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| Hiking | 27.49 Miles |
7,305 AEG |
| | Hiking | 27.49 Miles | 11 Hrs 30 Mns | | 2.62 mph |
| 7,305 ft AEG | 1 Hour Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | As I start this, let me say that nothing IMO beats the Arizona Trail. I have tons of awesome memories from it for life. But if you want to do a long-distance trail that is truly RUGGED? More rugged than the AZT? Then get on the GET. So far I've done 11 segments of the GET, and 2 of them already have been more difficult than any segment of the AZT, solely factoring distance and elevation. That's not even considering the route finding and bushwhacking; most if not all of the segments (once the GET leaves the AZT in segment 5) have these challenges, since no one maintains the trails and they are so remote. This segment was by far no exception, with a number of miles of route finding and, in some places, fairly dense vegetation.
A few other HAZ people working on the GET wanted to go but we couldn't get the dates nailed down, so JJ and I did it. As usual, we hiked in opposite directions. Anticipating this might be a doozy, I was able to find a marathon runner friend in town (Norm) to go out and do this one with me.
Left the house at 3:30am, swapped Jeeps with JJ at 5:45 in Thatcher, and I was hiking a few minutes before 7am. There are a few places on this segment where the trail is almost gone, but by far the worst of it is in the first 12 miles. Slowed us down more than we anticipated. JJ was a monster machine, we ran into him just 10 miles into our trip. We finally reached Webb Peak at 4pm, and started the 8.5-mile descent.
Other than underestimating the route finding, Norm and I did make one crucial oversight; he didn't have the GPS track on him and we didn't have walkie talkies or anything to communicate. He and I are opposites in that he is fast on climbing elevation but slow on the downs; I'm fast on the downhills but not on the uphills. Because he didn't have a track, 2-3 times he had to wait for me to catch up to him to let him know which direction to go for a total of about an hour wasted. If he hadn't had to wait for me, I could have caught up to him going down. Then, going down I waited for him, which put us both doing the last part of this segment in the dark, and became very slow. We didn't finish until a few minutes before 8:30pm and didn't get back home until midnight.
Through this segment we saw a number of piles of bear scat, especially on the western side, and even fresh bear paw prints in the water around Ash Creek. JJ's right, the waterfalls and flows in Ash Creek were pretty awesome. We also saw tons of those balls that when you step on them, they put out green smoke. Do you know what I'm talking about? Everywhere! 
Thanks JJ for getting us going again; it's been too long. 11 segments, 32% of mileage completed (69% of Arizona). |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Aspen groves were gorgeous. |
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| "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." — Henry David Thoreau |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
It is at this point that the trail sort of disappeared. If I had looked at my map before heading out, I would have known it stayed on the ridge longer before eventually dropping down the west side to meet the Nuttall Trail. While I was there trying to figure out where it was, I noticed someone had been there not long ago as there were some locust clippings off to the west side. It even looked like there was an old overgrown trail there, but it was probably just game paths, and quickly faded out. By this time I was down in the thicket, crawling in some places, and getting a little bloodied up, thanks to the locust plants. 
Very steep there, so I had to carefully use the plants to help pull myself back up to the ridge and out of that mess! 
At this point it was time to call it a day and head back. That probably was for the best, as had I been able to complete the hike as planned, I would have lost more elevation reaching the Nuttall Trail, and it would have added about 2 miles to what I ended up doing. That normally would not be a big deal, but between burning some time going up to the peak a second time and thrashing in the brush, it was getting pretty warm. Plus, it is mostly uphill back to the end of the road.
so I thought I'd better get up in the 2 mile high country one more time this year. A spur of the moment decision was made, and off I went. Started hiking just after 3 pm, and got to the top of Clark Peak (the world's easiest peak bag) in no time. I signed the summit register, and checked out the remains of the fire tower. It looked like the forest service just kicked the tower over when they were done with it. Relaxed on the summit for a few minutes, until the sound of the gentle breeze was replaced by work calling 
Heading down, I hiked a little further, until I got to the Carter-Nuttall Trail junction, where more work calls, subsequent anger, and the soon to be setting sun turned me around. I did check out a few hundred yards of the Carter-Nuttall Trail before heading back though, and it looked like it could be a scenic hike for someone with plenty of time and determination.
