Mazatzal Divide Trail - AZT Passage #23 Backpack

[wanderingsoul]

That is a nice shot Amibika... Gives it an old time look from back before we had color pictures. Pretty neat!
Sounds like it was a nice time, a bit chilly at times maybe, but you also helped out. So sounds like a good one.

And you Shawn. 32 mi? What's next? Holy cow.
Pics that I've seen look real nice. Thanks for sharing
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Wanderingsoul (Michelle)

Positive Thinking Is the Spark that Makes Dreams Happen~~~Unknown

[windymesa]

Sorry I am late on the post trip comments... business travel and Ambika's cold occupied my time, but I'm on Rumple Mintz and doing ok.

The hike was totally awesome for "big views" of the west rim of the Verde River and beyond to the Bradshaws, Superstition Mountains and four Peaks to the south, the San Fransisco Peaks and Bill Williams Mountains to the North, and finally at the last 3000 foot decent, the Mogollon Rim and Payson environs and distant ranges to the east. The views were great thanks to the Willow Fire of 2004. It was all worth the physical and mental challenge of the toughest trail I have experienced.. primarily between, Bear Spring, and Hopi Spring. The Willow fire burned very completely, but did spare Chilson Camp, and The Park. There were two primary obstacles... fallen snags over the trail, and post fire-loving brush specis that were about 3 to 5 foot tall.... oak, manzanita, and what I am calling cat claw (from which I still have wounds). The fallen snags were kind of fun for us long legged people, and Shawn and I were dedicated "tree huggers" by necessity. The far biggest challenge was that caused by the new pioneering, fire loving shrubs... they totaly obscured the trail. It was a constant mental challenge to locate, and stay on the trail in an area so rocky, that the trail isn't much of a trail to begin with. The trail downloaded into the Garmin was a help and assisted us in locating the trail, but tracking skills and reading the lay of the land via topo map was a constant activity to stay on course. The trail steward was great and had placed a single rock on logs and made some ground cairns in places, but not nearly enough to navigate soley by his rocks cairns. Occasionaly he had flagging, but very rarely. The brush was a tough go, and the cat claw will tear at your legs, and forearms.... so gloves, long pants, and long sleeve shirts are a must, and even then, I bear the marks from thorns penetrating my clothes to my forearms, and thighs. The manzanita was leafed out of course, but the oak and the cat claw are still leafless... or the visual location of the trail would have been even worse... and probably would have slowed us down even more the second day from Bear Srpings to Hopi Spring. When these two shrubs leaf out in a few months, the trail location challenge and hike through time will increase significantly. MIKEINFHAZ may have a tougher trail location challenge than we had if he goes in May. The trail steward has his job cut out, as these post fire brush species will be tough to control in keeping the trail open. I wouldn't take a horse on this section, and definitely not anyone I loved. The last section from Hopi Spring to City Creek was actually like being on a trail.. instead of cross country hiking. We ran across a backpacker's camp at the Park. We booked on the last 5 miles of good downhill trail to the City Creek Traihead, due to lack of snag falls and brush. This was a great hike, a great challenge for a couple of old masochist's, and it was a pleasure to meet folks. See you next time.
Dave

[MikeInFHAZ]

Dave, the poker bush you refer to is called New Mexico Locust. Interestingly, Shrub Live Oak that grows over the trail are evergreens, but sometimes loses it's leaves in the spring! and grows them in the fall.
I haved hiked the Cornucopia trail, the Maz Divide trail, and all other eastern sloping trails except Rock Creek and the northern 5 miles of the Divide. I just have to familiarize myself with the south side of passage #22 but that seems fairly straightforward - these trails while sometimes tricky to follow dont seem extreme by any means. I wanted to hike from Doll Baby Ranch south but the trail steward there says its better to start at City Creek (4 mi away) so I'll just do that and go south to where the AZT passes under the highway down by Sycamore Creek. 2 nights should be plenty to the experienced here. Ive plotted it out to be 48 miles.
So, anyone interested?
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bridge hammock, quilts and tarp (all DIY)

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[desertgirl]

[Tom Treks]

[MikeInFHAZ]

i just dont have time available for longer treks. wish i did!
then i had this hair brained idea to hike from Marshall Lake to Fountain Hills but there is no way I can get a full week off.
so im stuck with the 20 mile overnights.

btw Tom, did you like Bear Saddle? isnt it strange how both sides of the saddle caught fire and burned to a crisp but the saddle remained clear? very cool if you ask me... and if you looked south down into the head of Deer Creek from Bear Saddle, that is where Steve and I got into some issues last year...from bear saddle we took the creekbed all the way back to Mt. Peeley trailhead. (that explains why it took an extra night camping ) pretty rugged!
_________________
http://www.arizonahikers.com/board/albums/albwb18/BRIDGE.sized.jpg
bridge hammock, quilts and tarp (all DIY)

what i do

[Tom Treks]

I agree that Bear Saddle is a cool place. It's hard to believe that the fire just jumped that area. Terry seemed to think it was because of the spring and soil saturation.

I sure hope that the section of trail 23 that is already pretty washed out doesn't get any more hard rain. It would be a real trick getting past.