My new riding partner was Corinne Geertsen. Ron had friends coming to visit, so he wanted to sit this one out. We drove to Tucson and up the Catalina Highway onto Mt Lemmon and into Gordon Hirayabashi Camp (formerly Prisoner Camp). The weather was perfect; cool but not cold, breezy but not windy. We put the mules into the corrals and set up the camp near a big cottonwood tree...perfect !
Billy and Rosie Relax
Gordon Hirayabashi Camp-Prisoner Camp
Jane checks out the bear-proof camp
Dick Cooks Dinner
Thursday, April 26
We set off toward Hutch's Pool near the head of Sabino Canyon.
There had been a bad fire through this area a few years ago and trail work has been done part of the way into the upper reaches of Sabino Canyon. Not all of the trail has been reworked yet and is quite narrow in places due to erosion. (Another time I was glad to be on a mule!)
But even with mules, we felt it was prudent to get off and lead in many places, if there was room to get off! There was clear water running in some of the drainages we crossed and somehow the fire had "jumped" these riparian areas! Swaths of pink penstemon flowers were thick on the steep slopes.
We judged some of the slopes to be about 70 degrees of slant (90 degrees being straight up). We did NOT take pictures there!
Our turnaround was forced at the main fork of Sabino Canyon which was choked with boulders for about 80 yards across. The trail sign there, at a tributary wash, had been dug out of the sand just enough to be read. These signs normally are about 3 ft high, so more than 3 ft of sand had come down just this one small tributary!
But there was grass there and a nice shady place to have lunch and try out the satelite phone. After a few tries, I was able to talk to Dick in camp. It was very reassuring to know that we could communicate with him no matter what the terrain was like between us riders and camp.
The ride out was less "exciting" because it was uphill and so we were able to ride more, get off less.
In one of the riparian areas we met the pack goats that we had seen on our last time in this area. The goats came right up to the mules, who were also curious.
Back in camp, Dick had snacks out for us, and then a dinner of beef stroganoff! Watching for satellites, a glass of wine, what a great way to end the day!! (The evening's entertainment was watching Corinne put up a 4 person tent -it had something that looked like a doggie door!)
Friday, April 27
In the morning we trailered up to the fire station near the top of Mt Lemmon. The temporary equestrian route of the AZT goes down Oracle Ridge which starts at the fire station. This area was also invovlved in the big fire a few years ago.
Almost immediately we encountered trees down across the trail; not very big trees but due to the steepness of the slope we felt that it was prudent for us to get off and lead over, or around, these trees.
Somewhere in this tree hopping, Rosie's crupper broke, but we didn't notice it at the time. The crupper is a round strap of leather that fits under the tail and holds the saddle from sliding forward when the animal is going down a steep place. There were quite a number of steep places on this trail so we improvised a crupper using the breast collar. The breast collar had a sheepskin pad at the triangle so that was perfect to go under her tail, and a red bandana wrapped around the other piece of leather completed our "McGyver" arrangement. Oh, and we attached this invention to the saddle using the saddle strings . Corinne didn't trust the flimsy saddle strings, so she walked down the steeper places (and there were plenty of them), and since she no longer had a breast collar, she also walked UP the steeeper places (and there were a few doozies of those too). The obvious thing for her to do was to tail up these steep places. (Tailing is: holding onto the animals tail while he is going uphill and he pulls you along.) I knew that Billy would " tail" but we didn't know about Rosie. Time to find out. She was a champ!So I rode Billy, lead Rosie, Corinne tailed Rosie, and on we went! Oracle Ridge is a very high, long, and isolated ridge on the north side of Mt Lemmon. So the views are tremendous! We could see the whole San Pedro valley to the east and Biosphere II to the west ! At one point an Apache helicopter flew very near us as it was cruising up and over the ridges and canyons on the north side of the mountain. As we were eating lunch, a swarm of bees "swarmed" over the ridge heading east. After about 11 miles of rough, rocky trail we came onto the very well maintained northern end of this section. The trail here was fun to ride; good footing, easy contoured grades, trees and grass and flowers..... Then, far off, below us, we could see the roof of the American Flag ranch house. So glad to get into camp; it had been a difficult day. Dick had the camp set up; shower tent up; hot water for showers; snacks; ice for cold drinks!!!!
Rosie watched the sun set in camp at American Flag.
Saturday, April 28
This day was going to be a rest day for the mules, and us.
Dick cools off.At 3 o'clock we were going to go up to Tecolote Ranch where we would camp for the night and be ready for the next day's ride to Kelvin on the Gila River. Tecolote Ranch is about 20 miles north of Oracle. However, the weather began to change. Clouds were building; wind picking up.... So we started packing up the camp. Just as we are finished packing the van and are loading up the mules, the rain really starts to come down! Big raindrops on the windshield and some big splats of hail too! We are not going out onto that ranch road! When you don't know what else to do, find food. We found a restaurant, parked the van and trailer into the wind and went in to eat and discuss our options.
We went to Superior; camped near Picket Post TH.
Sunday, April 29
We got an early start to get ahead of the heat as much as possible. We rode north, under the highway. This section of the Arizona Trail is a beautiful example of upper Sonoran Desert!! Billy looked both ways before crossing:
The Ocotillo was in bloom.
Diane and Billy paused for a photo at a rock cairn marking the trail.
Hedgehog cacti were blooming.
The views of the huge monolith of PicketPost Mountain are incredible! The cool, shady confines of Whitford Canyon are a delight!
Rosie and Corinne share a moment.
Whitford canyon. Duck!
And this part of the Arizona Trail is the closest to Phoenix. By the time we got back to camp, at about 2 o'clock, it was uncomfortably hot, high 90's. And the gnats were going after us and the animals with a vengence! We decided that was enough fun and packed up so that we could drive home on a Sunday instead of a Monday. So, that will be all for this time. I hope to be able to pack over the Matzatzals in June, and then go to Pine and up onto the Rim. Thanks for blogging along with me !! Diane
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