AZT: North Sycamore Creek to Pond at Mile 476.3

The Stats:

On paper, today looks easier than yesterday.  For us today was harder.  We are all tuckered out.  We didn’t come to the trail in the best of shape and felt it today. 

It was a beautiful stretch of trail though.  Water everywhere.  The East Verde River had waterfalls and bridges even.   It is an area steeped in Arizona history too and there were some informational displays that we enjoyed reading.  I hadn’t realized that the Mogollon Rim, the mini Great Wall, was a significant barrier in the Apache wars.   South of the wall was Apache lands and north of it Hopi.  The trail we walked was a trade route for the native Americans.   The Apaches would also flee into the Rim country after raids or when being chased by the military.   Colonel Devin in 1872 got the idea that a road could be constructed from the Rim nearby to aid in the chase.  General Crook (what a name!) liked the idea and ordered some engineers to make it so. The road they designed and built was the very same road we climbed out of the canyon today.   Two miles and a thousand feet up. I was huffing and puffing a bit, but it did afford sweeping views to the south. 

 We hit large swaths of snow once we were on the Rim and did a fair share of post holing and slipping through  out the General Springs Canyon.   This canyon is a delight.  The trail follows the creek and crosses it numerous times.  Aspen stand tall along the bank in places and the contrast of snow, sky, water and black and sometimes red earth made a deep impression in my memory.  Time stood still for me in this place.  

This cabin is at the headwaters of General Springs Canyon.  It is lovely.   It was a fire guard station built in 1918 and the General Spring starts nearby. 

Unfortunately, the slipping and postholing took a toll on my knee and it began hurting.  Darn!  We stopped short of our plans for the day and are camped at what’s labeled a stock tank in Arizona.   To us it’s a pond with a loud chorus of frogs.  Luckily, there’s still snow, so I can ice my knees instead of a cold soak.   I think I’d come out of this pond looking something like a swamp monster.  

We met robins, jays, a lizard, 4 Germans day hiking sections, and Hobbit and Jackie out for an overnight trip.  We saw elk prints and scat as well as deer sign.