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| Hiking | 13.23 Miles |
1,532 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.23 Miles | 5 Hrs 12 Mns | | 2.67 mph |
| 1,532 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Someone had told me that White Rocks was a nice trail, so I decided for my second hike in the Gila the pups and I would start at the Middle Fork trailhead and then hike to White Rocks Tanks for a break, some water and then a return the way we came.
The hike started out very cold. In fact, cold enough to freeze the pups water where we camped and I was definitely not in a hurry to put on my chacos and start crossing the Middle Fork of the Gila, but alas I made my first crossing just after 8. However, After about the second crossing my feet were starting to feel like I was seriously starting to get some frost bite, so I put my socks and shoes back on until the next crossing, as inefficient as that was. Eventually I thought the key to my frozen feet was a set of hot springs along the river's shore. Needless to say that was a very bad idea. A little PSA here, "frozen feet and hot springs don't mix." I seriously thought I did some damage to my feet for a few seconds, as that hot water sent some pretty nasty tingling pain through my feet for a few minutes and only calmed down after I was able to rub them some with the inside of my hoodie that I had take off.
Despite the cold start, I wish I would have just spent more time enjoying the Middle Fork Trail. The trail to the tanks had some decent views, but it was generally bland trail and offered few redeeming qualities The tanks were also bone dry, which put me and the pups in a little bind, as it was around a seven mile detour to get to them. I knew it was a gamble assuming there would be water, but the forest service had it listed as a desirable destination and from the map it looked like it would be a good contender for water and I thought from the tank's name, that there were going to be a couple of nice scenic natural tanks in the rock, or something like that, but nope just two bone dry dirt tanks from yesteryear. Basically, a seven mile detour for nothing overly scenic, when we could have been tramping along the scenic Middle Fork of the Gila River. Needless to say, the dogs were happy to reach the river again, where we did a little more exploring up the Middle Fork, before turning back for the trailhead.
After getting back to the trailhead, I decided to go check out the cliff dwellings and utilize their complimentary kennels for the dogs. The kennels unfortunately looked something like the POW "tiger cages' from Vietnam and I was not putting my pups in there, even for a short tour. Not to be deterred, we settled for a quick hike of the West Fork Trail, which shares a parking lot with the cliff dwellings. The forest service notes that the trail has recently been cleared four miles in, but we only went in about a half mile, or so and turned around, as the drive back to Phoenix was looming in my mind and Cup was beat. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
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Route Editor
Route Scout
