Bear Trail above Jerome

On 11 December 2010, fifteen Skyliners (John McInerney, Linda Tovar, Jan Prefontaine, Anita Jackson, Dolly Yapp, George Everman, Jim Manning, Dona Goodman, Daisy Williams, Marvin Alt, Lila Wright, Miriam Sterling, the author and two others) hiked on an old road running from the Walnut Springs/Jerome Grande Shaft area on Hwy 89A to Perkinsville Road.

For lack of a better name, we call this route Bear Trail for the large number of rather large bear tracks (right) we saw during a scouting hike on the trail six weeks earlier.

For this hike we drove through Jerome on Hwy 89A and parked alongside the highway at Walnut Springs. The old road we hiked on leaves the highway at the bridge in the hairpin turn, leads a short way up the wash and then loops back to pass by the Jerome Grande Shaft. The following picture shows us straggling from where we parked up the road to the bridge where the old road leaves Hwy 89A. Walnut Springs is located to the left of the highway where we are parked, and Jerome Grande Shaft is located up slope to the right.

Left to right: John McInerney and Linda Tovar - The rest of the party
 is strung out ahead

At first the road climbs steeply, rising 700 feet in the first mile and a half. From there it slopes gently downhill most of the way until it intersects with Perkinsville Road (FR 318) about two and one-half miles from the start of that road at the Fire Station in Jerome. It does become a bit rocky and pretty steep as it nears Perkinsville Road.

NOTE: About one and three-tenths of a mile from Hwy 89A, and almost to the top of the ridge, we came to a fork in the road. Our route for this hike led us to the right. However, Jim Manning had researched the road leading to the left and determined that it is FR 503A and that it comes out after about four miles on Hwy 89A at a hairpin turn just above the exit at Mescal Tank. We are scheduling FR 503A for a scouting hike to determine its suitability for a future Skyliner hike.

The elevation at the end of today’s hike was almost exactly the same as at the beginning. In other words we climbed and descended 700 feet each way to and from the high point of the trail which is about one and one-half miles from Hwy 89A.

Some of the hikers stopped when we started down the rather rocky descent to Perkinsville Road, ate lunch there and waited for the rest of the group to return. Three hikers who continued on down to the end of the trail chose to return to Jerome by Perkinsville Road and wait at the Firehouse to be picked up as the main group returned to Cottonwood.

After downloading the file from my GPS and cleaning it up on the computer to remove false signals picked up along the way, I found the hiking distance to be seven and eight-tenths miles round trip.

Daisy, one of the hikers who returned by way of Perkinsville Road, was kind enough to carry my GPS and measure the distance to the firehouse in Jerome. That turned out to be just two and one-half miles.

I think we all agreed that this was a very good hike, with great views all along the way. One could modify it if desired by leaving cars in Jerome (The parking area on Perkinsville Road beyond the firehouse would do nicely), driving on to Walnut Springs and hiking back to Jerome by the old road (Bear Trail) and Perkinsville Road. That would be just over a six-mile hike with all the serious climbing at the start.

Although the views were great, I had recently scouted the trail and didn’t take any additional pictures on this hike. However, I am including several photographs from the October 28, 2010 scouting hike just to show what the views are like from this trail.

Looking out across the old copper pits at Verde Valley and on to
the Mogollon Rim – 28 October 2010

Looking down a canyon into Verde Valley – 28 October 2010

This is a 7.8 mile round trip hike. The highest elevation is 6466 feet and the total ascent is 782 feet.

On the included map (below), Bear Trail is shown in red, Perkinsville Road from the trailhead to the Jerome Firehouse in green and Hwy 89A in yellow.

Casner Quarries Road and Robbers Roost

Fourteen Skyliners turned out to hike to the old sandstone quarries on Casner Mountain and visit Robbers Roost on December 4, 2010.

We left Cottonwood traveling north on Hwy 89A, turned left onto Forest Road 525 at the Sedona Water Treatment facility (just past mile marker 364) and followed FR 525 for two and eight-tenths miles before turning left onto FR 525C. On FR 525C (Sycamore Pass Road) we drove seven miles before turning right onto FR 9530, the road leading past Robbers Roost to the old sandstone quarries on Casner Mountain. FR 9530 is very rough, suitable only for four-wheel drive vehicles. We drove up the mountain on it for one and one-half miles and parked across a wash from Robbers Roost, located about half a mile to the east.

