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| Backpack | 30.27 Miles |
5,643 AEG |
| | Backpack | 30.27 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 5,643 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Back in April, my mom and I hiked passage 15 of the AZT. Now if you're familiar with the AZT, you know that some of these sections down south are pretty difficult to hike, especially in terms of navigating the private land ownership, which requires signing in, not using water from their wells, etc. So in this case, we decided a couple of day hikes would be the most reasonable way of achieving this passage.
We had on a previous trip hiked the 2.5 miles from the Florence-Kelvin TH to the parking area at Kelvin just on the other side of the bridge, so that saved us a bit of hiking this trip.
A fair amount of effort went into the staging of the vehicles for this one. We wanted to place the Suburban as close to the center as possible, for our remaining section of passage 15, so we drove in on Freeman Road, then turned onto the private ranch road (Hayden Ranch Road), signed in at the box, and then continued on our merry way. That road ran into Tecolote Ranch Road, which continued almost to the guy's ranch, then there was another spur road (Jim Thomas Wash Road), which continued up the hill and toward some high voltage power lines, just on the other side from the top of the hill, we turned off on the power line road and followed that for a few miles till we got to a place called Middle of No Where, AZ. Yes, that's the official name!  I've also been to that place quite a few times in the past two years as we drive a bunch of random places to hike the AZT, and it's always a blast!
With the vehicle at our beginning location, and with the sun just about going down, it's now time for a good night's sleep (not on the State Trust land, otherwise you'd need a permit for that  ). The buzzing of power lines was heard in our ears the whole night, and it created some static with the sleeping bags...nothing that can't be dealt with, though.
In the morning, we set off early in the northward direction back towards our second car, which was parked at Florence-Kelvin TH. A long day? Yes, but reasonable! Given that this is April in the low desert, it's quite warm, and we get to enjoy many blooming desert plants along the way. The hedgehog cactus were blooming hot pink, and mesquites had large beautiful flowers on them. The ocotillos were amazing orange. And the prickly pears had blossoms ranging from yellow to orange to red. The palo verdes were bright yellow. In terms of wildlife, nothing was spotted with the exception of a lone red racer snake. Had it not been for the great flora, the hike would have been much more dull, maybe even boring. Looking across at the mines along highway 177/77 was perhaps the most interesting.
After arriving at the other car, we drove around to the Freeman Road TH and camped the night there ('cause why not if there's no sign to the contrary?). As it was, we were the lone vehicle in the parking lot. The sunset was gorgeous and the temperatures quite brisk as the evening breeze made our tent flap. Tonight was the maiden voyage for our latest backpacking purchase, the REI Flash Air 2 tent! As always, it's a good idea to test your gear before you go, so this was the "test run" before actually taking the tent into the backcountry. It performed beautifully, and its light weight will surely be a boon on future backpacking excursions. The only complaint was with the high sides for the rain tarp, it did let some breeze into the tent. Don't get me wrong, It's very storm-proof! It just allows more air exchange than our other tent, a Big Agnes Fly Creek UL4. We'll never have to deal with condensation on this one! We had chili and corn muffins that night for dinner, which is making me hungry. As I write this, it's early December and raining outside in Phoenix. 
This day's hike had much less flora, but it did have more interesting geology. There was one spot with tons of boulders, including a balancing rock. The most exciting part of the hike, though, was one of the ranchers who had rigged up a self-closing gate. Apparently, I got a video of its operation, but not a photo, so you'll have to hike the passage yourself to see how it works!
After arriving at our vehicle in the middle, we drove that long road back out, signed out of the registry, fetched the other car from Freeman road, and drove home. It was a good weekend. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Mesquite and palo verde |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Ocotillo, hedgehog, prickly pear |
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Route ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
