Off Trail Dope Search

[HAZ_Hikebot]

We have all heard the stories of hikers stumbling across illegal dope grows out in the national forest, the Mexican Cartels, and the 'no go' areas of CA. These drug growers damage the forest, poach wildlife, and have been known to shoot hikers who happen across them. An article in USA Today, Aug 19, told that the latest CA fire was started by the Cartel boys while cooking dinner at one of their grows. As an environmentalist, it pisses me off that this is happening in our public lands.

We hikers can help keep our national forests safe by reporting grow sites and suspicious activity to the authorities. I found a grow two years ago in the Matazals, a quarter mile east of the Arizona Trail near a popular Boy Scout Camp site. So, M-16 toting illegal aliens are that close to your kids out there. No better reason to shut them down. I do not advocate others to go out looking for grows; but it is fun for those of us with nothing to lose, hiking off trail in the manzanita, seeing remotest of places.


I was wondering if there are any others in the club who like to go 'hunting', and if anyone has any tips or suggestions to help out. The best places to look are around reliable water sources, like springs, wells, creeks,etc. However, there are just so many miles and miles of territory out there to search, even with aids like sat maps and the like, it is difficult to find anything. The Bradshaws have had some busts, as have the Rim area and Matazals. Gila County is also a good area. This weekend will be a hike along the feeder streams of Cherry Creek, just east of the Sierra Anchas.

Lets keep the comments on topic and not about the question of legalization of marijuana, or whether getting stoned is a good idea or not. There is plenty of material here in which to bash or ridicule without the aid of those tired arguments. Yes, the mission is potentially dangerous, but not any more dangerous than walking through South Phoenix after dark. Besides, the odds of finding a grow are about zero unless you put in a bunch of miles intelligently.

Here is a pic of the trash left behind at the Matazal grow site. Thousands of starter dixie cups, plastic bird netting, a bone yard of poached wildlife, fertilizer bags, irrigation equiment, shoes, clothes, tortilla wrappers, Miracle Grow, etc. etc. Basically, the same trash you find at Organ Pipe National Monument or anywhere near the human trafficking routes.

[PaleoRob]

My fantasy is that I'm hiking down in the Blue Range or somewhere equally remote and I find a plane with dead people in it and a million or two in cash. Then I take the money and run. Then I have to figure out a way to spend it without attracting attention. First I pay off my outstanding credit card bills and other bad debts (about $20,000 right now)--could easily do that by buying money orders. Then I hire some people to fix up my house, which desperately needs it. Then I get a passport and go on a trip to Thailand and New Zealand and other neat places. When I get home, I still have a lot of money to figure out how to launder. Meanwhile, someone has found the airplane, minus its money. Maybe someone is looking for me... I may have bad guys looking for me and good guys too, all wondering where all that money went. I will have to lay low for awhile and let the noise die down, go about my business as if nothing has happened. I'd have the money buried somewhere, in a couple places. I go to casinos, run some through their machines, come out a little ahead or behind, but walking out with clean money...

Maybe I should quit all 3 of my jobs and just start hiking down in the Blue...

A similar sort of situation existed in the Sierras back in the 1980s, where a drug plane crashed into a frozen lake (Taniya Lake?). People were trekking in to he backcountry to haul out as much dope as they could. Not sure if anyone got away with money, but it was a pretty interesting story.

[Jeffshadows]

A single-engine went down into a spot just west and below Rincon Peak in the 80's in a really bad storm. The wreckage and the 780,000-some-odd dollars one of the passengers had retrieved from a business partner in Mexico sat on the side of the mountain for almost a decade before a wildland fire crew found them both. The pilot had tried to crawl into a nearby grotto but tied of his injuries en route and was found a few meters from the wreckage...

[HAZ_Hikebot]

nobody around in a very remote area. and yes crown king 4by 4 and areas n. of lake pleasant are like highways in the cooler months during the hottest summer days they are totally dead . and there are a lot of old trails not used or known or justpeople not knowing where they go, to get away from the hordes. maybe i never ran into a grow site because the rogue mnt. lions eat all the growers.

As of last year, there were no grow sites in the lower Bradshaws, other than a few places on Groom Creek up in the pines. I know this because I did all my hikes out there last summer, thinking that a saturation approach, leaving no rock unturned, would yield results. All I found in about a dozen trips were nothing but beautiful, pristine wilderness, which is how I hope that it will remain. The Bradshaws are a special place.

That is interesting news about the AZGFD relocating problem lions to the Bradshaws. Last year I walked into one at the Cements, just south of Horse Mountain. While hacking through a bad patch of manzanita there, I heard something growling, catlike, and then saw a lion perched on a boulder, staring me down from about 30 yards. What was worse, I had my girly pistol stashed in the backpack. The Game and Fish Dept says it is best to make a lot of noise and create a larger profile when facing an aggressive lion. Remembering that advice, I shouted obscenities at the cat as I fumbled through my pack. The lion did not run away, rather, it stayed put and kept that low growl going, as if he was sizing me up. I popped a shot over his head to scare him off, (my shaking arms might have had something to do with the poor aim, Ha!) but he did not run even then! God honest truth. He ran only after I pulled my camera, being photo shy possibly.

