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| Run/Jog | 7.18 Miles |
115 AEG |
| | Run/Jog | 7.18 Miles | 1 Hour 36 Mns | | 4.49 mph |
| 115 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Early morning run out at Lake Pleasant. Started from the Beardsley TH just after 6am. It was about 2.5 miles in on the Beardsley to reach the Frogs Tank trail juncture. In the past I have been on the Beardsely a couple of times and really like this trail. Starts off by going through a nicely vegetated water area. There are two bridges here and some standing water, (I can honestly say that I can't ever recall having seen the water flowing). Still a very unexpected experience in the middle of the desert. The trail then briefly piggybacks a road before passing through a gate and entering the Lake Pleasant boundaries....(This makes the Beardsley TH a very nice starting point for accessing some of the Lake Pleasant trails without having to pay the onerous entrance fee). The Beardsley trail then becomes a nice single track following the contours of the hills gaining and then losing some elevation as it does. Ideal for jogging. At 2.5 miles I took the Frogs Tank Trail. This is one of several "trails" that is part of the LP trail system that is not yet in HAZ. The reason for this became quickly evident....it is as much a dirt road as it is a trail and it extends for a total of .3 miles. However, this trail does bring you in sight of the lake and more importantly (to me) the Road Runner trail. I did have to walk across a road and a parking lot to get to the trail, but it was only a couple of hundred yards. They were having some sort of event today (fishing...boat racing??). They were getting tents and concessions set up as I passed through. The Road Runner trail is like a chameleon. It only lasts for about a mile, but during that length the trail conditions change noticeable 3 different times. The trail starts off as a nice single track with some nice views and easy access to the water. Then about .3 miles in it changes to a sandy path, the kind of path I've seen in more current subdivisions. After crossing a cement drain gutter it returns to its single track trail "motif". As the trail nears the Visitor Center it changes again becoming a unmaintained rocky path. This is very brief, but still an odd way to end (or depending on where you start) begin a trail that is otherwise fairly well established. After this rocky section there is also a dilapidated asphalt path that I had to use to get to,the actually TH. For as rough as this last section looked the visitor center was very nice. There was a playgrpund off to the side and a nice observation deck overlooking the dam and the lake.
Love rivers and streams, not a huge fan of the lake scene so the views didn't overwhelm me. That being said I appreciated the views going back with the Bradshaws in the background. There were a couple of Kodak moments. Met a couple of people "on" the trail. I don't think they were actually hiking the trail, they were using it more as an avenue to get to the water, which is probably the predominant function of this trail. I did encounter one biker on the Beardsley. Wildlife was minimal...several rabbit and CLOUDS of gnats! I'm pretty sure I had a few for breakfast. There were also some Hohokam ruins off the trail. The signage there is faded and the ruins are obsolete. If there hadn't been signage there telling me that it was a ruin site, I never would have known. Nice to get this trail off the get er done list.  |
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