Yesterday Kristin and I got back from a twenty one mile hike on the Arizona Trail south Flagstaff to Lake Mary rd. We left Thursday at about 1:30 in the afternoon from her house and walked down the Flagstaff urban trail to the junction of the Arizona Trail under I-40. From there we walked past some marshy ponds with grey ducks. The water being from the outlet of Flagstaff’s sewage treatment plant. Completely safe to drink where it comes out of the plant. Though something in it is feeding all the plants and algae that are growing out of it.
From there we climb a small hill into the Coconino National Forest. Last years tree thinning projects in the area have left their impact of bulldozer tracks everywhere and large piles of trees to burn this winter, when the fire danger is lower. Overall though the tree thinning project is good for the forest and the town. If the forest is too dense, fire quickly spreads between the tree tops in a process known as crowning. Otherwise, the fire stays low to the ground, and only the smaller trees will burn. The taller ones have lost their lower branches, a defense against fire using them as a ladder to crown that tree.
We hike on under burdens of packs heavy with four days of food. We are set on getting to AZ 87 and resupplying in Clint’s Well, a small town on the Mogollon Rim. That was our original plan. Unfortunately we soon find that I did not put the sunblock back in Kristin’s pack, and we worry about that.
The trail is beautiful, traveling through a tall forest of Ponderosa Pines on old roads. The traveling is smooth, and we soon reach Fischer Point, where the trail spilts. Fischer Point is a sandstone cliff that looks over Walnut canyon and across the forests that cover most of the surrounded land. We can go south along AZT into a nice canyon, or go north and still be on AZT. Around Flagstaff their is an equestrian route and a people route, which is called the resupply route. The Resupply route goes through the center of Flagstaff, the Equestrian goes around the east side of Flagstaff, right past a Safeway then around the east side of Mt Elden. The two routes then reconnect at Schultz Pass. The Equestrian route is closed by Mt. Elden though do to fire damage from the Schultz fire last year that burnt most of the east side of San Francisco peak.
We take the AZT south leaving Fishcer point, the western terminus of Walnut Canyon National Monument, and head south down Walnut Canyon. Canyon walls tower over us. They are mostly covered by Ponderosa pines and Gamble Oaks, but where there are cliffs, diagonal layers of former sand dunes are easily seen. The lines slant to the left, then five feet up, to the right and vice versa. The lines are the remains of the drifting dunes which covered this area 250,000,000 years ago.
The floor of Walnut Canyon is a pleasant meadow, not unlike meadows in mountain valleys in Colorado, or the Sierra Nevada of California. We only enjoy this canyon for about a mile before the trail splits again. We take a break under a sandstone cliff, in the shade of several Pinus ponderosa. Then take the long but not so steep climb out of Walnut Canyon onto a lava capped plateau. The plateau is forested, but not nearly as dense as before. Mostly the land is a grassland. Flat as a board, with nice views of the San Francisco peaks.
We are runnning a little low on water, not very but we want to hit faucets tomorrow at a campground. A water oppurtunity comes around sunset though as we walk by a USGS observatory complex surrounded by barb wire fences. There is a house with lights on, an observatory with the telescope open and two cars parked. People are there, but neither of us want to yell for water. We kind of have enough, just more is better. There are three lakes coming up too.
Marshall Lake has already proved a bust. There might be water, but the lake bed itself which is almost a mile long is marshy at best. The water would be very hard to access through a half mile of muck and reads. We get to Vail lake after dark and it appears to also have no water. At least none is seen reflecting the nearly full moon. So we hike on, both feeling good and enjoying the cool temp of the night.
We decide to camp under a large ponderosa pine. Over a hundred years of it’s pine cones and needles have covered the lava with a soft duff, and I am able to scratch out a spot for the doghouse. My two person Henry Shires Tarptent. I think of all the happy times I have had with it in the wilderness, over the last two years that I have had it. This Cloudburst is getting a little old though. The zipper is dead, and the fabric is getting a little too stretchy. It is still a fine tent though for two people. I want to ask Henry Shires if he could make one out of Cuben Fiber for me. Though I think the Zpacks Hexamid was the way to go for a one person for sure. I would like to try the two person Zpacks tent. That would be cool. My friend Balls and his daughter Sunshine are using one right now on the Pacific Crest Trail. Sunshine is going to be the youngest person ever to do the PCT. There review of the tent would sell me on it.
