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| | | Indian Spring Trail #76 - Diamond Fire, AZ | | | |
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Indian Spring Trail #76 - Diamond Fire, AZ
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| Hiking | 6.50 Miles |
1,664 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.50 Miles | 4 Hrs 1 Min | | 1.73 mph |
| 1,664 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | When passing by Sunflower on the return from our late-October stay in Kanab we noted the area blackened by the Diamond Fire some three months earlier. Which got us both thinking, hmmm, we hiked the Indian Spring Peak trail only 3 weeks before the fire, so why not return to see the extent of the damage to the area, and of course the trail itself.
The first item lowering our expectations of trail conditions was a new sign prohibiting vehicles from driving up the hill to the trailhead. Having hiked that steep uphill on one prior occasion, neither of us was enthused at the half-mile climb up just to reach the trailhead. Whatever, let's just get on with it.
The area along the climb had not burned so it didn't look bad, but almost like a line was drawn at the original trailhead, it quickly changed to an apocalyptic wasteland. It was hard not to focus on the blackened vegetation.
Although we usually bring shears to knock back the inevitable overgrowth, on this occasion I figured the fire would have opened up the trail a bit so I left the in the car. Big mistake!
If it weren't for the steep climb uphill at the outset I would have gone back to get them, as we found almost immediately that while the fire had denuded the vegetation, it didn't knock the 'charred skeletons' back from the trail. Once we had gained the first black stripes across our pant legs we knew plenty more were to follow so quit attempting to limit the 'damage'.
A few times I tried to knock down or break off an offending branch but it seems the fire had hardened the charred remains such that it was hard as rock, so I doubt my shears would have been of much help.
As we traversed the contours, ascended and descended through each drainage, we encountered plenty of erosion. It didn't take much thought to realize that any significant precipitation will very likely wash away many parts of the trail completely. Already many parts had no ground soil at all so it was even more treacherous than usual when walking on the loose rock. In the areas which still had a modest amount of soil, it was obvious much of it had washed down from higher up on the slopes.
If I hadn't traveled this trail so many times before (9?), there were many areas where one had to know where the trail used-to-be to know where to go now. We noted somewhat fresh boot prints (probably over the weekend?) which at times diverted well off the original trail, but they turned back within a mile or so.
While it wasn't a total surprise, O'Neil Spring had plenty of water... in fact it was overflowing the small concrete tank. Tracey wondered aloud, where is it coming from? I guess it's just a deep spring.
Farther along the trail the wish to have brought my shears came to light. In the sections where the fire had not burned, much of the vegetation was dead or completely de-hydrated from heat in the proximity to the fire, so rather than bending back to allow us to pass they put up a fight... so the holly leaves in particular felt like needles. We realized it was a good thing we had trimmed a lot back on our hike before the fire or it would have been even worse.
Upon reaching the open area by the peak, rather than climbing it we headed off to the North, for an aimless wandering. Aimless that is until two deer we scared up took off over the ridge. So of course we had to head up to the ridge to see if we could catch another glimpse, and possible a photo or two. No luck, but nice a view to the West. Tracey wondered which body of water was in the distance, not realizing it was Bartlett Reservoir of course. Whatever, with a few rocks clear of black ash and a tiny bit of shade it was a nice spot for our lunch.
Due to our wandering I lost track of where we were and only after adding extra distance and elevation did it occur to me the wonder, hey, this doesn't look right! And it turns out we were heading into the wrong drainage. Oh well, at least I figured it out before too long.
To keep the return trip from becoming drudgery I spent more time bringing up memories of previous hikes to compare with the conditions today, and of course documenting it with more photos. In fact I took far more photos than anyone would want to delve through so it took a bit on winnowing it down to 30.
With the likelihood a great deal of the trail will be eroded away in the near future, Tracey figures this may be our last time hiking this trail. But then again, it might be worthwhile to return and see how the area recovers... or deteriorates further. |
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