Leaving Robbers Roost for later, we donned our packs and headed on up the road toward the old quarry sites. The road, still suitable for four-wheel drive vehicles, climbed about 500 feet up the mountain in the first six tenths of a mile.

Skyliners trudging up the mountain beyond Robbers Roost

At this point the road forks, one branch leading straight across the face of the mountain while the other angles on up the mountain for a short distance and then turns to cut across the mountain parallel to the lower road. Neither branch is any longer suitable for vehicular travel, being overgrown with Catclaw Mesquite in places and littered with fallen rock. Before leaving the fork we took some time to investigate the remains of an old structure that had been located there, probably a building put up by a mining company. The only signs of a building left now are several pieces of metal roofing, the remains of an old heater and miscellaneous metal accessories.

We chose to first explore the lower road. Although we encountered some Catclaw Mesquite along the way, it was possible to avoid most of it with a bit of care, and the road was level, a relief after climbing 500 feet in the first six-tenths of a mile up to the fork. A bit over a hundred yards from the fork we found a makeshift shelter formed of rocks and a piece of metal roofing scavenged from the building remains we had noted back at the fork. A fire pit, complete with a wire mesh top, making it suitable for grilling was constructed in front of the structure. A pot showing signs of much use was placed alongside the grill and a supply of fuel was neatly stacked nearby. The building was just large enough to provide shelter for one occupant. George climbed in to check it out and we immediately named the location “George’s Summer Home.”

Shelter with fire pit, fuel and pot

George has found himself a new home

We decided to tarry a bit at the area and Donna volunteered to be the group chef. We were not sure of her culinary skills but no one else volunteered. We decided that since we were all gathered to watch Donna pretend cook, this would be a good spot for our group photograph and George unlimbered our new lightweight tripod for a group photograph.

Our new chef – photograph by John

Gorillapod - our new lightweight tripod

watch Donna pretend cook, this would be a good spot for our group photograph and George unlimbered our new lightweight tripod for a group photograph.

Group picture. Posed in front of George’s Summer Home. Back row: 

Pauline Ordanez, Marvin Alt (actually in front of Pauline), Betty Wolters, 

Daisy Williams, Miriam Sterling, Name Withheld, Jim Manning, Gordon 

Bice; Front row: Chef Donna Goodman, Linda Tovar, John McInerney, 

the author, Dolly Yapp and George Everman - Photo by George with time 

delay

The old road we were following ended a little less than three-tenths of a mile from the fork and we turned back to try the other fork. Along the way, we paused often to gaze out on the views spread out before us across Verde Valley to Mingus Mountain to the southwest, to the White Mountains to the southeast and across Sedona to the Mogollon Rim to the east.

Haze-shrouded Cockscomb (left), Courthouse Butte (center)

and Scheurman Mountain (right foreground) with the 

Mogollon Rim in the background

We got several excellent shots of the views as shown following.

Doe Mountain (left), cockscomb), Scheurman Mountain, Rosie’s Volcano 

and House Mountain floating in the haze below the Mogollon Rim

(top mountain range) – Photo by John

Sugarloaf (center) with Mingus Mountain beyond and Black Mountain 

to the right – Photo by George

Returning to the fork and taking the upper road, we found that we were presented with the same spectacular views. This road ended about two-tenths of a mile from the fork, and we headed back down the mountain. As we walked along we were able to look down on the top of Robbers Roost directly below us with its pools of rainwater collected in the rock tanks glinting in the sunlight. I wanted to eat lunch there and, stopping to point out the spot, got agreement from the rest of the group. We then continued on our way back down the mountain. As we approached Robbers Roost, we could still view the haze-shrouded valley laid out beyond our goal.

We stopped to look down at Robbers Roost – Photo by George

Doe Mountain, Cockscomb, Scheurman Mountain, Rosie’s Volcano and 

House Mountain are lined up above Robbers Roost with the 

Mogollon Rim floating just above as a backdrop – Photo by George

As we got closer to Robbers Roost, we could see a road below leading off to our left that appeared to wind around and pass very near to where we would begin our climb up the formation. Gordon, John and Linda decided to take that route just to see how it compared with the normal trail from the road where we were parked. John took his GPS and later sent me a track. A comparison of the two different approaches showed that the alternate route was two-tenths of of a mile longer; it also involved some bushwhacking.

After climbing to the top of Robbers Roost we climbed very carefully along the steep cliff face to reach the cave itself.

Hikers arriving and leaving Robbers Roost Cave

The round window carved in the wall fascinated everyone.

