Barnhardt Trail....a Bust!

Our photography class instructor told us that the Barnhardt trail might be a good one for photographing the moon as there is a full moon on March 8th. We set out to check it out mid morning. Once you turn off Hwy 87, you drive four miles on a dirt road to the trailhead. This trail is considered to be one of the "expressways" to the Mazatzals. It connects up with numerous other trails in the system that could keep a backpacker busy forever!

We decided to bring multiple camera lens and tripods....big mistake. The trail was narrow and rocky and we needed our heavy duty hiking boots....which we didn't bring. We had Cooper carry his bowl, water and treats. He slows down considerably once that pack is on his back.

The vistas weren't great as it was an overcast day. Some of the rocky cliffs were interesting.

We were headed to a waterfall but never made it. It has been such a dry winter in AZ that we doubted it would be much of a waterfall.

We ended up ditching the tripods after a bit and then decided to turn around and head back to the car. Randy's shoulder started hurting and we realized we were trying to do too much as he had only one week of physical therapy.

We might try the Barnhardt on another day. We also found out that our instructor was thinking of another trail which is 40 miles from Payson and near the Four Peaks area......he got his trails mixed up.