ended at the Packsaddle Trail, near Cottonwood Springs (2.45). The Willow Connector turned out to be a great single track that cuts through the Goldfields in a NW direction, with only a modest amount of elevation. Everything up to this point had worked out as I had hoped. Check.
I had done the Packsaddle about a year ago and knew that it was a major wash/road (fs 3512) that cut north through the Goldfields. I was hoping I could find some trail that would lead to the Anniversary Arch Loop. One major change from my previous visit. They had fenced off fs 3512 at Cottonwood Springs.  At the enclosure there was a sign talking about the importance of protecting natural springs and that this was now the end of fs 3512. As a hiker, I am of course, fine, even estatic with this development. However, as I hiked along the Packsaddle Trail I noticed multiple tire tracks in the wash/road. Obviously, there is more than one way to get back to this area. I was doing some meandering as I hiked the Packsaddle, but I passed the terminus for FGTH around (3.2 miles) and then shortly came to another eastward turn off at (3.3 miles). This trail is unnamed and doesn’t appear to be in HAZ. Seemed like a relatively new use trail. Still easy to follow, but not as defined as some of the more established trails. It quickly “T”’ed into a more solid trail. I opted for the segment that was heading towards Anniversary and I ended up coming into the western end of Anniversary Arch. I did the loop and then started exploring some of the many threads that splintered off the loop. Beautiful area. Probably some of the nicest “scapes” that I’ve enjoyed in the Goldfields. I ended up following a solid trail that went east along the ridgeline, south of, and paralleling the Javelina Rough Eye. This track is not in HAZ yet, (but it should be) and eventually ties into the Javelina Trail. From here I took unnamed use trails and roads to get back to the Dutchman TH.
Really enjoyed this hike. I was able to hike on some roads and trails that provided a clearer picture of how all these tracks come together. I was then able to hike the Anniversary Arch Loop which was fantastic in its own right, and the surrounding area provided some great views with a plethora of use trails. I will definitely have to incorporate this on my next visit to the area. Had the trails to myself. However, when I got back to the TH there were 14 horse trailers in the lot! Not sure where they went, but I’m glad we had separate routes. Wildlife included two deer who were enjoying Cottonwood Springs. |
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