The window – sometimes used by tourists 

Sometimes by groups of tourists Photograph by George

The cave is quite spacious and has a solid rock wall along the front. At first glance, it looks like a good place to hole up. However, if one were a robber it would be extremely difficult to escape once treed here by a posse. It would take only a few sharpshooters to ring the entire butte in which the cave is located.

Rock wall fronting the mouth of Robbers Roost Cave – Photo by John

Once everyone was through with the cave we all retired to the top and settled in for lunch. I found a nice grassy spot for a quick snack and a nap and some of the group gathered to chat while eating; others settled in individually at good vantage points from which to enjoy the views. Robbers Roost has a choice spot for everyone.

The social eaters – photo by John

A solitary eater – photo by John

As for me, I slept through it all, not stirring until George came for me and said that it was time to go.

On the way back we watched to find where Mooney Trail 12 leaves FR 525C. I knew that it was somewhere near Black Tank; but was not sure just where Black Tank was located. We found the trailhead just one and three-tenths miles from FR 9530, or coming from the other directions, five and seven-tenths miles from FR 525. I marked the spot for reference as we plan to hike Mooney Trail in the near future.

My GPS track disclosed that we had hiked a total distance of three and one-half miles, that the maximum elevation was 5637 feet and that our total ascent was 1158 feet.

The track for this hike is shown in red on the included map (below). The alternate route to Robbers Roost is also shown (see the yellow track).

Tomkins Trail 513

Thirteen strong, a party of Skyliners braved the 1600-foot climb on rock-strewn Tompkins Trail 513 on 27 November 2010.

Standing, left to right: Jim Manning, Linda Tovar, John MacInerney, 

Marvin Alt, Ellis Price, Name Withheld, Miriam Sterling; Sitting/kneeling: Lila 

Wright, Dolly Yapp, Kwi Johnson, Virginia Driscoll, George Everman, 

Betty Wolters - Photograph by Gorillapod, using George’s camera.

Taking group pictures has always been a bit of a tricky proposition for us; even though we have cameras with time-delay features it is not always possible to find a place to position a camera. In the past we have sometimes placed it on a backpack, a suitable rock, or even a sturdy tree branch. Now, however, we think we have solved the problem. Meet our new photographer’s assistant, the Gorillapod (right). Shown here, positioned sturdily on it’s three legs, for the above photograph, it can also wrap itself around tree branches to provide a shooting platform for a time-delay shot.

From Cottonwood, we drove to Camp Verde on Hwy 260, continued across I-17 for one and seven-tenths miles to turn right on Oasis Road. At the foot of the hill, about one-half mile from Hwy 260 and just before reaching Salt Mine Road, we turned right onto FR 136, the forest road running up Copper Canyon. We continued on FR 136 for two and one-half miles to park at the Trail 513 Trailhead, located in a sharp bend about sixty yards past a cattleguard. (NOTE: The trail marker has succumbed to vandalism and the top half, along with the trail number, is missing.)

The trail starts with a steep incline that varies little along the way except for a few very short sections until it tops out on a ridge near Tomkins Tank. (NOTE: I had previously called this trail Lucky Canyon Trail; however, I have since found it listed on a topo map as “Tomkins” Trail. That map also shows another trail running up Lucky Canyon (the canyon straight ahead of us when we topped the first ridge) to connect with the one we were following at this point, the divide between Copper Canyon and Lucky Canyon. All the maps that I have found with trail numbers do indicate that Tomkins is No. 513, so I guess we are safe to refer to it by that designation. Meanwhile, I have never been able to find where the trail running up Lucky Canyon actually connects with Trail 513.

Our trail, also used by 4-wheelers, was steep and littered with loose rock, requiring care to avoid sprained ankles. It did, however, provide great views back across Verde Valley to the San Francisco Peaks. If you are so inclined, you can also view the traffic on I-17 running up the other side of Copper Canyon.

View from Trail 513 across Verde Valley and the Mogollon Rim to the 

San Francisco Peaks beyond.

