Saturday, August 9, 2014

Inner Basin & Weatherford

A visited this weekend, so we did a shuttle hike--up Inner Basin Trail (#29) and down the Weatherford (#102).  I didn't take one photograph, but I have plans to do Inner Basin again, that trail was beautiful.

We got kind of a late start.  We drove up the primitive road to Lockett Meadow and to the campground.  I had never experienced the north-eastern slopes of the San Francisco Peaks--they're beautiful.  Hiking with A is always a treat--striking up conversations about the vegetation and animal life.

After a steady--but not too steep--climb uphill, you end up in an aspen forest.  Our timing was perfect--it was a shimmering fairy land of quaking aspen and filtered sunlight.  Just stunning.  From there you head up into the Inner Basin.

There were lots of wildflowers--lupine and geranium and penstemon.  After the last steep section we arrived at the Weatherford.  Just in time for a monsoon to blow in.  After A convinced me we were safe (or at least safer than the people who continued up to summit Humphreys) we continued on.  A didn't have any rain gear, so he was freezing.

The Weatherford was beautiful--through Weatherford Canyon.  I had faint memories of reading that the  Weatherford is an old road that took Model T Fords to the summit (or close to) of Humphreys.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip, and I can't wait to go back early October to try to see some fall color!

No comments:

Post a Comment