We crash out fast after a dinner of two packs of Beef Ramen, with dehydrated Lentil soup added. I cook on my cat can stove, and am proud of how light my cooking system is. My pot, stove, fuel, windscreen and spoon weigh under half a pound. Less when I have less fuel. I also save weight by carrying light food, like Ramen.
Morning arrives with a nice cool dry atmosphere. There is no moisture from dew on the tent, everything else is also dry. Unlike the east coast where the inside of the tent would be beaded with moisture from breathing all night long, here in Arizona that evaporates out. There is also a nice view of the San Francisco peaks. Breakfast is granola with powdered milk. We break camp and restore the site, making it look like no one has been here before, then start walking at 7:30.
Kristin is getting some bad blisters on her feet, but more importantly we have no sunblock, so we decide to hitch back to Flagstaff to get some more, where we cross Lake Mary road, eight miles ahead. We plan on then hiking up Mount Elden and spending a few nights climbing over the San Francisco peaks. The morning is turning hot and sunny. The few clouds that were here when we started walking disappear, and the sun bakes us. Luckily I have my umbrella, and I give it to Kristin to use so she won’t burn her pale skin. There isn’t a lot of shade, but that makes for nice views across the Colorado Plateau. Unlike the Appalachian Trail where hikers are constantly in a long green tunnel, hiking on the Arizona Trail affords the traveller great views.
The quiet is intense out here. There is no noise. The general lack of water on the Colorado Plateau reduces bug populations to near zero, so there isn’t even the occasional whining of insect wings to break the silence. The clicking of grasshoppers is the only noise to be heard, and that only happens occasionally. As we drop of the mesa that we are on, and get to Lake Mary road, we start hearing traffic though.
This is Kristin’s first time hitch hiking, and we are soon picked up by a man who is camping up on the Plateau we just were on. He is heading to a store to get a 65 gallon drum filled up with water, and we happily hop in the back of his truck. It’s cool to see a road biker we jokingly both tried to hitch. We wave as we pass the guy pedaling his bike, and he smiles and waves back. Our ride drops us off at the Lake Mary Market, after we thank him for his kindness we go in and get water, which we are both out of.
After quenching our thirst we walk back out to the road, and the third car pulls over and picks us up. I tell Kristin that she is really good luck to hitch hike with. Without a pretty girl in a bright hiking skirt, I might as well have walked back to Flagstaff. Just by myself it would have taken two hours to get a ride.
Hey You is the trail name of the man who picks us up. He immediately asks us if we are Arizona Trail Hikers, a product of our lighter packs, gaiters, and duct tape on our poles. He knows me and thanks me several times for posting my water updates to the Arizona Trail water report. He did 235 miles of the trail last year, and the updates really helped him out. Some of the entries on the report are over two years old.
Hey You takes us right to Kristin’s apartment, then he continues north. He is on his way to do trail work on the AZT just south of the Grand Canyon. I thank him not only for the ride, but for the effort he is putting in on making the trail better. Hey You also informs us that a aluminum pipe works just as well as an iron rock bar in moving trees that block the trail after he cuts them with his cross cut saw. He says that the strenght of the bar is in the outside circumference, and that a solid rock bar adds extra weight to a trail crews load for no reason.
Kristin and I shower up and head downtown. We eat at the Mandarin Garden buffet, the worst Chinese buffet I have been to all summer, and unfortunately the closest to home. Dairy Queen afterwards makes up for the bad Chinese food. Unfortunately though, the Flagstaff Dairy Queen is ridiculously expensive. My large M&M Blizzard is $5.99, and unlike every other DQ that I have ever been to, it only fills the cup, there isn't a three inch mound of goodness sticking out the top.
After DQ we head back to Kristin's house and watch A Haunting In Connecticut with her roommate Joe. It wasn't a very scary movie, but it did make some interesting points about the dead being around us, and people who are near death being able to see them. Kristin's roommate Jeremy came home and then went for a beer run. He came back with a 30 pack of Cuyamaco, and we played beer pong till one in the morning. Fun Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment