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| Hiking | 26.95 Miles |
3,873 AEG |
| | Hiking | 26.95 Miles | 13 Hrs 23 Mns | | 2.01 mph |
| 3,873 ft AEG | | 25 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Decided to get back into backpacking after a 5-ish year hiatus. Bought myself a fancy new UL pack, tent and stove and with some cold/rainy weather forecast to finally break up this horribly hot October I decided to give the Cabin Loop Trail a shot. Timing a 3-day trek with the rain ended up being a good choice as there was plenty of water on the route.
Initially I was going to start from General Springs and proceed clockwise but a huge fallen tree had blocked Rim Road from AZ-87 so I headed up to Pinchot instead. Drive-in was fine, stayed in 2wd the whole time and besides some periods of icy rain was unremarkable. Started heading down Houston instead of up U-Bar but Route Scout got me back on track. Nice flowing water in the creek by Pinchot.
U-Bar can be hard to follow as numerous FS roads bisect the trail and tread is non-existent in spots, but the route is mercifully flagged. Route Scout really saved me here too! Forest service is doing a TON of work near U-Bar, I passed at least a half dozen huge cut-piles and saw lots of trees marked for cutting. Dropped into Barbershop Canyon and saw lots of good-sized pools and a little flow.
Mostly uneventful past Barbershop, another steep climb out of what I believe is Dane Canyon (which was bone dry) and had a light snow storm on the way to Dane Cabin. Dane Spring is still flowing nicely, seems like a reliable water spot. Headed down to the intersection with Barbershop trail (missed seeing Buck Springs Cabin, hope to bag it on a return trip) and setup camp near Coyote Spring as I found some decent pools. More light snow overnight but the ground was frozen! Rock hard!! Tossed and turned the entire night!!! Should've brought the inflatable pad.
Woke up early the next morning and broke camp around 8:30. Lots of up-and-down on Barbershop made for slow going, but splashes of fall color provided the entertainment. Upper Barbershop had some deep pools but the water was milky and I didn't trust it. Barbershop spring itself had some water as as well but wasn't flowing and pools weren't deep enough to dip a bottle in.
Made good time to Houston and got the best Fall Color Show of the trip! Lots of trees popping, not sure I would call it peak season there but it made me eager to keep going. Rim Road was busy, I suppose either someone had cleared the road or people had found a detour as I passed about a half-dozen cars and a couple groups of fellow hikers. I did my best to stick to General Crook but it's easier and just as fast to hike on the road. On the plus side as I was fumbling around trying to find Crook I did find a nice clear tank to filter water from.
Made it to General Springs Cabin around 1 in the afternoon and there were a few families taking pictures. Spring was completely dry. It's definitely the nicest cabin I saw, I wish Pinchot would get the same treatment. Originally I was going to camp near the cabin but it's not allowed there so I pressed up Fred Haught looking for a nice spot. First part of this trail has some cool rock formations, reminds me of the Wilderness of Rocks area on Mount Lemmon. Nice deep pools (albeit murky) past this and basically all the way up to where the AZT forks off. Fred Haught/Quien Sabe was bone dry and I was only a couple of hours from the car at this point so I decided to press on and turn the 3-day into an overnighter. Besides a family of elk the hike was uneventful after this. Made it to the truck at 5pm and headed home.
Definitely have the backpacking itch again and am planning on coming back in warmer/wetter weather! |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Some nice colors on lower Houston Brothers |
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