Written by Ollie Linden, Wild Stew Field Crew Member.
Greetings everyone and welcome back to the Wild Arizona Blogosphere! While some of our crew are holding it down at this year’s Youth Conservation Corps for the next couple of weeks, the rest of us headed back to the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest for our final hitch on the Strayhorse Trail.
The humidity and gnats were mighty, and the river much more dry than the last time we ventured here, but with some trusty cloud cover and a generous helping of monsoon rain on our final day, we prevailed!
We picked up right where we left off on our last visit, brushing down Strayhorse until we reached the Blue River (long dreamt of and finally seen!) A total of 2.7 miles cleared. We busted out the crosscut several times (21 to be exact) for some downed logs, built 75 cairns, and put down tread, winding our way down to the Blue, and the completion of our work on this glorious trail. After 5 hitches across 2 seasons all 12.3 miles of the trail are officially restored!
After completing Strayhorse, we bumped our camp up to the junction with the Lengthy Canyon Trail and spent our last day brushing along that trail before our hitch came to a close and fittingly, we were met with the first monsoon storm to greet our crew this season.
This hitch bestowed many treasures upon us, including gorgeous bunches of milkweed and wild bergamot. We were also visited by a King Snake. And our camping spot also doubled as our own personal aquarium, with fish, tadpoles, and toads swimming in the tiny river pools! We’re hoping the rains will help them get down to the river soon!
Though our work on Stray Horse has come to an end, tune in next time for our further adventures in the Apache Sitgreaves, with our next hitch in the Bear Wallow Wilderness!
