After making several drives and looking over our proposed route, as well as a lot of Internet research, here is what we know so far about our route and time frames for travel.

First of all, there are a couple of dates that are hard and cannot be changed. I have Backcountry Camping Permits for the Grand Canyon National Park for June 29 and 30, 2016 for four horses and two people. Those are very hard to come by, and I was very lucky to have landed it. Those dates are fixed. The second date is the Pioneer Day Parade at Panguitch, Utah. That will be on July 23, 2016. This will also coincide with the 64th class reunion of Panguitch High School’s Class of 1952, Dad’s graduating class. We cannot miss those dates.

So, with that in mind, here goes.

We originally planned to depart on Dad’s 82nd birthday. We had to postpone that one day, so I could see one of my grandkids…and my daughter of course., who will visit from Texas to see us off. So, we will start making tracks on Tuesday, May 24, 2016, from my pasture at 217 N. Poverty Flat Road, Eagar, AZ, 85925.  Anybody who would like to start the ride with us should be there ready to ride by about 10:00am. There is plenty of parking for trucks and trailers.

We will follow Route 260 west until we start up into the mountains, at which time we will take Forest Road 1235 north for a short ways. We will depart that road when it turns northeasterly and head directly west, cross-country. We will then join FR 117, which we will follow until we come to FR 61. We will take that to FR 96, then on to FR187, until we arrive at Sky Hi Road, Pinetop, Arizona, at the trailhead for Maverick Trail in the White Mountain Offroad Trail Association trail system.

This trailhead may be reached by taking Route 260 in Pinetop to Buck Springs Road, then north about 1/2 mile to Sky Hi Road. Turn left and follow Sky Hi north for two miles, until you come to the trailhead on the left.

We will follow the Maverick trail 50 miles to Clay Springs. We hope to be re-supplied for horse feed there by a friend from Pinetop. We will then connect with the General George Crook National Recreation Trail, which we will follow westward to join the Arizona Trail (AZT). We expect to reach the AZT by about Tuesday, June 6. We estimate 150 miles for that leg of the trip. The Mogollon Rim Road generally parallels the Crook Trail, so anybody wanting to find us may do so at a number of points along that route.

We will then follow the AZT north to Flagstaff, about 105 miles, more or less, and re-supply at the home of Gwen Kahler. We should arrive there about June 16 or so. We will probably rest there a day to have our horses re-shod and to get new health certificates for the horses (they must be current within 30 days to enter the Grand Canyon National Park). Once we hit the trail again, Gwen will ride with us for a few days. She will guide us through the area, hopefully bypassing a section of the AZT that is currently in bad shape with blow-downs. Anybody wanting to find us along that leg of the route may do so at various points where the trail intersects a number of Forest Service roads or at Mormon Lake.

The distance from Flagstaff to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is about 108 miles. That should take us about 6-7 days of travel. Add two rest days in there and we should arrive on or about June 27. We have an equine campsite reserved at Mather Campground at the South Rim from June 25 through July 2. We hope to be able to make up a little time en route, so we can arrive on June 25, to allow ourselves and the horses some time to rest before our crossing of the “big ditch”.  We have some help who will be there to re-supply us and to keep some of our gear while we make the crossing. They will meet us on the North Rim after the crossing, to again re-supply us and get us reloaded to continue our trip.

Our crossing is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, June 29-30. We will descend the South Kaibab Trail about 7.4 miles and stay the first night at Bright Angel Campground. On Thursday we will cross the Colorado River and ascend the North Kaibab Trail about 14 miles to the North Rim Campground. On Friday, July 1, we will exit the Grand Canyon National Park and camp outside the park boundary. While no one will be able to cross the Grand Canyon with us, due to the camping restrictions, anyone can ride with us from Flagstaff to the South Rim or from the North Rim on northward.

We will have about another 65 miles, or thereabouts to the Arizona/Utah border, which we should make by July 5. We will cross US 89 about 34 miles east of Kanab, where the highway takes a north-south jog to cross through a hogback ridge. We should cross the highway on or about Wednesday, July 6. We will be due a rest day about then. We may be meeting several people there, who would like to ride with us for a few days, but we haven’t yet confirmed that. If they meet us there, they will re-supply us and provide water for us and the horses there.

After that, we plan to continue northward, crossing the ridge to the east and entering the Paria River drainage. We will follow that northward until we reach the entrance to a canyon on the west side that leads to Willis Creek. We will follow Willis Creek through the slot canyon and on up to the lower trail that enters Bryce Canyon. That should take us about a day and a half from US 89.

We’ll likely find a nice campsite and rest a day there at the trailhead for Willis Canyon, while we contact the Bryce Canyon National Park park service. Our hope is that we may be able to make arrangements with the park service  to allow us to enter the park from the trail at the bottom, ride the canyon, then end up at the top to exit the park.  If that works, we will leave the park, then cross the Paunsaugunt Plateau to the Losee Canyon trail and descend to Casto Road, which we will follow on in to Panguitch. The route from Willis to Panguitch should take us no more than four days, putting us in Panguitch some time around Saturday, July 16.

If we are not allowed to enter the park, we will turn south on the Grand View Trail and skirt outside the park, then ascend the plateau to Tropic Reservoir. From there we will continue as outlined above. Travel time may increase by one day, but probably not.

After having made 355 miles in 28 days last year, this seems pretty optimistic. However, if we deduct the rest days and the days we were delayed at Safford, we averaged about 17 miles per day. My estimates put our total mileage this year at about 620 miles.  At 17 miles per day, that puts our travel days for this trip at about 36, not including rest days. That includes a “fudge-factor” of 25% for those portions of the route that are not on the AZT. The AZT is, in fact, measured and marked, so there is no guesswork for that portion. We will be on the AZT for exactly 320.5 miles. I estimate the route from Eagar to the AZT at about 150 miles, and the portion from the Arizona/Utah border to Panguitch at about 85, before fudge factors. If my estimates are correct, and if we average 15 miles per day, with two rest days per week, we should have about 60 days on the trail, putting us at Panguitch on about July 23. That estimate is the long estimate. The short estimate has us arriving the week before, on or about July 16. Hopefully, the reality will fall somewhere in the middle.

We’ll see how it goes. The dates shown above, with the exception of the fixed dates mentioned, are our travel goals. While we have planned for 15 miles per day with two rest days per week, we can make up time by increasing our mileage and by eliminating some mid-week rest days, as necessary. Our only concern is that the mileage for the first two legs of the trip, from Eagar to the AZT may be underestimated. If we find that to be the case, we will increase our daily mileage to ensure we make our dates at the Grand Canyon. We will have plenty of time to  slow down and take it easy after that.

So, there it is. That’s the plan.

Again, the invitation is there for anybody who would like to ride with us for any amount of time. If it is just a day or two, you can simply show up and ride with us. We will be able to accommodate your sleeping bag, food, and clothing on our pack horses. If you wish to stay with us for longer than two days, however, you’ll have to bring your own pack animal and provisions.

You can keep track of our progress, just like last year, on the live map. Just click on the “Map” link on the main menu of westerntrailrider.com and it will come up. The map will constantly update, so it will show where we are in “real-time”. I’ll also be posting updates almost daily from my DeLorme InReach Explorer, via satellite, to my facebook personal account and Western Trail Rider page.

My cell phone number is 540-422-1990. You can call or text me, but most of the time we won’t have signal (smile).

See you around!