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There are time when, while hiking a rather difficult trail,
John and I will see something amazing that makes the whole trip worthwhile,
whether it's a stunning view, a family of elk grazing in a meadow, or even
just a pretty patch of wildflowers. At that point, John will utter his famous
line: "I try to take you to pretty places." Ninety-nine percent of the time,
he succeeds.
One percent of the time, though, he fails. That is exactly what happened that
weekend, when we decided to backpack the
Towel Creek Trail #67.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. All of the literature we had read
about the trail intrigued us and led us to believe that it was a trail worth
hiking. It would be perfect for a backpacking trip, too, because there would
be water in Towel Creek and in the Verde River, which was to be our
destination. So, Saturday morning, January 22, John and I threw our backpacks
into the car and began our two hour drive to the Towel Creek Trailhead.
To get there, we took I-17 to Camp Verde, then took SR 260 east to FR 708,
which becomes Fossil Creek Road in Strawberry. The Towel Creek Trailhead is
located nine miles down the road, near a ranch. Though the trailhead is not
hard to find, it is difficult to find parking - there isn't any parking
available at all, so we had to park several hundred yards away.
Our hike began at 8:30 a.m., as we entered the trailhead gate. At first the
trail was very indistinct, but once we saw the old jeep road, it became clear
where we were supposed to go. As we approached the road, we found that it was
covered with hay for the cows, which were grazing nearby. The cows belonged to
one of the local ranchers, whose ranch was a quarter of a mile down the road.
(That ranch was just one of many in the area, as we came to find out during
our hike.)
Almost immediately, we began a quarter mile hike uphill towards a pass, and,
of course, when you are as out of shape as I was, any uphill jaunt can seem to
be a groaner! Upon reaching the pass, I suggested that we stop for a break so
that I could catch my breath. We weren't even a mile into the trail, and my
heart was already pounding!
After that, though, the jeep road leveled out as it wound around a ridgeline
for about two miles. That part of the journey was the easiest, because the
terrain was fairly even and the grade wasn't too difficult. Along the way we
passed by two tanks. The first one was down below the road, and in order for
us to get to it we would have had to hike cross-country. The second one was at
the end of the jeep road, enclosed by a corral, in which there were several
cows. It was here that we first encountered the crap. Not just a little crap,
but acres upon acres of crap, littering the dried, grassy landscape. Crap as
far as the eye could see.
Cow patties. Everywhere. Some fresh, some dry, all reeking. What a nauseating
sight!
It was also here that we got lost for the first time. The fence that encircled
the corral had two gates: one that led to the trail, and another that went
nowhere. We took the latter gate and began hiking along a cow trail - yes,
that was littered with cow patties - until we realized that we weren't on the
trail any longer. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify that, because we
didn't have any maps of the trail with us, but John was absolutely sure that
we should have gone through the other gate. Again, forces of nature were
working against us, which is why we didn't have a map. John had gone to Wide
World of Maps to purchase topos for the region. Instead, he decided to spend
the extra money and buy topos for the entire state of Arizona on CD-ROM - it
came as an eight CD set. However, after getting the set home, he noticed that
disk number five was missing; that was the disk containing the topos for Towel
Creek!
We took a chance and returned to the tank so that we could go through the
other gate, and on the other side, we found the trail, which at this point had
become a narrow footpath that followed along Towel Creek. At first, the
terrain, though littered with cow patties, was quite even, but it wasn't long
before it became very rocky - and as our journey continued, the trail became
progressively rockier until we were no longer able to hike at a normal pace.
A quarter of a mile down the trail was the junction with the Towel Spring spur
trail, which led to Towel Spring. Out of curiosity, John decided to
investigate, but I declined and kept on hiking along the main trail. As he
reached the spring, he found that it was nothing more than a trickle, like
Baldy Spring on
Mount Wrightson. Then, instead of returning the way he came,
he decided to see if the spur trail would eventually lead him back to the main
trail - and as a result, he ended up hiking cross country until he met up with
me. He fell twice during his trek because the countryside was too rocky. One
fall caused him to skin his knee.
Our pace began to slow considerably as the day progressed and as the trail
became rockier. Sometime after lunch, with several miles left to go before we
reached the Verde River, John and I began to realize that we were probably not
going to make our destination, because our pace was simply too slow - and I
was getting too tired. After having hiked five and a half miles (not including
the distance traveled when we were lost), John suggested that we begin looking
for a campsite.
But did I mention that the terrain was rocky and covered in cow patties? We
had a terrible time finding a campsite, because everything we found was either
too rocky or too stinky. We were forced to keep hiking in search of a decent
campsite. Finally, just after the third creek crossing, John suggested that I
sit down to rest while he scouted on ahead to look for either our destination
or a campsite. He walked for an additional half-mile while I waited. When he
finally returned, he reported that he hadn't found anything but that we were
about a mile from the Verde River, along very steep and rocky terrain. At that
point, we decided to turn around and settle for a campsite that I had found a
quarter of a mile back.
It wasn't much of a site, but it worked for us, after performing a little bit
of maintenance on it. That involved using our camp shovel to remove the cow
patties so that we could clear away a spot for our tent. Then, just to make
sure that we didn't get any cow manure on our tent, we laid the tube tent down
on the ground and set the tent up on top of it. Once our camp had been
established, John left to filter water, and I began to build a fire ring and
gather firewood. Finally, after all had been said and done, the two of us
crawled into the tent and took a short nap before dinnertime.
The rest of the evening was peaceful. After dinner, we sat around the campfire
and enjoyed the silence and solitude that one can only find in the
backcountry. We hadn't seen another person during the entire trip - the Towel
Creek Trail is obviously not widely used - and as a result we were able to
enjoy a very quiet evening. We also had the chance to do some stargazing;
using our binoculars, we spent some time gazing up at the stars, looking at
constellations and trying to figure out what was what. One "blob" of stars in
particular caught John's eye. With the naked eye, it looked like a cloud, but
through the binoculars, he was able to see seven distinct stars among what
looked like a cloud of gas. We later found out that this constellation was
Taurus.
We were in bed very early that night, and as a result, we were awake before
sunrise, during the coldest part of the morning...and, of course, I had to
pee, meaning that I had to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag to go relieve
myself. Bundled up in multiple layers of clothing, John and I emerged from the
tent to start the new day. After starting a campfire to warm us up, we made
breakfast, which consisted of oatmeal and coffee for me and noodle soup for
John - there's nothing like a hot breakfast on a cold morning to get you
going!
Once we were warmed up, we packed up camp and began our long journey back to
the trailhead. We left at 8:30 a.m. and figured that it would take us until
2:30 p.m. to get back to the car. However, we made much better time than we
anticipated. That was largely due to the fact that we were hiking the most
difficult part of the trail while we were fresh, unlike the day before when we
had to hike that same portion while tired. That can make all the difference in
the world. As a result, we took less frequent breaks and made much faster
progress across the rough terrain. (However, the colorful language I chose to
describe the trail still flew from my mouth.)
By lunchtime, we reached the end of the rough terrain and the beginning of the
jeep road, at the tank. We paused for lunch next to the corral, in an area
with the least amount of cow patties. Then, fully rested, we continued on our
hike. By 1:30 p.m., after making excellent progress, we were back at the car.
And all I could say to John was that this time, he didn't succeed in taking me
to a pretty place. The region was far too overgrazed to be attractive, and the
terrain was too rocky for safe hiking - as a result, it just wasn't a place
that I would want to hike again. |
