AZ Great Western Trail Bloody Basin section
 

Photos @ http://community.webshots.com/album/547777763LDdPAK

Completed a section of the GWT with a great group!

Thanks to Aaron, BX, Greg (TallBoy from YT) and Kent (from YT) for tagging along! All in all a relaxing putput on good roads. The fire crews had improved them since I'd been on them year ago. We crossed more water than I'd expected considering the drought, and saw lots of birds near streams. Western Blue Birds, Phenopepla and Gambles Quail were fairly common. We didn't see any large wildlife - I was surprised not to see antelope on the way thru.

BX got to do some trail testing with his nifty trailer! He also placed a new geocache along the route - great location!

We took our lunch break along Sycamore Creek. Beautiful location and outta the wind. Went on out past Dugas and headed north on the GWT to the Cherry Road (Hwy 169) and I-17 interchange. This section climbs into the juniper/pinion zone with larger hills and more forested terrain than the predominately grasslands found below Dugas. We were roughly 7 hours on the trail w/ several breaks for conversation and lunch.

Only had one minor problem - Kent's battery clamp came loose and that caused a few arcs and sparks when the battery shifted into the hood. He was lucky - the clamp and bolts were found wedged in the front clip!!!

Thanks again to those who came out!

See ya on the trail!

Mark

Ya that was a scary moment for me. We were coming down a small hill and my stereo started cutting in and out. Thought it might have been losing signal since we were out in the boonies. Next thing I knew, car died, all dash lights came on and I had no brakes. I had to pull on my hand brakes really hard and pull off to the dirt mount along the trail to stop the truck.

Other than that, trail was scenic and weather was great!

Kent

Mark - as a last minute trip, my good friend Ben (benman on YT) and I headed up to explore a small stream on Pine Mtn and do alittle fly fishing. We must have been just ahead of you guys on the 677 road north from Bloody Basin up towards Dugas. Caught a few fish and headed back home through Dugas and out. Cool area, I had never been up that way to Dugas. I prefer the 68G route, alittle more scenic but thats a FULL day trip coming from Bloody Basin or Seven Springs. We saw a couple hunters with some pigs...thats about it for wildlife besides some trout. We couldnt believe the amount of water in some of the creeks and washes still.

Lets all hope for some springtime rains!

Sweet!

Glad you guy's made it out prior to the sure to come closures! I've always been amazed at the number of perenial springs and streams up there - you'd never guess how nice it is from I-17. The hills look pretty bleak from a distance.

Hey, glad you guys had a good time! Sounds like fun. Nice trailer BX has there. :great: