I hiked the Prescott National Forest Service Trail number 95, also known as the Salida Gulch Loop Trail which is a moderate 4.1 mile hiking/mountain biking trail which runs along side of Lynx Creek and up over the top of some ridgelines to the Northeast of Lynx Lake in the Prescott National Forest. The hike allows for some amazing views South over the Bradhsaw Mountains, Northwest to Granite Mountain, Northeast to the mighty San Francisco Peaks North of Flagstaff and to the Black Hills sitting over the Eastern skyline of the town of Prescott Valey.
During the hike, I came across some petroglyphs which have been scientificly dated to be approximately 700 years old. I also noticed a fairly large amount of wild feline paw prints in some muddy and snowy areas along the trail. From my experience in the outdoors and studying natural wildlife, I came to the conclusion that the paw prints were placed in the mud and snow by what appeared to be a mid sized mountain lion who was probably in search of food and/or water. I am an amateur photographer on the side so I almost always have a camera at my side during my many outdoor adventures. I was able to obtain several good photographs of the landscape, petroglyphs and feline paw prints during my adventure down the Salida Gulch Loop Trail this morning and afternoon. I have attached 3 of the photos from my hiking adventure today to this blog.
Wow!
ReplyDeleteThis so so amazing! I have lived in Prescott/Prescott Valley for 20 years and have never gone up into a lot of trails. I have gone on one of the thumb butte trails but that is it. This is so beautiful and it really motivates me to go there and see this for myself!
ReplyDeleteAwesome pics. I have been to Lynx Lake many times and have yet to hike the entire Salida Gulch trail, have mountain biked a portion of it. We did a hike a couple years ago from Lynx Lake that took us up to the top of Spruce Mountain ranger tower and saw alot of mule deer and turkeys. As for the glyphs, they are always really cool to find and think what their thoughts were while they were etching them. We found some unknown glyphs hiking Rarick Canyon over by Montezuma Well, I will have to post some pics of that one.
ReplyDeleteNice!! Great job on the Blog too!!
ReplyDeleteThose pictures are really awesome, I'm going to have to get some friends together and go hiking, I'm interested in seeing those petroglyphs they look awesome!
ReplyDeleteThe pictures are great! Prescott has some awesome places to hike. Thanks for sharing your experiance with us!
ReplyDeleteThank you all who have posted comments on my Blog. The hike up Salida Gulch Trail was beautiful. I have only been back in the Prescott area for less than a month now. I have hiked and mountain biked several of trails in the area. I look forward to hiking many more.
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