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Es werden Posts vom Oktober, 2020 angezeigt.

Corral Loop

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CORRAL LOOP   McDowell Sonoran Preserve Brown's Mountain seen from Brown's Ranch Road A mile and a half north of the busy Brown’s Ranch trailhead, a gnarled mesquite tree grows through and around the crumbling walls of concrete feed trough.   Nearby, tangled barbed wire, weather-worn and clinging tenuously to wood posts, surrounds a conglomerate of disintegrating foundations and rusty metal scraps.   Saguaros tower over the Corral Trail The relics are what remains of Brown’s Ranch.   Established in 1916, the 44,000 acre operation ran cattle in the mountainous desert space before being abandoned in mid-century.   The historic site, which is now part of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, is the key attraction on the Corral Trail in the popular Scottsdale recreation hub. Yuccas sway above Brown's Ranch Road Desert plants grow among the ruins of Brown's Ranch The ranch site can be reached by following Brown’s Ranch Road north to the Corral Trail.   The 2.3-mile path swings thro

Rover-Axis-Girdner Loop

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ROVER-AXIS-GIRDNER LOOP Cockscomb seen from the new Rover Trail At first glance, the map of the Western Gateway trail system can be overwhelming. There are so many interconnected trails packed into the hilly parcel in northwest Sedona that the graphic representation looks like something that escaped a bait box. Yet, because of the map, which is posted at most junctions throughout the 30-trail system, you'll have no trouble sussing out the maze and customizing a route. The maps, which include distances, ensure that you’ll always know where you are, making it simple to navigate the system. Your biggest dilemma will be deciding where to start exploring this maze which was completed in mid-2020. Long, flowing Axis Trail can be used to make loop hikes Western Gateway Trails maps make navigating easy The convoluted collection of routes located in the Dry Creek area of Coconino National Forest between State Route 89A and Boynton Pass Road offers uncongested alternatives just steps away fr

Shannon Gulch

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SHANNON GULCH FR 74 leads into Shannon Gulch More than 2,000 feet above where the East Verde River crosses State Route 87 north of Payson, snowmelt and rainwater that will eventually drain into Arizona’s rivers and streams begins with a journey through porous escarpments before spilling through springs at the base of the Mogollon Rim.   The shrubby folds of Shannon Gulch Below the Rim’s vertical cliffs that rise to over 7,000 feet and make a 200-mile, east-west stretch through central Arizona, an edgy, almost claustrophobic territory of high mesas, dizzying gorges and backwoods is home to a maze of tributary creeks and drainages that feed into the East Verde River which in turn flows into the Verde and Salt Rivers, two of Arizona’s most important water sources.   Mogollon Rim vistas from the road's highpoint A hike through this tangled, geologically and botanically diverse region is as much an origin story as it is a walk in the woods. Milk Ranch Point, promontory on the Mogollon R