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| Hiking | 8.80 Miles |
1,772 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.80 Miles | 5 Hrs 36 Mns | | 1.62 mph |
| 1,772 ft AEG | 10 Mns Break | 25 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | After getting away with an early morning hike before afternoon T-storms in the Sierra Ancha on Saturday, we figured why not try it again. But this time we wanted a hike we had not done before, and hopefully a loop of some kind. With a few different ideas, all of which would mean taking the Cherokee instead of the Fit, we got another early start from Mesa and almost exactly 2 hours later we found ourselves at the Carr Trailhead.
The plan was to hike the Rim Loop from Carr TH starting on Trail #160 (Parker Creek Trail), turn left onto Trail #139 (Rim Trail) and follow it to Trail #140 (Moody Trail) which we would take back up to Moody TH and along FR 487 back to Carr TH.
But as usual, plans change... and when we hit the 160/139 intersection, we decided to continue on Parker Creek Trail up as far as the first ridge to do some recon for an upcoming attempt to climb Carr Peak and Carr Mountain in one trip. The trail ascended slowly and at an angle so it was pretty easy going. Once on the ridge we went far enough for a nice view down the South Fork of Parker Creek.
Ok, we've already tacked on two miles more than planned so it's time to turn around and get back on task. Once back on the Rim Trail right away we saw mountain lion tracks with pads roughly 3-1/2" wide. The tracks were fresh since the overnight rain (I saw heavy rains on weather radar last night) but they headed the opposite direction that we were, so didn't expect to see it. But we will continue to see the same tracks for over 3+ miles along the trail. We would see plenty of signs of deer and elk but would not encounter either.
With as much vegetation (trees and brush) as there is on this trail one has to keep an eye out for photo opportunities whenever they present themselves. The Palisades are is where we found the views most impressive. While seeking good viewpoints in this area we saw four Prairie Falcons, two of which were roosting.
Shortly past the Palisades area we came upon large areas of tree fall, heavy brush or both. As much as we lost and were able to relocate the trail through the tree fall, once into the heavy brush we lost it completely. After searching around a bit we found an elk trail and decided to follow it until reaching a point where it thinned out and we could head directly toward where the trail should be. As reliable as large game trails have been for us in the past, we came to an absolute dead end, where seemingly the elk backed up some distance before heading off in another direction. Since the dead end was within a hundred yards of what appeared to be an open area near where the trail should be, we decided to try and wade through the brush. big mistake... while the first part of the thicket was gray-colored brush that was old-dying and relatively easy to push through, all of a sudden I'm being poked and prodded from all directions... it moments it had changed into sharp thorny brush and I was stopped literally in my tracks, hooked from everywhere.
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
Time to detach myself and backtrack as far as the elk did, and head in the opposite direction than me desired, so it took quote a bit more winding through thick brush until finally reconnecting with the trail. From there on we were cruising, which was a good thing, because again dark clouds were building and we could already hear thunder. Once we hit the Moody Trail it was just a matter of a long winding climb back up to Moody TH followed by the walk back along FR487 to the Carr TH where we began.
We hit the road and by time we reached Parker Creek TH some 5 miles down 288 the thunderstorm had already begun. By time we reached the Salt River the whole northern sky was a dark as on Saturday when the wind and hail followed us back to Globe. Only this time it seemed to stay farther north and our return trip was uneventful... if you discount the 15-20 minutes when we were stopped on US 60 just west of Top-of-the-World where a road crew had just completed respraying the yellow center stripes and was dilly-dallying around before finally pulling off to let the now some 30+ vehicles (that I eventually could see) waiting behind us.
In the end, another prefect day for hiking in the Sierra Ancha... a nice heavy rainstorm the night before so the air was crisp and clean, the trail soft underfoot and a lower humidity than Saturday, we couldn't have asked for better conditions. For us the secret to success is to get there early, get the hike in by early afternoon and leave before the monsoon storms hit.
Plenty of photos again, with 40 posted on HAZ and the full set of 85 on my web site.
Sorry, no video... Tracey won't let me post a short video of her attempting to walk up a large tree trunk before it came apart.  |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Next up we hit a drainage full of unavoidable poison ivy which was an unexpected surprise.
(a now available new hike description for this one along with our geocoded picsets with detail captions/tag notes, and the "official" recommended GPS Route with key WPs tells the rest of the interesting story which will hopefully entice others interested and qualified to also consider planning a visit).
