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| Hiking | 3.30 Miles |
913 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.30 Miles | 2 Hrs 7 Mns | | 1.89 mph |
| 913 ft AEG | 22 Mns Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Over a week since our last hike but still much to catch up on so we decided on something close, yet hopefully a little cooler. With a reasonable elevation Roger's Trough seemed like a good place to start with a number of options. We chose to hike up West Pinto Trail just over the saddle and back then do some 4x4 exploring along FR172 on the return trip.
While on the US 60 just south of Gold Canyon Tracey noticed a haze to the east and we wondered what it could be. As we continued it soon looked like it was smoke somewhere over to the east of Queen Creek. Right as we turned off the 60 heading toward Queen Creek three Pinal County Sheriff vehicles came driving out. Hmmm, that set us to wondering a bit more. But it all became clear as we reached the RR tracks on Hewitt Road. It was a motor home that had burned and the fire crews were just beginning to wrap up their equipment. We just moved over to the side and drove on by. Only later on our return did we stop to take a closer look. With a pristine tool set in a plastic case lying next to it (it appears the plastic never got hot) as well as no trace of the missing batteries or generator unit (but the wires were there, simply unbolted) Something seems fishy here... 
Did they break down? With the tool set right there, was the owner working on it? But with the batteries removed, what would have been the cause of the fire?
If it was a theft I'd expect more items to have been stripped before the fire.
What does that leave? A 'stolen' and burned insurance collection deal?
Who knows, it's all speculation based on my experiences repairing burned vehicles, years as a mechanic, an attention to details and finally simple deduction.
Oh well, on to the hike... Just before reaching Roger's Trough TH we saw a Ford pickup ahead of us and when we arrived at the TH we saw they were bow hunters. The only other vehicle in the lot was an old Toyota pickup. Then hunters set off maybe 5 minutes before us, and having been out West Pinto a year ago I knew a number of deer hangouts, so I figured we'd soon be hiking through the area they might be waiting. No worries, we passed by them near the water tank and continued on up the trail. We were in silent mode through that area so as not to spook any deer away from them.
I was a bit surprised how hard it was to follow the trail to begin with, as it was pretty easy last year. Mainly it was grass and various thorns and cats-claw that were overhanging the trail, so Tracey wasn't exactly happy with the ankle-biting vegetation. But it soon cleared up enough it actually seemed like a trail the rest of the way up. We just went a short distance over the other side before turning back to go check out a road we could see above and south of FR172 heading toward Woodbury TH. No sign of the bow hunters so our return trip was uneventful.
On the drive back we turned to go toward Woodbury then set off up the old and very eroded road. We didn't make it very far... the Cherokee may be pretty capable in stock form, but with highway tread passenger tires it is almost worthless. That will soon be remedied... the 5.5" lift and 33" tires are on the way!
Anyway, took a few photos then headed back home for all the chores waiting.
I posted the photos on HAZ and my web site here:
http://changephoenix.com/jpserver/web/public/album.php?id=207 |
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