Mazatzal Wilderness? * Now with a trip report! *

[Weldor]

Up here right now, cold and rain plus some wind. Was beautiful yesterday. Water running in all the creeks from melt off reall cool. High today 38 low 25. Enjoy!

 

[mtwarden]

^ Sweet!

 

[Weldor]

Snowing now!

 

[mtwarden]

Snowing now!

if anyone else needs snow, just invite us down- it follows us closely

 

[mhedlund]

Any recent photos? See any wildlife?

 

[Mykolaivka887]

I'm counting on hitting at least some snow at 6000'+, hopefully not up to our thighs!

No, right now the snow on top of the Mazatzals (7,000 feet) over on the north facing slopes, is only about ankle deep. South facing slopes are bare. Elk are almost about to start dropping antlers up there.

 

[mtwarden]

First thanks for everyone who posted, it was a lot of help!

Weather- we had nearly perfect weather, highs 50's & 60's, lows mid 20's to low 30's (had some ice in my water bottle every morning!)

The first two days we were on the AZT- trails were well maintained and well marked. We hit several patches of snow higher, but the longest was ~ 1/4 mile. I think a couple of weeks earlier a person would have fought a lot more snow.

We got to watch a California condor the first night where we were camped (south end of Maztzal Peak)- pretty darn cool watching him(her?) work the thermals. Looked nearly the size of a hang glider!

Camp with Mazatzal Peak in the background.

A little Alpenglow (with a full moon approaching)

We passed a fair number of folks on the trail (maybe 15) as everyone was headed north to complete the AZT. Lots of talk about rerouting at Pine due to higher than normal snow north of there.

Water- we had ample water the entire 80-ish miles, probably no further than 3 miles at any stretch (and usual much less). The bigger creeks were running, all the marked springs were good to go and a few springs/seeps not on the map. No doubt due to the abundance of snow this winter.

We dropped a ton of elevation as we headed towards Thicket Spring.

We made it to McFarland Canyon- beautiful campsite w/ a nice running creek. It was also tucked in nicely which was good as that night they were call for very high winds- possible gusts to 70 mph. I added lots of rocks to my stakes, but it was only breezy in the canyon.

Within a 1/2 mile of leaving the AZT the trail became faint and eventually non- existent.

We were able to navigate pretty well without a trail. The "trail" would drop us into Sheep Ck after a pretty good climb up and over. This was a pretty cool area, fairly dense hardwood trees and very shaded. Sheep Ck was running nicely too. We saw a fresh lion track in a damp wash.

Sheep Ck at lunch

As we broke out of the trees the country opened up and we started seeing Coues deer. First for either of us; pretty wary I have to say even though these deer have likely seen very few people (of course a lion in the area would make you wary ).

A few up and downs and arounds would land us in Davenport Wash- which was also running nicely. This area held a lot of large saguaros, some very large! We continued to see Coues in the grassier sections.

Look at the size of this saguaro! (Tom's standing in front of it)

I should mention, still no sign of any trail- even though I'm 100% we were on it or crossed at times.

Since we left the AZT we became very well acquainted with manzanita, cat claw and slug of other dense, thorny brush. But we really going to get an education when we left the wash and headed for the South Fork of Deadman Creek. We had to cross draw after draw, each seemingly with thicker brush. At times we were walking off the ground standing on manzanita (or worse some thorn adorned brush). We quickly ditched the idea of even roughly following the trail as it led into what appeared even denser brush.

Now would anyone expect to find an elk shed in the middle of this mess?

After several tough hours, we finally hit some more open grassy country and actually found the remnants of the trail. It led us steeply down to the SF of Deadman Ck. Now to say this creek surprised us would be an understatement. Steep rocky walls and just a beautiful cascading creek- Nirvana, especially after what we had just been through.

It was only 2:00 PM, but we decided to camp here (the other alternative was a very steep climb out and thought the cool morning would be a better time to make that climb!).

We were up early the next morning and refreshed from our long recovery. Cross the creek and up (and up).

As we were climbing I saw a pannier on the ground- had some freeze dried food, heavier propane stove, some horse feed and a few other assorted items. Tom found a denim shirt and despite the mouse holes chewed in it (said his wife could mend it) decided to throw in his pack

Still no trail

Maza's back in sight

We eventually made it to Chilson Camp where we ate lunch. We could have caught the AZT pretty easily but decided to take the road less travelled and head for Brody Springs where there was supposed to be a trail. Not a giant surprise, but little remained of the trail and as we got closer to the spring you could see there was a major washout some years past. We climbed upward towards the AZT (sometimes literally on hands and knees!!!!). We were just a 1/4 mile shy of the AZT and we were suddenly standing in a trail surrounded by thick brush. Tom took this as a good omen and decided to hike the Fisher trail towards Bear Spring, I didn't fall for that and headed straight for the AZT and would meet him later at Bear Spring.

I'm glad I listened to my instincts because it was almost dark when Tom showed up- cut up, bruised up and otherwise beat up. Said he was almost immediately out of trail when we split up and it was heel on earth the rest of the way

We spent our last night in the Mazatzal's, thankful for our adventure and a new appreciation for a new ecosystem.

End of the trail, not looking too worse for the wear, but I have been picking out thorns for the last two days

Thanks for reading.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Good write-up. The Mazatzals and the Galiuros are my two favorites in Arizona. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MudBugVa]

Thanks for sharing. I cant get over the size of that cactus!

 

[AKDoc]

Way cool adventure...thank you for sharing it with us!

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks Gents! Always fun to explore new country, especially country that is different from your own

 

[BigE]

Looks like an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing the great write up as well.

Next time you come down check out the Chiricahua Mountains. It's one of the most remote areas in the lower 48 and beautiful too. Arizona has a bunch of great areas to hike.

 

[MattB]

Arizona is an amazing state and, as you learned the hard way, you usually take home more than just memories. Those usually fester out after a week or two.

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks Guys!

The Chiricahua's look pretty interesting, will put that on the "list"

^My wife was able to get a half dozen out yesterday, guessing another half dozen to go

 

[SWOHTR]

Cool! Esp that Saguaro, wow!

I’ve always appreciated the different landscapes we are fortunate to have here in the US. While I wouldn’t live there (too hot for my liking) I appreciate it nonetheless.

 

[Tick]

Great pics. That cactus is amazing.

 

[mhedlund]

Thanks for the awesome trip report!

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks!

I have to post this pic; we hand't seen any sign of a trail for hours, but knew we were coming up a junction where we had to veer east. Lo and behold we came upon this sign (still not trail though), sign was unreadable, but surely marked the intersection of three "trails"

 

[7mm-08]

Arizona is an awesome state. That's the biggest Saguoro I've ever seen. Great writeup. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Arizona is an awesome state ......

Yes it is.