Hauling Bags

I ran up Ramsey Canyon about 3 miles to get a trash bag I left during the clean-up weekend. I found that I can keep a decent downhill trot using two bags tethered on a branch across my shoulders - if only I could get paid for portering trash out of the mountains. My next run I was going to haul out a bag at the end of an 18 mile training run, but ran short on time. So I went back to Comfort Spring a few days later. This was an uphill haul that kicked my butt. Instead of making a short run in and out - I added extra miles by starting at Ramsey. The run in was fine but after hauling the bags 3/4 of a mile uphill I was spent and struggled on the 5 miles of downhill. It tells me that my 50 miler in two weeks should probably start out as a hike rather than a run. Between my back problems and being sick I missed about 3 weeks of training and have quickly realized I cannot pick-up where I left off.

On both of these runs I ran into illegals hiking out through Ramsey Canyon. Busy week on the trails - more trash accumulates.

Clean-Up Results In

The weather was fantastic and four of us made it to Bear Saddle - and what a bear it was. We started collecting some of the heavy trash - back packs and clothing - about a half-mile below the saddle. We got the bags to the saddle and filled some more. Bags were shuttled down to the spring and more bags packed on the way down and at the spring. In all 16 bags were left at the spring for latter pick-up by horses. The horse crew - led by Ron of Arizona Horse Back Experience in Sonoita spent a long day on Sunday packing the bags out. A few of ours were over stuffed so they ended up hauling about 20 bags out from the Spring.

Connie and Kevin collecting trash at the saddle. I think that Connie probably hiked two miles further than the rest of us - any bit of trash in sight was collected. Kevin found a number of unopened cans of tuna in back packs - as he put it the cats will be eating good for awhile.

Susan - my 98 pound sister making the saddle. She loaded up several more bags and then yoked two of the large green bags together across her shoulders for the trip down to the Spring.

Connie was the last out at 5:12 pm- not because she was hiking slower but rather because she filled one last bag on the way out and took some of the immigrant routes off the main trail on the way down. Here she is dumping that last bag.

Jeff, Pam, Jenny and Jeremy started out with us - they turned back before the saddle but did fill at least one bag with trash found around the Comfort Spring area.

Thanks everyone for you hard efforts - four of us did a great job cleaning up a remote area along the Arizona Trail. Getting the trash out of the spring will sure make it a more pleasant experience when I run by it next time. Please inform me of any future efforts by others- I will be happy to come out and to help get the word out.

Below is a picture Connie took of the bags at the Spring

Saturday April 5th Clean-Up

Meet at 7:00 am at the Lone Star Cafe 7216 S Hwy 92 -- it is located near the intersection of Hwy 92 and Hereford Rd. We will meet in the dirt lot just outside the Cafe. If you want breakfast at the cafe, you can arrive earlier - it opens at 6:00 am.

There will be a sign-in sheet and we will discuss the plan. After that we will drive (can carpool if you like) to the top of Carr Canyon - the Comfort Spring Trail Head. The hike in is just under 4 miles to the Saddle.

Updates:

• Trash Bags will be hauled out by horse at a later date - Great news for our backs!
• We will need to carry bags a half mile down to the spring - staging area for horses.
• Weather forecast looks great - bring some sunscreen it is exposed at the saddle.

Not everyone has to haul bags to Bear Spring so if you have a bad back or other concerns you can load the bags and others will hike them in to the spring. I am going to bring rope and a larger pack to try tying bags to the pack for the half-mile hike but you can also sling two tied bags over your shoulder if you prefer - I will have plenty of rope and duct tape!