|
| | | |
| |
|
| Hiking | 11.00 Miles |
1,829 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.00 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 1.83 mph |
| 1,829 ft AEG | | 20 LBS Pack | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | I'm a high school teacher and we take students camping a couple times a year. A group of my graduating seniors wanted to go camping / hiking as a "senior trip." We decided to go to Riggs Flat Lake on Mt. Graham. My granddaughter and I went up on Tuesday, May 27 and made camp. Riggs Lake and the Pinelano Mountains are one of my favorite places - I have a lot of them. It was warmer than usual but still very nice.
On Wednesday, 28 May, I took my granddaughter hiking on Clark Peak Trail. She enjoys the outdoors. We got about .5 mile on the trail and I was kind of zoning out - she said, "Grandpa, there is a bear." I thought she saw a burnt log or something black. Sure enough we were headed north on the trail and about 200 yards in front of us was a massive bear headed south on the trail. She wanted to leave, but I told her to stand still and watch the bear. He heard the noise and was looking in our direction. Instead of getting my camera, I got my binoculars and we watched it for a couple minutes. The bear turned around and walked off, stopped and came back and took another look - I yelled "hey bear" and he looked at us and turned around and slowly walked off - he was upset he would have to bushwack instead of using the trail. We went back to the truck. I'm not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing - she thought it was cool, but was happy to get back to the truck. I enjoyed seeing the bear - this is the 3rd I've seen in the wild and by far the largest.
My high school students arrived Wednesday afternoon and set up camp. We headed out to Clark Peak Trail at about 0730 on Thursday. Many of them have never been hiking. We went about 5.5 miles in which made for an 11 mile hike - plenty for the students. Clark Peak Tr is different from most of our trails - the first 3 or so miles are downhill - which means a tough hike back to the trailhead. The trail is in pretty good shape - there are some rough spots and some very overgrown areas, but a very enjoyable hike. We saw lots of bear tracks, but no bears. The students were fascinated with cairns and wanted to build one - they built a pretty nice one, but not sure how long it will last. It was a good trip and I hope I inspired some future Hike AZ members. Some already want to do a backpacking trip to the Chiricahua Mts. |
|
Wildflowers Observation Isolated
I was surprised how dry it was. I assumed there would have been some snow melt moisture, but that was not the case. |
|
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
