Hike #16 – Gooseberry Spring Trailhead North – 21.5 Miles

This hike was done on 05/23/2017 and turned out to be our longest out and back hike to date. Starting at the very nice and easy to access Gooseberry Trailhead north of Pine / Strawberry AZ off Lake Mary Road and highway 87, the trail offers you a good variety of forest, hills and open pastures. At about mile 3 you connect to the old Flagstaff Railroad and follow it remnants for a number of miles to the turn. At times you will catch limited views of Mormon lake to the east and at about mile 8 you run into a odd little area filled with crow like birds making noise and flying about. We pushed a hard pace of 3.1 mph to the turn ate lunch and tried a similar pace back. Unfortunately me being me I pushed it too hard and seriously almost passed out at about mile 12, needed to take a break and down a electrolyte drink before continuing on. At a slower place now the hike went well and being it was the madden voyage of hobo hat, he earned a place in my kit as he shaded me from the hot sun that day.