[Al_HikesAZ]

. . .I heard something growling, catlike, and then saw a lion perched on a boulder, staring me down from about 30 yards. What was worse, I had my girly pistol stashed in the backpack. The Game and Fish Dept says it is best to make a lot of noise and create a larger profile when facing an aggressive lion. Remembering that advice, I shouted obscenities at the cat as I fumbled through my pack. The lion did not run away, rather, it stayed put and kept that low growl going, as if he was sizing me up. I popped a shot over his head to scare him off, (my shaking arms might have had something to do with the poor aim, Ha!) but he did not run even then! God honest truth. He ran only after I pulled my camera, being photo shy possibly.

For a great description of a Mountain Lion encounter you should read Craig Child's description in Animal Dialogues. It will make your hair stand on end.

[azbackpackr]

A single-engine went down into a spot just west and below Rincon Peak in the 80's in a really bad storm. The wreckage and the 780,000-some-odd dollars one of the passengers had retrieved from a business partner in Mexico sat on the side of the mountain for almost a decade before a wildland fire crew found them both. The pilot had tried to crawl into a nearby grotto but tied of his injuries en route and was found a few meters from the wreckage...

Is that how the media actually reported it? Sheesh. The real story is that Dave Baker, owner of Summit Hut, and his friend found it. They had noticed something glinting up there on the mountain--I think Dave had first noticed it from his own house. They tried several times to hike to it but that area is very thick with brush. So finally, they did find it. The money was all rotted... C'est la vie. Anyway, they reported it to the police. I know this because a friend of mine was a climbing partner of Dave's at the time it happened, although he wasn't the one who hiked up there with Dave.

[Dschur]

From Payson Roundup

Drug agents destroyed 4,900 marijuana plants found in a raid last week.

During a Sept. 9 raid, drug agents found a makeshift tent covering elevated beds made of wood chips, a cooking area, a bag of food supplies and a work station where the plants were dried.
More than 4,900 mature marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $5.43 million were destroyed by drug agents Sept. 9 following a raid on a cultivation site located near Horton Creek in the Tonto National Forest.

No arrests were made, but the investigation is continuing.

Agents are unsure how many persons, most believed to be Mexican nationals, were overseeing the garden, but indicate there were multiple suspects.

Law enforcement officers found the garden site, which was almost identical to the ones discovered in 21 raids over the past four years.

“It was typical,” said a Payson-based Gila County Gang, Violent Crime and Drug Force agent. “There was a makeshift tent covering elevated beds made of wood chips, a cooking area, bag of food supplies and a work station where the plants were dried.”

Ironically, a St. Jude candle was found as were other religious artifacts discovered in earlier raids.

St. Jude is regarded as the patron saint of desperate causes and is also the patron saint of the Chicago Police Department.

Agents also found 15-plus pounds of processed and dried marijuana buds ready to be shipped and sold.

Agents believe the garden was probably planted in May and would have been fully harvested by the end of this month.

Most of the gardens raided in the past have consisted of a series of small plots scattered randomly in the towering pine forest.

This one, however, was unusual in that it consisted of two or three large plots over running hills.

To grow the gardens, tenders decimated the forest in a manner never before seen by the most veteran of drug agents.

Officers estimate that for the five- to seven-acre garden, growers cut down 50 to 100 ponderosa pine trees some 70 to 90 feet tall with trunks in excess of 20 inches.

“Then they spray painted the trunks green hoping the cuts couldn’t be seen from the air,” an agent said.

Law enforcement officers also found discarded fertilizer bags, black plastic tubing used in gravity fed watering systems and Styrofoam cups apparently used for drinking from the creek.

“They destroyed a big chunk of the forest,” the Payson agent said.

Another agent along on the raid said the plants’ tenders showed absolutely no regard for the national forest or the environment.

Officers have learned from past raids that plant tenders often live at the site the entire growing season and are periodically re-supplied with food and other necessities.

Tenders are often found to be Mexican drug cartel worker-bees toiling to pay off human smuggling debts.

Last weekend’s raid was conducted in the early morning hours by a multi agency task force including a DPS Ranger helicopter. The operation was prompted by a citizen’s tip of unusual activity in the area.

Along on the raid were officers from the Gila County Sheriff’s Office, Gila County Task Force, Arizona Department of Public Safety, United States Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Forest Service, Navajo County MCAT Task Force, Payson Police Department and the Miami Police Department.

[Vaporman]

That just makes me sick...

[Jeffshadows]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If we catch them and there is no doubt that they are guilty - hang them. Make sure pictures of the hanging are published in papers all over the southwest and Mexico. They will laugh at anything less.

