Camping Alone




In an effort to psychologically bond with our troops in Afghanistan, I decided to go backpacking
down into Clear Creek on March 20. I thought it might be cold, but not that cold! Did you notice the
packs on our 10th mountain division? They were the size of doghouses. In another picture I saw
our Afhgan allies all lined up, surrendering their weapons. I did'nt see one pair of socks, and
they looked like they were wearing bedroom slippers. I'll bet there were a few snickers from them when
they got a look at those doghouses.



Clear Creek is a wilderness area with very steep 700-foot sides right in the middle of a
flat pine covered lava flow. There's only 1 reasonable entry, the directions are described on
this map:

1. Take the General Crook trail/Forest Highway 9/Road to Strawberry 28 miles from Camp Verde.
look for milepost 248, then look for a northern/left turnoff before milepost 249, this is road 144. All 
the roads are poorly marked if at all. Take 144 2 miles to 149, go left/north 2 miles to the 
sharp left/west on 142. Note here you could go right/east to 142e, f, and g, or veer north west to 142d.
These are the macho entrances, very steep, dangerous with a backpack, but the only way to get to
these other parts of the creek.

2. Once on 142 west, go about 2 miles, be sure to bypass 142c, there's no trail at all there,
and you'll see a sign that says 'Calloway butte trail', take the left it tells you to across a
yellow cattle guard, downhill into a small valley. Another mile, at GPS

34' 30' 386
-111 26 377

That's #1 on the map-

is 142b, marked only by a broken barkless tree trunk with a red "B" on it. If the 142 main road starts
to get really lumpy and stony, you've gone too far. By the way, there's still another entry on 
down this road, 142a, which actually may be the 'Calloway Butte Trail' they refer to, but I haven't
been there yet.

You will need a high clearance 4-wheel drive
to go the next 1.5 miles, and it took me an hour. There's only 1 place you can get lost, at #2, there's
an intersection, DON'T go straight, that's Road 9365F, DO go left, that's 142b, which is marked. GPS
of this is

34. 32. 425
111 28 277

I wonder what these numbers mean in miles, I think the 34, 111's are 69 miles, but the second
sets don't correspond to 1.1 miles if they're minutes, that is, 1/60th of a degree?

The road is utterly from hell -

I'd go left/downstream at the creek bottom,
it's prettier.

The end of 142b.

Coming out, (or going in) you might want to take the 'short cut', which I just noticed while making this map.

I used to belong to a quasi-military organization called the Boy Scouts. I think it was mainly for
the kids whose dads were too derelict to take them camping. Our meetings were held in the Catholic
school cafeteria. We'd sit in long rows of folding chairs, while the adults gathered around
a cafeteria table in front and whispered to each other. The assistant troop leader, 2 years older than me, would
patrol the rows giving head noogies to any kid who made a noise. Today he's an assistant county
attorney for Pima county.

About  1/2 hour before the meeting ended, the adults would finally talk to us or we'd have some sort of activity. Now don't misunderstand me, I appreciated the adults giving their time to us. A couple times a year we'd actually go camping, and would prepare for several months down to the tinest anal-compulsive militaristic detail. 
This caused me to associate 'camping' with ' a big pain in the ass administered by control freaks'. I mean
we wore uniforms, pledged ourselves to a set of principles, had ranks, badges. Just like the Hitler Youth. 

That was another era. WW2 was the last time America had everybody get with the program,
and it continued through the fifties. Group membership has nosedived since then, there's a book called
"Bowling Alone" by a man called Putnam who will exhaust the subject for you. I guess the Boy Scouts
still go camping, although you'd think the insurance would be insanely high, and 'community service' is
a substitute for 'fines' or 'jail time'. United we stand!

People also had time for these things in the Fifties. The rest of the world had been bombed flat, there was no 
competition for our products, and we could park our brains at the door when we went to work. That
all changed when the Japanese decided to buy us, since '82 or so we've been at war, economic war, but
war nonetheless. The Nips were beaten, but by that time Europe, China, the Asian tigers took their place, and
did I mention that computers have made our lives harder, not easier?



It's taking me a while to do my camping recovery steps. By experimenting I've found out what's
essential to survive Clear Creek backpacking, in descending order.

1. A soft warm bed.
2. Dry clothes and shoes
2. Hot coffee.
3. Perishable food in plastic jar to stick in the creek. Did I mention always camp near water?
4. Cigar.
4. Light. (could be a lighter)
5. Camera. (it takes 12 batteries to get 4 that have enough charge!)
6. Multi-function Knife to grab the coffee water and kill cougars with.
7. Aluminum mess kit.
8. Tiny binocs.
9. Ibuprofen/Glucosamine, stet!

optional:
7. Tent if it's going to rain.
8. Tiny propane stove if there's no firewood.
9. A headlamp and something to read, although the batteries weigh a lot.

The bed is #1 because as soon as you stop moving for the day, there's nothing to do except go
to bed. I have a huge foam pad 1/2 the size of a dog house. I always bring extra shoes, socks, pants, because in summer the only way through is through the creek. These also serve as my pillow. A big plastic sheet for
a ground cloth. It was very cold on March 20, and I'm now adding 'another sleeping bag' to the list.

The camping fetishists can buy all sorts of super-lightweight equipment, Gore-tex, etc. For a twice-
a- year thing Wal-Mart and Costco will do. I have to admit backpacks/sleeping bags have really gotten better since the 60's. I have a tent, I used it once, didn't rain. I think my pack weighs about 35 lbs. I can't
imagine carrying it more than a mile in rough country. 

Ideally of course, you'd want a helicopter to lower you by winch, with native bearers to carry
your stuff. Unless you had an anti-gravity belt. Then surf the internet with your wireless satellite.

Copyright 2002 Terry Morgan

hike1@cybertrails.com


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