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| Hiking | 21.30 Miles |
4,700 AEG |
| | Hiking | 21.30 Miles | 11 Hrs | | 1.94 mph |
| 4,700 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | With an invite from Chris another adventure in the Arizona wilderness. I’ve done several sections of the AZ Trail with Chris (and Wally). This would be my first section in the Mazzie’s. As is par when hiking with Chris, I forgot something in the vehicle transfer. Last time it was hiking shoes. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") This time it was Garmin. Only one head but for the Garmin. Very annoying, but less painful.  U fortunately, this means I am relying on others for the stats and I’m not able to give you a mile by mile break down of the hike. (This is probably a bonus for readers, because it will be a much shorter write-up). 
Got to the TH around 6:30. Except for the very end, the road back to Doll Baby was not bad. Most of it was paved. This passage of the AZ Trail is all about the climbs - at least it was for me. And there were four of them. The first is right out of the gates as you walk a road to reach the AZT. The second occurs right after leaving the Verde River. There is one “minor” up and down before getting to the UP. This section wasn’t necessarily steep. It was just a constant uphill grind with almost no flat sections to speak of. Probably one of the longest continuous climbs that I’ve done. (Even the Grand Canyon has notable flat sections). With all that climbing I’d like to say that we reached a summit, but it was more of a saddle. It still offered some nice views and was noteworthy because now we had a few miles of relatively flat terrain.
The third climb started when we passed Brush Spring. This was kind of a neat little area. There were some trees that provided shade (that didn’t last long) and just a hint of water in the stream bed that paralleled the trail. (I’m sure this would be a very enjoyable stretch when water is flowing). The climb starts very gradually and isn’t bad at all, but once it leaves the stream bed and starts to climb the slope it ramps up in intensity. Very exposed and some of the steeper sections on this hike. Also, some pretty spectacular views. BUT, once you reach the top you feel like the hike is practically over. It’s not. We probably still had 10 miles to do, but almost no elevation. The distant views become minimal for next 3-4 miles. But this is a decent trade off because we get flat, even descending terrain, that is forested. At some point we pick up a decent flowing stream that added to the “feel” of the hike. You can’t go wrong with the sound of flowing water. This involved a couple of creek crossings. All easily done. Sadly, we left the stream and started our last climb. Knowing this was our final push, it felt very doable. We were rewarded with some great views to the north and east and a little bit later as we wrapped around the slope of North Peak. At this point in time, it was all down hill; 3+ miles of downhill. Wally and I reached the City Creek TH and then proceeded to road walk back to Doll Baby. We arrived at the vehicle to find Chris waiting for us. He had gotten fed up with the trail we were hiking down, (don’t blame him) and had decided to trailblaze and cut a mile off the trail.
Writing this up a week later, the hike doesn’t seem that bad. I imagine if I had written this up immediately after the hike this log might be a little different. For the most part the trails were in great shape. AZT was very nice. With one exception, it was well marked and easy to follow. (Wally and I came to junction where the trail sign had fallen over and it wasn’t clear which way the AZT went. On hindsight, following the “cleaner” trail would have been the obvious deduction). The descent on the Mazatzal Divide was a little annoying. Very brushy at first and then very rocky as you got toward the bottom. Encountered 2 through hikers near out midway point. Amazingly, no wildlife. We did see what might have been some cat prints as we went along the Brush Trail. We hit quite a few trails as we did this passage: Saddle (very briefly), Bull Springs, Brush, Red Hills and the Mazatzal Divide. Sadly, we only did parts of all these trails so I can’t really take credit for any of them. Thanks again for the invite Chris. It’s always great catching up and exploring new trails. |
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