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| Hiking | 24.04 Miles |
4,154 AEG |
| | Hiking | 24.04 Miles | 8 Hrs 43 Mns | | 3.02 mph |
| 4,154 ft AEG | 45 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | One of my favorite hikes of last year, had another go but subbed Mooney Canyon for Casner mountain. Prefer it the tried and true way, but it was nice to have a reason to go back. Started the loop at 7am from Dogie Trailhead. Drive in is low clearance passable, albeit annoying, to the Casner Trail, after that I wouldn't chance it.
Walked back down the road to Casner and cut corners up to Robber's Roost. Got around the corner to a stone's throw away and saw that a couple people had camped in it and were just waking up. Turned around and headed down toward Robber's Roost Tank before heading toward Sebra Tank. Easy walk through the grass with no bushwacking.
After Sebra, headed down to Mooney Trail. Where the route starts on HAZ and RS is, I believe, private property. I think you can drive around via FR 4498 to a legal starting point. I met the trail someways down. The real track is only a hundred yards or so East of the RS track, but I saw a cairn and headed along the old alignment(?). Got caught in a ton of brush and eventually made my way to the creekbed. I found Mooney Trail at a crossing within a mile. Much less scenic way of making the climb as opposed to Casner. The trail leaves the creek just as the pines thicken. Shaves some elevation gain, however.
Best part of the hike for me is the descent on Taylor Cabin Trail. Thick forest of tall, orange pines with a red rock and limestone background plus some narrows near the bottom. Impossible quiet. A little snow, but it's been cleaned up nearly all the way down and was much easier to follow than last year. Nearly all of the deadfall has been recently cleared.
Got to Sycamore creek hoping for water, and found it completely dry. Was around the Parsons TH last week and found it to be swollen with water. Oh well. Didn't try to find the trail until the last mile or so to the cabin. The canyon bottom is so scenic through that stretch it'd be a shame to miss it. That, and last year had a lot of trouble with it.
Had a break around the cabin and hit Dutch Kid. Would like to do the loop next year and stick to Sycamore Basin/the bottom of the creek for that mile and a half to the junction. Would really only want to do it with water. Dutch Kid is well maintained and the views back down the canyon are great. Weather started to feel warm, any warmer and it'd have been too much. Nice breeze all day.
The friend I went with last year and I have been arguing about Dogie for as long. After this trip started to see his point. It's a bit of a slog without the awesome canyon views that are present for the rest of the hike. Saw the only people of the day at the end. Trio of campers headed in with two bottles of water, who weren't sure where they were. Convinced them to turn back before heading home. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
on Mooney trail exit. Approx 88 at the top (which I considered cool), so I'm guessing 95-100+ at the bottom...it was tough to handle for this non-native Arizonan.