[HAZ_Hikebot]

From Payson Roundup

Last weekend’s raid was conducted in the early morning hours by a multi agency task force including a DPS Ranger helicopter. The operation was prompted by a citizen’s tip of unusual activity in the area.

Horton Creek has a hiking trail that follows most of its length, so the grow site must be situated further up, in the east fork. Kudos to the hiker that ratted-off the destroyers of public lands.

That is the last place I would have looked for a grow site on account of the high volume of foot traffic in the area. Instead, I hiked three large creeks below the Rim this summer: Haigler Creek, Marsh Creek, and Spring Creek; which are seldom traveled.

Checked the east side of Four Peaks two weeks ago and found nothing, but there are a few good spots up there with running water/springs.

In late October, the Forest Service usually puts out an article in the paper with their summer's tally. It will be interesting to find out where the grows were this summer, do some Monday morning quarterbacking.

[Ckzona]

Man that was some horrible news to hear a grow site that close to Horton Creek

[Vaporman]

Instead, I hiked three large creeks below the Rim this summer: Haigler Creek, Marsh Creek, and Spring Creek; which are seldom traveled. Checked the east side of Four Peaks two weeks ago and found nothing, but there are a few good spots up there with running water/springs.

Nice work and may you stay safe in your searching! If you find one, make sure to safely retreat and call it in. Don't go in all Rambo style. :GB:

[te_wa]

"yeah, Sherrif, i found these plants, and i suspected them to be cannabis.. but i had to smoke some of it to be sure.. purely scientific man.."

[mattinaz]

My fantasy is that I'm hiking down in the Blue Range or somewhere equally remote and I find a plane with dead people in it and a million or two in cash. Then I take the money and run. Then I have to figure out a way to spend it without attracting attention. First I pay off my outstanding credit card bills and other bad debts (about $20,000 right now)--could easily do that by buying money orders. Then I hire some people to fix up my house, which desperately needs it. Then I get a passport and go on a trip to Thailand and New Zealand and other neat places. When I get home, I still have a lot of money to figure out how to launder. Meanwhile, someone has found the airplane, minus its money. Maybe someone is looking for me... I may have bad guys looking for me and good guys too, all wondering where all that money went. I will have to lay low for awhile and let the noise die down, go about my business as if nothing has happened. I'd have the money buried somewhere, in a couple places. I go to casinos, run some through their machines, come out a little ahead or behind, but walking out with clean money...

Maybe I should quit all 3 of my jobs and just start hiking down in the Blue...

This is a movie I just watched 2 weeks ago called "A Simple Plan" starring Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton. It was actually filmed in the area where I lived for 7 yrs prior to moving to AZ in 2007.

[Nobody01]

Not to bump an over ten year old thread but I had a conversation with a colleague today about 'wild reefer farms' that are purportedly found in Arizona's back country. I may or may not have come across a grow op but here's my experience...

My wife and I were hiking in the the baldy wilderness at the end of August (2019) of this year and decided to do a bit of off-trail exploring once we reached our campsite for the night. We camped at (what I think was) the final campsite before the bigger climb to the summit. We followed a pathway which lead us to a meadow which is probably located less than a quarter of a mile northwest from our campsite. From there we kind of bushwhacked our way to the east and north of the aforementioned meadow and came upon an oval shaped area cleared of trees alongside of the mountain (maybe 3,000 SF or so). The area appeared to be recently harvested of something, maybe 50 plants or so, looked some-what recent, and I think it was Marijuana. The plants were clearly removed by some man made object and it was very out of place for the area. I did not find evidence of any irrigation setup or campsites but I didn't really bother to go any further at this point. We stuck around for probably less than five minutes before we both were spooked and made our way back to the meadow/our campsite. My theory is it was probably someone's smaller grow operation and not a bigger cartel farmed area but even with medical cannabis legalized I assume someone growing weed out in the woods like this does not want people knowing about it.

I would be curious if anyone else has had any experiences in the white mountains such as this and if so what was the result of it.

[Alston_Neal]

Interesting that in this day and age of greenhouse production that there still is a chance someone would have a personal grow spot. At that elevation it would make sense that harvest time would be now.
I'm not gonna point any fingers, but Chumley spends a lot of time wandering in remote areas for no apparent reason.

[LosDosSloFolks]

@Alston_Neal
You seem to have the growth range and harvesting dates down pat.

[Alston_Neal]

@LosDosSloFolks
I was never good at growing vegetables, which was fine since none of my friends wanted vegetables.

[FOTG]

It appears I now know the source of that White Mountain Thunder that I have been buying from the guy on the corner of central and Bethany.

[Hansenaz]

@Alston_Neal
40 yrs ago in Berkeley we always blamed the animal-chewed garden vegetables on them returning with the munchies.

[Jim]

@friendofThundergod

You might be smoking it, but I'm pretty sure that isn't a natural herbaceous product you're buying. Was ever blue?