Passage 31: Walnut Canyon - Bit 2

Saturday, October 28, 2013 our lads and ladies team tackled bit 2 of the AZ trail adventure. The week prior to the hike Ahyoka and Begochidi did some recon with a new forest usage road map to nail down and identify where we can hop off the AZ trail onto specific forest roads. This trip we took the four wheel drive vehicle, good ol' Jeep, to get us to our starting spot and pick us up at the end.  This hike was filled with laughs and wildlife! We all love hiking in the pine trees, the terrain is beautiful.

We are back on the trail again! Having started at Sandy Canyon campground, this time we are heading north.

Three amigos hiking the AZ Trail!

Walking up the wide part of Walnut Canyon and enjoying the view, the moon was pretty above the trees. We saw a lot of fellow hikers along this part of the trail with their furry friends.

Where are we?  

Somehow we started right before lunch, without having lunch. Who planned that? Trekker is checking our GPS coordinates to see if we are there yet. The answer? No, we are not there yet. Lunch will have to wait.  

One small part of Walnut Canyon

We made it to the bottom of Fisher Point. It's all up hill from here! We all were enjoying the strata of the rock face.

I found one cloud! Looking off towards Flagstaff.

Once we were up on the hill we started to see more wildlife. There were a lot of birds active in the trees. Some of the birds we spotted were; western blue birds, Stellar jays, crows, hummingbirds, and finches all busy getting ready for the winter.

Documenting our progress

We made it to the top and decided to detour to Fisher Point for a break. This is where we came across several groups of horseback riders out on the trail.

Last time we never found Fisher Point, but this time we made it! 

We made some new friends at Fisher Point. This pretty girl is an Italian Mastiff. At the small weight of 80 pounds, she is the runt of the litter! Far under weighing her 120 pound plus siblings. She was a sweet heart and was quite the trooper hiking along side the horses.

After we had a nice break at Fisher Point, we headed on down the trail. Trekker was leading with Ahyoka next as I brought up the rear. We were actually all quiet and not talking or laughing, which is rare.  When all of a sudden, a voice whispered over my shoulder "To the right".  This startled me causing me to turn at which time I screamed like a girl as the trail runner guy went by. Resulting in Ahyoka turning to see what was wrong and seeing the man next to me screamed herself. Trekker was giggling along with the man as he went on down the trail. This caused uncontrollable mini mass hysteria!!!! We could not stop laughing for about 5 minutes at how ridiculous the situation was! Thirty minutes later on the runner's return trip as he passed by us, he said "Boo", resulting in uncontrollable localized mini mass hysteria, again! He is now known as the Boo Man.    

What do you see? 

Further down the trail Ahyoka was leading and abruptly stopped, shushing Trekker and me. It looked like a train wreck as we quickly obliged stumbling into each other. The reason for this abrupt stop was spotting a doe just off the trail. The mule deer was watching this whole crazy procedure, probably wondering who let this noisy group of bright yellow shirts loose in the forest.    

At this point we are a little off kilter.

Here we are at the end of our bit of the Arizona Trail this trip. We survived a 7.6 mile hike in total, but 5.5 on the AZ trail!

Elevation Change Passage 31 Bit 2

GPS Trail Map Passage 31 Bit 2

Words of wisdom inspired by hiking the Arizona Trail.
* "Individually people are smart. Committees are stupid."
* Looking at the map, "Ooooh! Those lines are close together!"
* "There is a bullet in my camera case!"
* "Gorilla bumps get caught in the bungees", as we were trying to remove the camera tripod from the backpack.

Until our next bit....

Passage 31: Walnut Canyon - Bit 1

Saturday, September 21, 2013 part of our group got up before the sun to head north to passage 31 near Flagstaff. I was already in the area and planned to meet up with them before heading to the trail head. We will be tackling the AZ Trail in little bits. For several weeks each of us did some research to determine what section would be a good place to start! After combing over all types of maps, such as the forest road maps, street maps, AZ Trail hiking map, we thought we had a game plan to start near Fisher Point and hike our way down to Marshall Lake.

After a breakfast stop in Camp Verde and a Starbucks drive thru, Ahyoka, Trekker, and Begochidi met up with me at a rendezvous point at the junction of Porky's Restaurant and Chevron, which has a bathroom. Next, we hit the road according to the map in search of a way to connect to the AZ Trail near Fisher Point. After many attempts to get past the new home developments (Beautiful custom home tour!), it appears many of the forest roads have been blocked off. Finally finding access to a forest road, (should be called mud and ruts) we drove for about four miles through the forest. We finally stopped when the un-maintained mud road ahead looked like a lake. The commuter car was rejecting this premise of off-roading. We advise taking the 4x4 for the next trip. We paused in the forest to revise Plan A and envisioned a Plan B. (See photo below - To many maps, not enough roads) So we turned back to town to finalize Plan B. First stop at the Mobile to get a hat and check out the restrooms. Passing by Subway we determined it was lunch and time to refuel. 

To many maps, not enough roads!

Several hours later, arriving at Sandy Canyon Campgrounds, Gilligan's Island has nothing on us! We forged off to find the Sandy Canyon Trailhead that would connect with the AZ Trail. According to the maps and descriptions, it would be a really short hike! <Guffaw!>

We started out with a mile and half hike from the Sandy Trail Campground trail head to join with the AZ Trail. As we climbed in and out of the Sandy Canyon we met some great fellow adventurers and their four legged companions.

After hiking through Sandy Canyon, we found the AZ Trail

Elk have been here recently

Horned Toad crossed our pathway

In addition to the horned toad, we also saw a Downy Woodpecker, blue jay, squirrels, chipmunks, and elk footprints. All of our giggling probably scared the elk and deer.

At one of the junctions looking at the San Francisco Peaks



Made it to Marshall Lake


After all is said and done we hiked 7.5 miles. At Marshall Lake, we meet up with Begochidi who had the car, thank GOD! Guess what?! There was water in Marshall Lake! Sorry, no picture, we were so DONE and ready for dinner at Olive Garden in Flagstaff.

We are all a little geeky and love to document data, below is the GPS data:

Elevation change Passage 31 Bit 1

GPS Trail Map Passage 31 Bit 1

Until our next bit...

The Epic Arizona Trail Journey Begins!

A dear friend of ours woke up one day and knew our next hiking goal was to explore and conqueror the AZ trail! We are a small group of friends that love to hike in our beautiful state of Arizona. We named our small group several years ago, Lads and Ladies. We are usually exploring hikes all over the state that we can take our beloved four legged furry family members. Our furry friends may only join us on certain parts of the AZ Trail. In addition to exploring this new journey of various terrain, wildlife, and plant life that Arizona has to offer, we wanted to share each step of the journey with you! We hope you will enjoy joining us on this 800+ mile journey for the next few years.