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| Hiking | 8.90 Miles |
3,200 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.90 Miles | 7 Hrs | | 1.27 mph |
| 3,200 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | This was a hike that I was very glad I did, but I was also very glad when we were done. The majority of the trail is very steep with loose rock, which makes for the perfect combination of making the trail just as hard to hike in either direction. But at least there were prickly pear cactii overgrown into many spots on the trail so we didn't get bored or anything. Jim enjoyed this more than anyone since living in CA for the last year made him forget that long pants in the Tonto NF is NOT OPTIONAL. Even in summer.
Finding where the trail starts from FR203 is tough because there is no trail marker at the terminus. We did discover at the end, however, that there is a large cairn marking it. The cairn is more wide than tall, so it doesn't really stand out at 8am in the shade. We started by the hairpin curve in the road by the ranch and down the wash that drains into Cherry Creek and soon made our way out of it and onto the trail. After crossing Cherry Creek, the track that Joe edited for us led us to a spot that was totally choked with vegetation. This part of the track was apparently done by wally and nonot. I had the official track in my GPS, but forgot to hit the "Show on Map" button on my GPS. On the way back we had it all figured out.
We actually made it all the way to our turn around point from our July 10 hike from the upper end. As we passed the ruins, we could see the route to take from below, which is supposed to be the easiest. Where we stopped on the trail, however, was on the ridge up above the ruins. And the ascent up on the trail was murderous. The shrubs were brutal making it really hard to hike thru. To hike back down thru that and then back up from the trail from below the ruins seemed like too much work. So once we got to where we could see over the edge, we made our way down from above. It was a little dicey at times and slow going, but we got there fairly quickly. Definitely made the right decision.
By the time Jim, Alex and I had got to the ruins, John and Joe had already left and Denny was soon to follow. While taking the obligatory pics, I noticed a pull tab lid from some can which I hauled out. The hike down to the trail from the ruins was pretty treacherous. Instead of taking the suggested GPS route, we just more or less surfed the loose rock and dirt until we could stand up without the risk of tumbling downhill. Before our descent, I spotted John at the bottom of the steepest part and tried to call to him to ask advice on which approach to take. It was at this point that Joe, who was already on the trail, decided to try to interrupt and yell advice from a quarter mile away. Because he's such a nice guy and everything. So for the next 15 minutes there was a lot of yelling up and down the hillside that can't make it past the pumpkin filter for this triplog.
The prickly pears along this trail also seemed to have some really heavy duty spikes. On the way up I got one stuck thru my boot and into my foot. I had to stop, push it all the way thru and pull it out from the inside. On the way back about 50 yds from the same spot, Alex had the exact same thing happen to him. He went down so fast and yelled so loudly when it happened that Jim thought he got bit by a snake. Thankfully no scenes from City Slickers needed to be re-enacted.
This ended up being a very nice time and a very fun, very rugged hike. Thanks to everyone who made it out. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
for my lost Canon camera.