Somewhere along the trail George and Kwi found a clump of Paperspine Cactus, a species we had previously only seen at one other location. We also saw several examples of galling on the scrub oaks along the trail. See photograph (left) for two galls removed from a tree and displayed among the rocks on the trail. I have always wondered what caused this phenomenon and decided to find out. According to an entry in Wikipedia what we saw appears to be oak marble gall. The Wikipedia entry indicates that the gall provides the developing larvae with a safe refuge.¹

We wound our way slowly up the trail, stepping carefully to avoid loose rocks, stopping once along the way for a snack and several times just for a breather. At last, after having climbed over 1600 feet in a distance of one and two tenths (1²/₁₀) miles, we arrived at the top of the hill. When we topped out we were two tenths (²/₁₀) of a mile and 255 degrees true from Tomkins Tank. While most of us were resting, John and Kwi hiked out to a point we could see to our north that appeared to overlook Copper Canyon and the Verde Valley. When they returned to report that it was indeed a great viewpoint, we decided to hike to there for lunch and then head back down the trail, leaving ourselves time to visit the waterfall in Copper Canyon; the waterfall is after all very near the lower trailhead where we had parked.

Linda and Marvin are enjoying the view across Verde Valley; 

John is searching for Gold?

We all enjoyed the view and I got a good solid nap before we headed back.

Looking back down Trail 513 and across Verde Valley to the Mogollon Rim

– Photo by John

Leaving the viewpoint we made our way back to the trail. Although there was no trail to guide us back to Trail 513, the way was relatively clear of undergrowth and the going was fairly easy. A photograph by George (right) shows us straggling back lunch. It also gives an idea of the terrain through which we were hiking. We did have to stay alert to not have anyone become separated from the group as the trees were thick enough that anyone falling back more that twenty or thirty yards was in danger of losing sight of those in front.

Once back on the trail the going was easy in that it was all downhill; however, great care was required to avoid falls due to the sharp incline and loose rocks on the trail. Some found the descent harder on the knees than the ascent had been. Following is a photograph showing hikers carefully picking their way the trail. As you can clearly see each step requires care.

Descending the trail with care – Photograph by George

By the time we reached the spot where we had taken our first rest break on the way up the trail, the group had gotten scattered out and we stopped again to let everyone catch up before descending the rest of the way. As noted before this spot is on the rim of Lucky Canyon where, according to the map, a trail running up that canyon should join with Trail 513. However, I still saw no sign of it. When we had stopped here on the way up the trail, George had spent the time gathering brass, which was plentiful because the area is apparently used for target practice. Shown below are some of the shells George (with the help of Kwi and others) gathered during that first stop. I have also included a nice picture of a Hollyleaf Buckthorn.

Brass cartridges – Photograph by George

Hollyleaf Buckthorn – Photograph by George

A couple of the hikers continued on to the cars to wait, Kwi searched for more brass and then followed them, John arrived and decided to explore the immediate area, and I stretched out, pulled my hat over my face and served as a trail marker. After all, I reasoned, we didn’t want the rest of the party to pass us by without knowing we had stopped to wait.

When everyone had caught up we continued on down to the trailhead, about another four-tenths of a mile, doffed our backpacks and walked on down to the falls, just about a tenth of a mile away. The falls had a steady stream of water; however the foliage in the area was not as pretty as the last time

I was here, just one year ago. George did take a good photograph of a Squaw Bush.

Squaw Bush

The following photograph taken November 28, 2009, shows the area as it appeared then.

Taken from the top of the falls on November 28, 2009

According to my GPS our hike was five and one-tenth miles round trip and the elevation change was 1630 feet.

The included map (below) shows the GPS track for this hike.

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall_wasp

Verde River from Salt Mine Road via Ladder Trail

On 20 November 2010 fifteen hardy souls (Linda Tovar, John McInerney, Anita Jackson, Lila Wright, Kwi Johnson, Virginia Driscoll, Miriam Sterling, Daisy Williams, Betty Wolters, Dolly Yapp, George Everman, the author and three others), acting on faulty memories provided by myself and Lila, set out to hike to the Verde River from Salt Mine Road. We thought that we would reach the river at a point slightly above the Verde River Falls. As it turned out we reached the river almost a mile (about half a mile as the crow flies) below the falls.

As to how we actually reached the river, both Lila and I recognized the turnoff from Salt Mine Road onto the gated road leading toward the river. However, most of what we remembered after that was either wrong or changed. We both remembered having to leave the rough road and clamber down a wash to reach the river. What we actually found this time was that if we turned right when the road forks about one and four-tenths of a mile from the gate and continued for another seventh-tenths of a mile the road would end at the top of a bluff overlooking the river. From there Ladder Trail #16 leads steeply down the bluff to the river, descending 250 feet in a tenth of a mile. I paused to take a picture looking upstream from the trail.

