Fossil Springs Trail

Friday, March 24, 2012

I slept warmer the second night. I was showered and out of the park by 7am. I had planned on leaving the area after breakfast at Harold's, and spent some time before its 8am opening to photograph some of the local stores.

My breakfast was a spicy burrito. I sat alone, near the bar, and looked around at the wall art. The owner is clearly a Steelers and Red Sox fan. Several locals sauntered in and sat at the bar for coffee to watch ESPN. I can see why Gordon recommended this place as it caters to both locals and tourists.

My server, Lisa C, was friendly but slow. She was never fast enough with the coffee, which I seemed to doused rather quickly. Maybe the restaurant limits drinkers to three cups? The burrito was good, though, and gave me the energy I needed for later. Harold's is a place I'd come back again.

My next destination was the Four Peaks Wilderness. That required driving south for ten miles, taking Loop 101 east and getting off on AZ87. This is the only way to get from Cave Creek to Payson, Pine and Strawberry. Once I found a dirt road toward that area, I quickly learned that the western side of the wilderness is for OHVs; hikers have to enter via the eastern side which was now too far away. I didn't want to waste daylight and drove further north, toward Strawberry and the Fossil Springs trail. That is a trail I noted two years ago when I was last in the area.

I was now leaving the hot desert floor and entering the cooler elevations. Today's high was expected to hit 86F in Phoenix. My van registered 74F when I left the valley. An hour later and in Strawberry, it was 64F and perfect for an early afternoon hike. North slopes along the Mogollon Rim here were still covered in snow, although the snow was melting fast and leaving muddy tracks in the dirt road from earlier drivers.

The two-mile dirt road to the trailhead almost didn't look passable in my van, but I drove to the trailhead anyway and found the last spot open. All the other vehicles were full-sized trucks or SUVs. It was 12:45pm when we started the hike, and after talking to two guys who had just returned, brought extra water. The trail to the creek is four miles downhill and most of it is exposed except for the northern sections that were still covered in snow in the higher elevation. That snow, albeit melting fast, gave the dogs the water they needed.

We made it to the creek just after 2pm. There were several other men already there, and two more quickly followed with their horses. I stayed away from them so that the dogs wouldn't be bothersome. Both dogs splashed around in the silty water, water that was coming down from the muddy mountainsides. I expect this creek to crest days from now.

I expected to see a springs but instead saw this overflowing creek that cascaded over small rock ledges. What a lovely place to just sit and enjoy the water. I can see why this is a popular hike, perhaps too popular as the forest service has debated closing the Fossil Creek wilderness and instead limiting the daily visitors because of all the trash they leave behind. Trash at the creek wasn't bad; I only found one glass bottle which I carried back out with me.

A group of eight young men came at 2:30pm. At first Sieger barked ferociously, but he stopped right away when I approached them so that he could smell them and see they weren't the bad guys. That did the trick, as Sieger quickly played with some of the guys, and even hoped to get a treat from any of them. I gave the guys their space (they surely were hoping I'd leave!) and by 2:45pm made the uphill hike back to the trailhead. I expected it to be long and hot and allotted myself two plus hours to finish this, but instead made it under 90 minutes and even passed up a trio of men along the way. We were back at the van by 5:30pm and immediately drove off. There were still plenty of vehicles in the lot, but I didn't stick around to see who the owners were.

I wanted a headstart with what remaining daylight I had. My next destination: Winslow, which from Strawberry, AZ was just 74 miles north and a little over an hour away on AZ 87. This required me to go non-stop and climb higher in elevation, driving through a rather unhealthy-looking Coconino National Forest where melting snow left behind pools of water amongst the strands of dead and diseased pines along the way.