Amazing, Spectacular Arizona Trail Thruhiking: Bray Creek-Webber Creek

In the land of Arizona
Through desert heat or snow
Winds a trail for folks to follow
From Utah to Old Mexico

It’s the Arizona Trail
A pathway through the great Southwest
A diverse track through wood and stone
Your spirit it will test

Oh, sure you’ll sweat and blister
You’ll feel the miles every day
You’ll shiver at the loneliness
Your feet and seat will pay

But you’ll see moonlight on the borderlands
You’ll see stars on the Mogollon
You’ll feel the warmth of winter sun
And be thrilled straight through to bone

The aches and pains will fade away
You’ll feel renewed and whole
You’ll never be the same again
With Arizona in your soul

Along the Arizona Trail
A reverence and peace you’ll know
Through deserts, canyons, and mountains
From Utah to Old Mexico
-“The Arizona Trail,” Dale R. Shewalter

Well, I lost most of yesterday to a round of applications for work for the spring. I did get a beautiful sunset with the Mogollon Rim absorbing and radiating the color splendidly at the end of getting all my applications in, though.

Bray Creek-Geronimo Trailhead

This morning, I pack up and continue south (in name; west in reality) along the AZT toward Pine. The trail continues to roll across the eroded foothills of the Mogollon Rim, the impressive and distinctive southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau, where the elevation jumps around 4000 ft in elevation. The Highline continues to define itself as a diverse landscape where the species of the desert below and the pine forests above mingle.

The Mazatzal Mountains – the next major hurdle once I make it to Pine – loom in the distance as well, and ironwood line the more open stretches of path across the Highline, where the Dude Fire burned the forest in 1990, affording more open areas and direct sunlight, shifting the plants that grow in those locations.

The Mogollon Rim continues to loom above as the trail heads toward Milk Ranch Point, which juts out from the rest of the Rim. In addition to the Dude Fire impacts – opening up clearings in the flora and affording different plants opportunities than they would have gotten or get today in the remnant forest- the impact of minor fluctuations in sun angle, water availability, shade, elevation, and other factors affecting microclimates continue to be quite evident.

Ironwood dominates the more exposed sections. In the warmest and driest microclimates, succulents like yucca, agave, and prickly pear cactus can be found. In the draws, which are cooler and reduce sun angle, trees appear. Gamble oaks, ponderosa pines, and blue spruce all make appearances depending on the sun angle, moisture availability and apparent temperature.

Arizona Trail: Geronimo Trailhead & West Webber Creek

Approaching the Geronimo Trailhead and West Webber Creek – probably the deepest draw encountered since the East Verde River – a new tree appears as well, the Arizona sycamore. I stop to have some food and refill my water here for the push around the Point to Pine. The reflection of the trees in the water of the Creek adds yet another dimension to the passage.