Looking upstream along the Verde River from Trail 16

On reaching the bottom of Trail 16 and still believing ourselves to be upriver from the falls, we turned downstream to see whether we could reach them before lunchtime when we intended to turn back.

Just a few yards downstream from the trailhead we found an old mine tunnel in the face of the cliff. We entered and discovered that it ended just thirty feet in. It would have made a great shelter except that it was a little close to the waterline for comfort. Although I saw no signs of water having entered recently, I thought that it might happen during extreme flooding conditions. Other than some rat droppings and a single bird nest on the ceiling, the tunnel held little of interest to us.

Opening to old mine tunnel

Nest on ceiling of mine tunnel

Continuing on down the bank of the river, we came first to a cable strung across the river high up on the cliff walls to carry a car back and forth (below). The reason for the cable car was unclear as there seemed to be absolutely nowhere to go once the car reached the sheer cliff wall on the other side. A bit farther along we passed a water gage system, installed with a solar panel and an antenna to transmit readings (below).

Aerial Cable Car

Water gage system

Approximately three-tenths of a mile from the trailhead we passed the mouth of the canyon carved by Chasm Creek and continued for about as far again before deciding to give up on finding the falls and stop for lunch. We ate lunch just across the river from Sycamore Canyon.

Although we were disappointed that we hadn’t reached the falls, it was time to turn back after lunch and we started back upriver. Along the way we spotted what appeared to be a large wooden ladder positioned against the canyon wall. As with the cable car, we never determined it’s purpose. We assumed that both structures might have something to do with observing Bald Eagles, as we were in a nesting area. A bit later George spotted a group of River Otters frolicking in the water; unfortunately they were gone before he could unlimber his camera. In the same area, he discovered some tracks that we could not identify. The pad resembles a dog track (photograph by George at right), however, this critter also had long, scary-looking claws.

The trip upriver seemed a lot longer than our trip down the river had been, and after a while we seemed to be struggling through dense undergrowth that we had not encountered on the way down. Finally, we stopped and with reference to a GPS found out why. We had overshot our mark by about four-tenths of a mile. We had all been convinced that we could not possibly fail to see either the mineshaft near the lower end of Trail 16 or the gate that marks the end of the trail. But we did. We promptly turned around and headed back, this time keeping a close check on the GPS. Even though, it marked the beginning of a steep 250-foot climb back to the road at the top of the bluff, we were all very happy to finally see the green gate that marked our trail.

In consideration of the misadventures experienced on this hike, and thinking we might want to do it again in the future, I have taken special care to record our hiking route. Also because even finding the beginning of the hike at Road 9039R presented a bit of a problem, I will provide detailed directions to that point. To reach Road 9039R at Salt Mine Road, take Hwy 260 to Camp Verde and start marking the mileage at I-17. Continue on Hwy 260 for one and seven-tenths miles and turn right onto Oasis. Follow Oasis for one-half of a mile to the bottom of the hill and turn right onto Salt Mine Road. Follow Salt Mine Road for six and three-tenths miles until you come to the end of the pavement. (NOTE: The paved road makes a sharp turn to the left at this point, but that is NOT Salt Mine Road). Continue straight ahead on Salt Mine Road (also marked as FR 574), now a dirt road. One mile ahead, Salt Mine Road, continues straight when FR 574 forks off to the right. Continue for another two and four-tenths miles to arrive at the gate that provides access to Road 9030R. Parking alongside the road is available for several cars. Actually, with a high clearance vehicle, pickup or 4-wheel drive, you could drive all the way to the beginning of Ladder Trail #16.

Somewhere along the way, George talked Dolly into doing a dance to appease the Trail Gods.

Dolly doing the trail dance

I questioned the efficacy of the dance, but someone pointed out that we had all returned safe and sound.

Yaeger Canyon Loop Hike

Eight Skyliners (Anita Jackson, George Everman, Lila Wright, John McInerney, Ellis Price and three others) hiked the Yaeger Canyon Loop, using Trail 28, Trail 111, FR 105 and Trail 533 on Saturday, 13 November 2010.

We drove through Jerome on Hwy 89A, crossed over the Summit of Mingus Mountain and parked alongside the road at about mile marker 333.1. The parking area is on the left as you travel south on 89A and is located just at the end of a guardrail. An old road, now blocked off with large rocks, leads down from the highway just at the end of the guardrail.

