Winter Rd to Utah, elevation 6564' down to 4988'
We started hiking at our usual time (well before 6am) even
though we had a short day. The day promised to be very hot again
so we wanted a morning finish.
We enjoyed both the well planned and built trail and the views
that it led us to. We guessed that Buckskin Mtn was named for the
horse color.
A mystery was solved when we had just a few miles of trail
left! Way back, before the Four Peaks Wilderness, we saw solar
panel installations where there was no purpose or power usage.
Today we saw a fenced wildlife tank. The "solar panes"
were actually corrugated metal panels just above ground level.
They channeled rain water into a metal tank underneath. A pipe fed
a small concrete pool for wildlife. What a cool system!
A sign (that we've seen before) states that it is illegal to
camp within .25 mile of water in AZ. I thought it was to prevent
campers from disturbing the nocturnal animals but today, after
seeing the elk trails leading to the tank, it occurred to me that
perhaps the reason is to protect the campers.
We could see the trailhead in the juniper and piņon below us
as we switchbacked down off the Kaibab Plateau. What a good
adventure!
PS AZT has beautiful steel plate trailhead signs at most
trailheads. Ken said he would skip his traditional kiss-the-ending
point this trip because the sign is probably 120*.
