Friday the weather was just too beautiful for Dec so I played hookie and went exploring. I headed up highway 87 and at the Bush Highway exit headed West to the Sycamore Creek loop. Test shot my old shotgun that I just completed refinishing and then continued along the route into Sycamore Creek. No water at all anywhere, lots of fun little hills and campsites and draws to explore, got myself a bit deep down in one draw and added quite a bit of desert pin striping. Continued back down the route to the part of the loop that is listed as red or difficult in the Arizona Backcountry book, crossed paths with a few wild horses. The difficult part of the loop was very difficult looking with a very steep (I had trouble walking up it without slipping or using my hands) and a large 2-3 ft shelf to climb followed by a sharp turn and more difficult terrain. Not something I was up for that day so I returned back and took the easier route 1851 to continue the loop, the book didn't even list this as any rating but there is one pretty steep and long hill to climb, probably the toughest one of the trip, last hill on the video, there may be another way around but a couple stock trucks turned around and went back there. Continued on and then headed down to Saguaro Lake and did some fishing on the Salt River, caught dinner and saw some bald eagles. All and all a pretty damn good day.
Video here:
https://vimeo.com/147921989
Video here:
https://vimeo.com/147921989