The start of Trails 28 and 533

We walked past the rocks and were confronted with a choice: we could continue straight ahead on Trail 533 or turn to the left and take Trail 28. To complete the loop, one hikes up the canyon on one of these two trails and returns on the other. We chose Trail 28 for the ascent, and hiked the loop clockwise, because that trail has a lot of loose rock and would be harder to descend on. Trail 533, on the other hand, has a much better surface for a descent.

We paused along the trail while George positioned his camera and set the time delay for a group shot. The below photo was taken a bit more than a mile from the trailhead.

Trail 28 parallels 89A for approximately half a mile, passing by the remains of a bridge that once served the old highway. Just beyond the old bridge, the trail turns eastward and begins to climb, switchbacking up to the head of a side canyon. We paused on one of the switchbacks for the group photo shown above. As you climb the steep, rocky trail, Prescott Valley comes into view below and Hickey Mountain can be seen to the west. The trail passes below a large rock bluff and then ascents to cross at the top of a smaller one. This is a good place to pause and climb out on the bluff for a rest and a bird’s eye view of Prescott Valley. A craggy, gnarled old dead tree stands at the edge of the bluff.

Taken along Trail 28 at the top of a rock bluff and at a good viewpoint.

On the trunk of the dead tree, we found wonderfully intricate patterns, probably carved by Mountain Pine Beetles. At first no one had any idea what had caused the patterns; however, I later found a Forest Service publication¹ showing similar damage attributed to Mountain Pine Beetles, and assume they also caused the pattern shown in the photo shown below.

Mountain Pine Beetle carvings (I think) –Photo by George

Someone had left the remains of a rose bouquet atop the bluff, perhaps from a wedding held there. We speculated as to whether Grandma was able to make the ceremony if someone really did get married there. Then we looked around and realized that most of us were probably Grandma’s contemporaries. The rose bouquet was just too bedraggled for a good picture; instead I took a picture of a perfectly formed pincushion cactus growing atop the bluff.

Hedgehog cactus

Looking back from farther up the trail we could see the bluff with the dead tree.

Bluff with dead tree in center, Prescott Valley in the distance, author in 

right lower corner– photograph by George

View from near top of Trail 28. Looking across Prescott Valley. Hwy

89A is lower right

Nearing the intersection of Trail 28 with Trail 111, we paused for a snack under a great old Alligator Juniper. George had gathered some Prickly Pear fruit along the way; some of us sampled it and were rewarded with bright red fingers and lips, not to mention stickers in our fingers.

Cactus fruit

Hikers enjoying a snack

About two tenths of a mile, perhaps a bit less, from our snack break at the Alligator Juniper, we came to the junction with Trail 111. I checked later on Google Earth and found that had we continued straight ahead instead of turning on Trail 111, we would have arrived at FR 413 in less than four tenths of a mile.

Along the way we found bear scat (we think) and an arrowhead.

Bear scat (we think) - Photo by George

An arrowhead (shank broken off) – Photo by George

Taking Trail 111 at the intersection, we traveled generally southeast, angling toward FR 413. About three tenths of a mile from the intersection with Trail 28, we actually came within 110 yards of FR 413 before the trail turned to the southwest to run parallel with. Meanwhile, John had noted a spring (Young Seep Spring) shown on the topographic map and wanted to see if we could find it. I thought it was probably not much as the name itself seemed to imply that it was merely a seep. However, we came to it just before Trail 111 turned to the southwest, and it turned out to be quite impressive for a seep; it fed a nice patch of grass and ice from the night before was still present.

Young Seep Spring – John is shown standing on the other side 

– Photo by George.

We continued along Trail 111, traveling a total distance of around one and eight tenths of a mile from Trail 28, to arrive at FR 105. We then followed FR 105, going west, slightly south, for a bit less than 300 yards to arrive at the Trailhead for 533. We followed Trail 533 through the forest for about one quarter of a mile before coming out in a sunny area at the head of the canyon; we stopped there to eat lunch before heading down. I grabbed a quick lunch, drank a cup of tea and settled in for my noon nap. When George woke me up all the others had gone ahead, saying that it was just cold to sit still. Perhaps my resting spot was more sheltered; I was quite comfortable. George and I soon caught up with the rest of the party and we all arrived back at the trailhead together.

The hike was 6.8 miles long with an elevation change of 1475 feet (7205 minus 5730).

Our GPS track is shown on the included map (below).

1 From: http://www.barkbeetles.org/mountain/fidl2.htm