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| Hiking | 8.40 Miles |
736 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.40 Miles | 4 Hrs 9 Mns | | 2.11 mph |
| 736 ft AEG | 10 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Being over 9 years since we'd hiked into Arnett Canyon from the Picketpost Trailhead it was definitely time for a return visit. And of course, check out the destruction caused by the recent rain/flooding. We began with the hopes of possibly our first Picketpost Circumference since 2015 if conditions allowed.
Due to the erosion in the wash by the TH it took a bit of meandering to pick up the trail. Once past the AZT #17 split the trail was in great shape and easily for the next 1/2 mile or so. From there it gradually deteriorated into guess-and-by-gosh, is the trail here or over there?
The first spot where there was little clue where the trail actually used to be, we ended up wandering a bit before reconnecting with the original L.O.S.T. #221.
(On the return trip we followed the actual trail until locating where we were led astray and added a couple cairns to alleviate the issue.)
As we continued it was reasonably easy to stay close to the original route, albeit with a few detours to avoid flood debris. Just past the intersection of the L.O.S.T. trail up to Perlite, we met two hikers, the only others we'd encountered on the trail. Kind of funny because we all had the exact same reaction, essentially "We didn't expect to see anyone else today."
Upon reaching Telegraph Canyon the first water crossing provided enough of a damper that we decided to skip the circumnav and continue on L.O.S.T. #218 for a while before turning around. We ended up turning around at the AZT-style gate which had been wiped out by the flooding, as well as all the barbed wire fencing in the area.
On the return trip we paid more attention to the masses of debris which had been washed up against boulders or large trees. While many areas it appeared the water level had reached 10-20 feet above normal, in a few areas it appeared it had reached well over 30 feet. Tracey commented it would have been cool to see the flooding in action, yet realizing the danger if that were so.
On the return, by time we thought of eating lunch, we were well past any wide flat boulders to sit on so it took a bit of a detour to locate a sand-free spot to sit.
We took a short side-trip to check out a rock wall, which turned out to be what, a wind break? Even that made no sense. Whatever, it seemed a short walk later and we were back at the TH.
No, we didn't complete the circle around Picketpost, but then I had the feeling Telegraph Canyon would have required significantly more effort than I cared to deal with on this day. |
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Route Editor
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