saturday, march 17th run

Final details:

When
8am meet time

Where to meet
Hot Bagels & Deli, on the northeast corner of 67th Ave. and Happy Valley. It's on the far east corner of the strip mall, right behind the Bank of America. This place has the best bagels and bagel sandwiches on the planet, no joke. I plan to have breakfast here before we head out, then we can run across the street to Circle K for gas, ice and snacks

Where we are going
North up Castle Hot Springs road, behind Lake Pleasant, and past the old Castle Hot Springs resort. It takes about 20 minutes from our meet spot to get to the turnoff, then it's about an hour up to the resort. Beyond that will be up to how far everyone wants to go, how slow the group is, etc.

Road quality
2wd friendly, no crazy climbs, no additional clearance needed. There may be some rougher spots that will just take slower speeds to walk through, but nothing challenging on the main trail. It's all dirt and gravel, with a little bit of sandy gravel in one of the washes. I've seen cars back here on the earlier parts of the trail.

What to bring

• Recovery gear (you never know)
• good spare tire
• extra water
• basic tools
• lunch
• drinks
• snacks
• 2 way FRS/GMRS radios if you want (I only have 4)
• a good attitude

Everyone is welcome! Meet at 8am prompt at the bagel shop. I'll probably be there a little earlier to get some breakfast. Plan to head over to Circle K about 8:30 so we can be on our way to the lake by 9.

 

I can go next weekend for an overnight( sat-sun) stay but not this weekend

 

That's St Patty Day!

 

Yeah. I'll be gettin tanked for Paddy's day!

 

I'll be in Tempe

 

same here. tempe beach park ftw.

 

Flogging Molly FTFW!

 

Agreed! love that they play here "almost" every year.. what was it. like two years ago they werent.. was pretty bummed. stll fun tho for sure.

 

This will actually be the first time I'll get to see them live, stoked.

 

What time do things kick off down there? I may go!

 

I've seen em live three times, didn't think id have much interest.

 

2 is gonna be too late for me. Was thinking more like 8 or 9. Do need to partake in St Patty's day festivities!

 

Morning would work but will be drinking redbull and coffee like it water.

 

Adam had the idea of Castle Hot Springs, nothing too crazy and nice scenery. Morning would probably work out best.

 

Ok, I'm back in town and ready to hit this shit up.

This Saturday is one of those rare ones that my son doesn't have a late morning baseball game, so I'm good to go. The guys here at the office are bugging me to play golf, but I have them on hold until we confirm something here. I'd rather get back out in the dirt as much as possible while this weather is so ideal.

I think we should make the run up to the old Castle Hot Springs hotel. We can't go in the old hotel because they are remodeling, but it's a fun easy trail run through some nice desert and canyons. There's some weird shit up there like mobile homes built up into the cliffs, we get to run the riverbed for a bit of the trip, sheer cliffs, etc. We can take it back for a ways and it eventually connects up somewhere back there to go to Crown King but I'm not sure how when going that way. Once past the old hotel, it gets a little drab and ugly.

I'd say we should go explore past Humbug Creek, but it's under 10 feet of water so there's no way to get across right now (unless you are locked 4x4 and can make your way back up a 70 foot climb at 45 degrees with loose gravel and some ugly steps). We can hit that up when the lake drops back down again and it's crossable.

 

Here's what the old hotel looks like now. It's so weird because it's just out in the middle of nowhere. There's still a hot springs back up there, too. I don't know if they are just restoring it or if they eventually plan to re-open it for business. Anyways, it's a strange little oasis down in a canyon that your grandma's Cadillac wouldn't be able to get to because of the road conditions. The road is 2WD friendly though, but I wouldn't take a car there.

 

I'm down. Let's pick a time and meeting spot. Earlier the better for me. Think the wifey is going to come this time.

 

I just texted Kyle to confirm that their school website sports calendar was correct, and he just told me that he thinks it was changed and that they have a game Saturday at 11am. That will F up everything, and because he's with me on the weekends I need to make sure he gets to the game.

I'll have confirmation this afternoon when he talks directly to his coach again.

 

Alright. I just texted Jason and he wants to go, but only for a day trip. Damn that would suck if we have to cancel this.