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| Hiking | 12.22 Miles |
1,930 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.22 Miles | 4 Hrs 45 Mns | | 2.57 mph |
| 1,930 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Despite leaving home 15 minutes later normal (5:30 a.m.) managed to arrive at the trailhead 30 minutes ahead of time (7:30 a.m.), without any more speeding than normal.  Personally, I'd avoid camping at White Spar, as Hwy. 89 traffic noise is too obvious.
My plan was to hike Wolverton Mountain Trail #9415, Aspen Creek Trail #48 and East Copper Trail #260. According to my route, it was supposed to be 10.91 miles and 1923 AEG. Since those numbers are always low, I figured it would be a 12 mile, 2000 AEG day.
Trail #9415 started out through a mile of damp high top pine. As with Trail #48, the trail surface is very smooth, but the route is unnecessarily twisty. I suspect it was optimized for mountain biking, rather than hiking. (I saw four bikers and no hikers along the two trails.) After a mile, #9415 began edging along a large burn area, to the south, away from town, where there was not a single living pine tree. Not one.  Any idea when that fire was?
After three miles, I cut up to FR 9707V, which curls around the south side of what I now refer to as Quarry Hill. I heard ATVs up in the quarry, so when I heard them coming back my way I ducked down behind some bushes in case they were miners. I spent a fair bit of time exploring the hill, hoping for some shafts, adits, equipment -- anything -- but finding only some quarry digs. The white rock was beautiful. The summit had incredible 360° views of Thumb Butte, Little Granite Mountain, Granite Mountain, Prescott, Spruce Mountain, Union Mountain, and Mt. Francis. If you do Trail #9415, I highly recommend this small diversion.
I stopped by the first gate to take a wizz. After I finished, I realized I was only a few feet from a grave.  I would have been mortified had I accidentally peed on it. Turns out there were three graves in the pet cemetery.
As far as the hiking itself goes, Trail #48 was the highlight, with lots of shade and only some slight up & downs.
At the hike's highpoint, in the saddle between Mt. Francis and Hill 6872, you can see all the way to Peeples Valley and Yarnell Hill.
Trail #260 was steep, rocky and slippery. Almost fell a couple of times.  Despite black clouds and heavy rain over the Bradshaws, I only experienced a minute of invisible drizzle, near the end of my hike. Hiked the last four miles with a massive blister on my left heel. Ooh-rah. 
On the way back into Phoenix, I usually stop at the Culvers on Deer Valley Rd., but I just wasn't feeling it. Wife made a great suggestion to stop at Boston Market on Bell & 3rd St. instead. Calorie replacement ensued. 
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Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY9zKXu324I?mo ... autoplay=1 |
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
Wanted to do a simple in and out on the Wolverton and test out my new Garmin 
The benched area provided nice views to the south and east. The user trail was easy to follow. It split very quickly after leaving the top. One returned to the Wolverton trail the other continued down the north side of the mountain. My goal was to do the Wolverton trail so I returned to that and headed back to the TH. Over all a very nice trail. No wildlife. Encountered 2 bikers and 2 hikers.
Caused for a late start. Saw 1 person finishing as I was starting, that's it. 
Couple other unmarked trails intersect early on. 
