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| Hiking | 10.70 Miles |
1,497 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.70 Miles | 5 Hrs 33 Mns | | 1.99 mph |
| 1,497 ft AEG | 10 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | For day two of our Pine adventures we decided to check out the new-to-us re-route of Arizona Trail #25, but we weren't about to do the long slog from Pine (TH there is still closed), nor did we want approach from the Walnut Spring Trail, so it would take a bit of creative planning. So how about a drive from Hardscrabble Road then South along FR 1655 to the power line track of the 'old' AZT #25 route?
Sounds good, until memory fails, a wrong turn, thinking FR 428 was 1655 by not looking close enough at the GPS track, a chore in itself once on the so-called Forest Roads which had devolved into hardened-mud boulder & rubble tracks. Eventually we made it to the power lines, albeit a half-mile from where I expected to meet them. After taking forever to drive the previous mile, nope, not driving another half-mile, we'll just start our hike here.
Now for the decision. The route I had drawn on Route Editor followed what appeared to be an old road, which I had planned on driving all the way to the #25 re-route. So, do we:
#1. Follow the power lines to my drawn route and down... or
#2. Hike a straight line from our 'trailhead' directly to where I planned to meet the new AZT #25 route, which meant crossing a couple drainages of unknown depth & vegetation quantity.
At 2.5 miles for #1 and 1.5 for #2, it was an easy choice... straight line, or close to it.
By making that choice we would make our acquaintance with Taylor Tank along the way. From there, while there was an opening in the very sturdy barbed-wire fence, we had to decide, which side of the fence should we be on for our cross-country trek? Thankfully we chose wisely ("when in doubt, go right") and although very close a few times, were able to skirt both drainages and connect with the AZT without having to cross the fence.
Ok, finally we're at the 'new' AZT #25. Wow! Although I had never been on the old #25 near here and Tracey had, we both remarked how nice a job was done... it was obvious a LOT of effort was put into the re-route. Tracey had HATED the old route up to Twin Buttes so this was a breeze.
Not long after we began our Southbound sojourn, we met a guy taking a snack/rest-break along the trail. We chatted enough to find out he had hiked in from Doll Baby and was going just as far as Pine then later a skip up a half-dozen passages before hitting the trail again. He mentioned something about good thing I followed the AZT sign (where the 'new' route turned right, rather than straight up to Twin Buttes) as his "AllTrails" app route said to continue straight ahead.
Upon hearing that, Tracey and I both rolled-our eyes, then quickly proceeded to clue him in about Far Out as the hot ticket while hiking the AZT. Who knows if he'll take our advice.
(Side note: After the hike I recommended an edit on AllTrails to let them know their route was well out-of-date. Crazy enough, not expecting any timely update, within a day the route had been updated.)
The descent was relatively gentle with plenty of switch-backs (the guy we met felt some were overkill, like we encountered the Bearfoot Trail) so we didn't anticipate any issues on the return ascent. But at some point it was time to set-a-spell for lunch then head back up.
The ascent was more-or-less a breeze and we were soon back where we had connected #25 earlier. This time we chose to follow the 'road' back out to the power lines, following them back to the car.
We met a number of curious bovines near another tank along the way and wrapped up the hike shortly after. Now it's just the bumpy ride back out to Hardscrabble Road.
On deck for day three... Bob Bear/Fossil Creek, which I only hiked once, some ~17 years ago. |
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Route 
. The AZT website says the re-route is 6.7 miles but my GPS has it about 7.9 miles.
