Friday November 24, 28.0km/17.4mi

Gillespie Dam Bridge (229.3/760ft) to Woolsey Spring (246.7/1010ft) (AZ)

Roger and Peg dropped us off at the trail at 10am, and we had a nice easy roadwalk for 30 minutes. Immediately after, we entered a huge wash, which was so wide that some people had driven in it.

We followed the wash upstream for an hour, and eventually it started to get a little rocky, and there were even some tiny cliffs.

And by the time we exited the wash, there were some cliffs that presented some thoughtful obstacles.

We passed by our first water source for the day, and it was pretty gross. We had planned to skip this one, bringing plenty of water from town.

We took a snack break nearby, admiring the mountains around us. We had just entered the Woolsey Peak Wilderness, and there weren’t any signs of civilization anywhere. There were some signs of animals though!

From the water source, we followed a very faint old road for a little while. It was almost impossible to see, other than a clearing thru the scattered rocks.

We hiked around this mountain, which didn’t have a name on my map, but it was cool to see it from three sides.

After the faint road ended, we had a couple hours of xc hiking, and it was slow and very rocky. Ugh.

Finally at 5pm we arrived at another old road, and I could look around at the views, instead of staring at my feet. Woolsey Peak was looking big!

And as we walked the road, the peaks ahead of us looked pretty steep too.

The sun set at 5:30, and Woolsey Peak was colored in pink, with a neat line of clouds, and the almost-full moon above it.

We arrived at our water source (and planned campsite) well after dark. The windmill was turning, and pumping out tons of good clear water. Nice!

We filled our bottles and hiked a few more minutes, to be away from the loud squeaky windmill. We setup camp in a shallow wash, which was protected from the wind. A great little camp spot!