| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 10.50 Miles |
1,500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.50 Miles | 5 Hrs 25 Mns | | 1.94 mph |
| 1,500 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Early morning hike in Camp Verde. Started from the Copper Canyon TH around 6am. Unfortunately, I forgot my Garmin so all the stats are guesswork based on 5 1/2 hours of hiking. Sigh. Also, to add to my sadness, the trail marking are very poor in this area so I was kind of winging it to start with. Not a huge deal. I was also planning on exploring the TH area. I had been here a few weeks ago and done the Copper Falls Trail. (Fantastic trail). When I had done Copper Falls the trail immediately split into 3 trails. I had done two of the splits, but didn’t check out the lower left trail. Today, I started by hiking #504 (Copper Falls) to that split and then following the lower left trail. It did some twisting and turning and then basically deposited me where the Copper Falls Trail ends. Not sure if this trail has a name as it continued west past the CF juncture. There is no signage, but it is a solid track. It parallels the creek up to a waterfall. It was an easy scale up the side of the waterfall. (The water flow was minimal. If it had been flowing more strongly, the creek hopping and waterfall scaling might be more problematic). At the top of the waterfall the trail became more of a cow path. There were a lot of cow paths in the area! I hiked along the stream for a while, but realized I wasn’t hiking any trail at this point. Eventually took one of the cow paths up to 136. I think I joined the road just before Tomkins Trail juncture. It wasn’t signed and there were a couple of tracks that headed south up into the mountains, but I think the first road was Tomkins. As with most of this hike….just guessing.
Once on the road, it was a straight forward hike, following the road. Moderate climbing, until about the last half mile to the top where it got a little more serious. Never saw any indication that I was doing the General Crook Trail, let alone road 136. I passed the Copper Coral and the mind shaft mentioned in some of the other descriptions. I hiked to the top of the canyon took some pics and headed back down. (Side note: Any one who drives down I-17 to Camp Verde will notice an old cut in the side of the Copper Canyon. I’ve always wanted to hike it and had never made the connection that it may be part of the General Crook Trail). When I started back down I thought I had gotten lucky. Just to the right of 136 was signs of what looked like an old cut. I decided to follow it. Unfortunately, within a few hundred yards it seem to disappear into a large wash. Not sure if I missed the turn, it wasn’t a road to begin with or if it had been consumed by the wash. I climbed back up to 136 and contented myself with a road hike.
Never got any great distant views until near the bottom. No complaints. I had an active creek for most of the hike. On 136, there were 7 creek crossings. None of them difficult. Temps were very nice. 50’s to start with, 80’s at the finish. Never saw anyone on the trail. Spooked a couple of javelina and I kept spooking them, as they continued to run in the direction I was going. Wish I had had my Garmin for this hike. I feel like my mileage is probably close, but I feel like the elevation might be a more. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
