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| Hiking | 7.50 Miles |
1,403 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.50 Miles | 3 Hrs 45 Mns | | 2.00 mph |
| 1,403 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I left work early on Friday and drove up to the Pinals for a weekend of adventure time, hoping to beat the impending winter storm's deluge. I parked at the Silver King Substation, and, despite a 5 pm start, was determined to get a good, second hike in on the Stoneman Trail (aka the Stoneman Grade). The scant clues from satellite imagery had proven true, and, to my surprise and excitement, I was able to follow the north branch of the Stoneman Trail down a side canyon to the east, along a definite, cairned path. Bits of vintage, broken china and bottles confirmed I was on a historic route.
I dropped into Devils Canyon at sunset, which was an inviting scene, with hoodoo rocks above, trees, and water flowing in the creek. The trail continued up the east rim of the canyon and onto a brushy mesa overlooking Iron Canyon and highway 60. At this point, the trail I had been following ended. The wise choice would have been to go back the same way, but I still had a half mile of Stoneman Trail route to cover, where it intersected the route of the modern highway. It was dark now, but the highway was so close!
I crawled, bushwhacked, and smashed my way through thick oak brush and endless catclaw down the steep canyon side, stumbling over loose rocks, but, amazingly, staying on the old Stoneman Trail. With headlamp on, I stumbled out of the bushes like a sasquatch onto the busy highway, bloody and filthy.
My plan had been to walk the highway back, but the narrow shoulder, close canyon walls, and endless, fast moving traffic now made this a bit of a difficult and rather dangerous option at times. With a broken highway reflector stuck on my pack for a semblance of safety, I squeezed along the guardrail and sometimes through the brush-choked creek bottom down Iron Canyon. A semi passed very close at one pint, and I was happy to come to the wide shoulders of the new Devils Canyon stretch of highway.
Thankful to leave highway 60 near Oak Flat, I turned north for a peaceful, starlit walk along forest road 342. A dead battery scare at my truck was a false alarm, and I drove back into Superior for a well earned turkey sub before camping out for the night on the road to Silver King. A satisfying adventure, and one that filled me with nostalgia for similar trips from years past. I felt connected to my younger self: the real
Preston. |
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| "…you never know when a hike might break out" -Jim Gaffigan |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Once up high the road meanders around near the eastern side of the ridge between Fortuna and Kings Crown Peaks. I would say I was about halfway through the drive when around a blind curve a white SUV appeared and stopped. I thought it was fortuitous indeed that we met at a spot where we could pass, since this was mostly a very narrow road. I couldn't believe my eyes as Ambika got out of the passenger side! A friend wanted to go out four wheeling and she knew I had talked about driving this road the day before on our flower shoot. She said they had reached the tough spot by the mine and decided no way they were going to try it and turned back. Since it was getting to be late in the day and based on what she said, I decided to quit there and caravan back out with them.
Ambika for being out there and perhaps saving me some grief!
