| |
|
| | |
|
| Car Camping | 5.40 Miles |
15 AEG |
| | Car Camping | 5.40 Miles | 4 Days | | |
| 15 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | GH and I headed to the San Francisco Plateau 30 miles south of Winslow for a four night campout. The plan was to use the camp as a base for day hikes we had planned in the area. The camp location was at a convenient cross roads about halfway between HW87 and East Clear Creek Canyon. The dirt road leading to the campsite was mostly level with only a couple of short hill climbs that were rocky enough to require good ground clearance but could probably be handled with 2-wheel drive when the road is dry. The wind was howling across the flat plateau as we pulled up to the planned campsite. There wasn't much protection from the wind except for some clusters of Junipers. We nestled our camp close behind/in the lee side of some Junipers counting on the wind continuing to blow in the same direction over the next four days, which it did. I took a short exploration hike around camp but didn't find much of interest except the long views across the vast plateau. Some of the largest Jack Rabbits I have ever seen were wandering around near camp on that first afternoon. The largest looked as big as a medium size dog (Blanco) and one had light blond hair - maybe an albino? Unfortunately I never got a picture of them.
We had a couple of good weather days for hiking but then got hit by heavy rain followed by a light snow fall on the third night. The roads got muddy but I had no problem driving over to check out Jack's Canyon on that day while GH stayed in camp getting his stuff dried out. Some rock climbers had fun driving in the mud into the Jacks Canyon campsite. A Ford Fusion sedan had gotten mired in the mud and somehow got pushed on to a dry high spot and abandoned. In another location a vehicle had gotten stuck up to the frame in mud when the driver ventured a little too far off the side of the road to avoid a mud puddle. They had dug it out and made it to the campsite.
While driving a short section of HW87 after leaving Jacks Canyon I saw a sign saying 21 miles to Winslow. I'd never been there so decided to go for a look and get some gas. Not much there of interest except the corner made famous by the Eagle's song, "Take It Easy" released in May, 1972. Unfortunately I couldn't get that song, or at least the few lines about Winslow, out of my head on this entire trip. Kept looking for the girl in a flat bed Ford with no luck until Sunday while doing some 4x4 exploring east of camp. Except this girl was riding in a 4x4 crew cab Dodge pickup that had stopped so she could get out and open a gate. She saw me coming up the road a quarter mile away and motioned me on while she held the gate open. Not wanting to ignore such a benevolent act and perhaps a little distracted by those tight cowgirl jeans, I drove past my planned turnoff before the gate, got a nice smile from the girl when I thanked her and then sailed on down the road with the words of that song running through my head. Went about 2 miles down that road in my oblivious state of mind before realizing I had missed the turn off before the gate.
Despite the one night of bad weather it turned out to be another successful outing to a new Camp GH location. We found some cool Indian ruins, climbed a peak that wasn't a peak, explored the Hamilton Crossing Trail into the bottom of East Clear Creek Canyon,and saw lots of awesome scenery on this high desert plateau. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
