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| Hiking | 5.60 Miles |
1,330 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.60 Miles | 2 Hrs 24 Mns | | 2.33 mph |
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| 1,330 ft AEG | | | |
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| no partners | | Today, I set out to do the hike I skipped a few weeks ago do to me having a cold and it being below freezing up in Yavapai County.
Driving my wife’s Subaru Forester, we had no problem with FR 682 to Cellar Springs Creek. It is even car-drivable, with caution, as far as the windmill at the second gate. On the way south on Wagoner Road, it was obvious there was a hunt going on. What for, I don’t know. When we arrived at the third gate on FR 682, at Cellar Springs Creek, there was a truck & horse trailer parked in the pullout. It was from Maughan Ranches, who own most of the ranches in the between Wagoner and Peeples Valley. (500,000 acres in all!) I didn’t want to park right next to someone else in that remote an area, FR 682 looked pretty rocky past gate 3, and Cellar Springs Creek was pretty brushy and I didn’t want to be trashing around down range of someone with a rifle. So, I bailed.
Since I was in the area, I checked out what remained of the Wagoner Cemetery. Oh, man, I got tore up by catclaw. The cemetery is not really visible on sat view, so I was expecting it to be a small family plot, or maybe a miner’s grave. It did turn out to be for a single burial, but surprisingly for a U.S. soldier, Captain J.C. Hunt of the 1st Cavalry. (Dead of natural causes, not due to Apache.)
Still needing exercise, I decided to hike the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Park. I felt a bit guilty hiking the trail for exercise rather than a pilgrimage. Not counting a 20 minute break, drinking a beer, and chatting with another hiker, I made the round trip to/from the overlook in 2:04. (I skipped the deployment site.)
Most of the memorials had had small rocks placed around them, and now had a white flower. Some had other mementos left behind. At the overlook, there was a firefighter memorial USA flag, black with a single red stripe. There was also a tribute wall, where many fire and police departments had left their patches.
/rant_on
Unfortunately, not all the changes were positive. Most of the many switchbacks have been cut so heavily that it is often hard to tell the difference between the originally constructed trail and the ones left by incredibly lazy people. Besides the immediate damage to the trail, it increases the threat of erosion, causing even more damage. 
But that was not the worst insult.
That would be the insensitive clod who left their bag of dog shit on the trail.
Yarnell Hill is hallowed ground. Treating it like it is a suburban Phoenix trail is unconscionable. To think I felt guilty even being there, and they felt nothing about descerating it!? 🤬
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Wagoner Cemetery Video: [ youtube video ]
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
