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| | | Fremont and Weatherford Canyon Recon, AZ | | | |
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Fremont and Weatherford Canyon Recon, AZ
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| Hiking | 7.32 Miles |
3,482 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.32 Miles | 5 Hrs 47 Mns | | 1.49 mph |
| 3,482 ft AEG | 52 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Another Pipeline Fire survey: Apologies for the lengthy triplog and photoset.
It was a predicted down day for monsoon activity but still hot enough that the highest elevations were desirable. With my tolerance of people making Humphreys literally unhikeable at this time of year, I opted for Fremont. Only thee Hazzers before have posted trips that include the SE ridge route, and I hadn't previously checked out this access either, so I figured today would be a good day for it.
It's been 2 years since the Pipeline Fire, and the FS continues with an official closure of Shultz Pass Road and the Weatherford Trail itself. (Along with the closure of the Inner Basin Road, this severely restricts much of the use of south and east sides of the mountain.)
I stopped by the Wheel of Fortune set and bought a shopping cart full of the vowels I and E before heading off to the end of Freidlein Prairie road. It once accessed 14 amazing campsites, but is now in a year-round camping prohibited area for which the only purpose is to access the wilderness. There were no other vehicles there.
The aspen regrowth along the spur was impressive. The average height was over 4 feet, and a good number of sprouts reached 7 and 8 feet tall. In just TWO years!! This would become a theme on the day in the fire-damaged areas. Upon reaching 102, there was an orange striped A-frame with no further information. I followed the trail through the unburned lower slopes for half a mile before deviating to be in compliance with the forest ordered trail closure.
The trail was lost to a cavernous washout in the drainage at the 9040 contour. I found it remarkably challenging to find a route both into and out of this deeply-carved flood channel. It will require quite a bit of trail work to build a route through this one once the upper slopes have stabilized and limited future flooding. It's a good example of why this trail is closed.
I traversed the adjacent slope steeply and finally gained the Fremont SE ridge at the 9200 contour. This lower ridge is mostly grassland sparsely dotted with both burned and unburned trees. Crossing 102 again at the 9700 contour is where the real burn area began. At this point, travel wasn't terrible -- most of the dead trees are still standing -- but the growth of aspen was so thick that it was reminiscent of manzanita bushes in the Mazzies (only remarkably soft and pleasant, comparatively!)
Three more trail crossings, and the final 102 encounter in the switchback on the ridge at 10,400 brought much of the same. If there were aspen before, there is prolific aspen regrowth now. Where white pine dominated, the forest floor was lined only with new grass and ferns. I did not see a single new pine sprout all day.
I continued up through the burn, encountering the beautiful grassy glade that provides the most direct route to the summit, and covering about 1000 vertical feet. I put effort into making wide switchbacks across the slope to lessen the grade, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit it was a grueling and exhausting endeavor.
Along the way however, the fire scar is left behind, and healthy old pines surround you. It is nice that a portion of this slope, and all of it to the west, was spared. The upper reaches of the ridge enter a more volcanic, bouldery, cinder slope, but there was no problem zig zagging a route through to the summit.
It was a delightful day with a light breeze and beautiful clouds making for dramatic skies. One of the few lady beetles decided to bite my leg, but the swarm of black flies provided only minor nuisance as they tended to themselves on the windbreak rock structure.
I began the return retracing my steps through the glade and down to the 102 at the 10,100 contour before again poaching a short stretch of badly eroded old road. At the 10,000ft switchback I again went off-trail, paralleling another badly carved flood channel through a dense forest of chest-deep new aspen growth. It was rare to have an opening enough to see my feet and where they were landing.
I clipped the trail again in the switchback at 9550, where an absolute disaster of flooding has destroyed any sign of the old roadbed once built here. At this point the flood damage was so pronounced I actually found it easier to walk in the bottom of the drainage, often scoured to a flat-ish sandy bottom.
This canyon bottom had been a fall favorite in the past and I was curious to see how it had fared. The flood damage is extreme, but the lower canyon itself has large swaths of forest that are either unburned, or only lightly damaged by fire. The flood scars will take many years to recover though.
I gave up my exploration in the Aspen Spring area. Flooding has obliterated what might have once existed here, and I set out up the slope to reconnect with Kachina and the spur back to my truck.
There were numerous signs of elk all day -- all those aspen sprouts should provide ample forage for years to come, but I only spotted a couple of small herds of deer in the lower grasslands.
The Fremont ridge route will likely become more difficult (perhaps impossible) in the years to come as the burned trees fall and create a maze of deadfall. There is the treeless glade that exists below the ridge on the west side which should offer a clear path ... but the tiring side slope will add to the effort.
The Weatherford trail is passable now, and it does see some use. I doubt the FS is out there writing tickets for it, rather just posting it as closed so users recognize it as nearly obliterated. It is definitely not the sweet track that trailrunners once cruised on. Deadfall will plague it for a decade to come, and I'm not sure the smooth tread will ever return. The sections I encountered were Y-bar-esque.
The flood damage down below it remarkable. The shelves above the drainages look better than expected and I hope for a quicker recovery here.
All told, it was an enjoyable day on the 2nd highest peak Arizona allows you to visit in summer. I enjoy taking stock of the effects of fire and flooding and keeping track of how the area recovers over time. |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
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I did not quite get to the end of the trail at Snowbowl Rd, which is why I pegged the distance covered at about 10 miles. I can't be precise, so that's just based on time hiked, my usual hiking speed, and perceived effort on the day. (BTW, plenty of parking at the TH east end of FR522, and the spur trail is wide and well-marked with signs.)
