| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 8.16 Miles |
721 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.16 Miles | 4 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.92 mph |
| 721 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | Practice. Plan B.
I had done part of this trail when we did the AZT in 2019 on an overcast morning. I watched my 3-part video from that; it was actually pretty good. I remembered the ferns and that one huge ponderosa along the way plus a lot of water; nothing has changed there. This time, however, the sun was out full time and I had a 32lb overnite pack on my back; and ya, that makes a big difference. I'm still having difficulty with the one corner of the metal sticking into my backside. We finally used my folded up buff as a cushion to provide space between the backpack and my backside; can't seem to get that corner to lay a little flatter without worrying about breaking it.
We came across the same flowers that I saw in 2019. I tried to ID them on google but there are too many choices. I took some more photos anyway. The butterflies were flitting about too. We did notice a few trees that had several trunks growing from about 1/2 way up. The ferns were tall and some had not yet finished leafing out yet. We did a few water crossings including one that involved a little balance work.
We did encounter a couple backpackers. And in this area there were two slim tree trunks criss crossing over the AZT part of the trail; easy enough to get under or around. It was nice to walk near the water from time to time and it was especially nice walking in the shade which is off and on as you go in and out of the forest. We sure could tell when the AZT part of the trail ended. We decided to have lunch at Fred Haught's Fireplace. Fortunately, Kelly was familiar with the area and we crossed the creek and found the path to it.
We continued the hike hitting upon the long Quien Sabe Draw and then hangs an east and up and out to the top of the Fred Haught Ridge near FR 95. Up here we could see where they were doing some clearing work and we saw the tractor over to the southeast. We would stay on top as we weaved our way northeast across the Ridge. I was starting to get a little worn by this point and we still had a little less than a few miles to go. Fortunately, part of it was downhill. It was a pretty sharp downhill on part of it; don't know why they couldn't put in one little switchback. If they aren't going to fix the road, perhaps they could do a little trail work in this area.
We got to the FR 95 and headed down to where the washout is. I've seen pictures of it but you really can't appreciate the scale of what happened here; it must have been quite something when it happened. Getting down and around is also a little slippery, especially with a heavy pack. Once again, if they aren't going to fix the road, perhaps the work around would be a good option. I believe this area sees a good deal of hikers. However, it is pretty down here. We finished off the road part of the hike and headed up toward the Cabin through part of the fern-covered ground. There were some lupine too but I was too tired to get a few pics of them.
Coming up to the TH we saw a couple vehicles parked and we would see two hikers as we got near camp. Coming down the hill on the old cabin road makes for a pretty entry to the campsite and it is a nice one, stone table along with water running right by.
We both got to test our new filtering system: Kelly's CNOC and me and my BeFree/CNOC. Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted, thus I wonder how I am going to do with a pack full of 6 days of food and some extra clothes and power banks. We thought this was supposed to be around 7 miles max but it was a little over 8; altho we had the detour at Fred Haught's fireplace. I did have to fix my route as it glitched during the return from the fireplace.
As the evening went on we had a little happy hour and dinner (I tried a new Coconut Curry chicken dinner which tasted great but too much chicken for me). We kept adding clothing layers until it got dark.
I shot more video than I thot thus we have a two-parter:
[ youtube video ] (about to the 3 mile mark)
[ youtube video ] including Fred Haught area, Quien Sabe Draw and camp
WATCH 10:58AM-3:44PM, 7.24 miles, 7099-7431 elevation. 126 avg bpm/158 max. 23% Zone 5 max, 42% Zone 4 anaerobic, 22% Zone 3 aerobic, 10% Zone 2 Weight Control burning 1783 calories. Temp 83.8 sunny 9% humidity. |
|
Wildflowers Observation Isolated
|
|
| _____________________
For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
