Bulldog Canyon Trail
February, 2010
Tonto National Forest, Phoenix Valley, Arizona, USA
Bulldog Canyon trail is an easy level trail that we did on our own one weekday afternoon. To get onto the trail we had to get a padlock code from the forestry office down in Mesa. This allowed us to unlock the gate that barred the way onto the trail. To get the code, we just had to register with the office, and the registration lasted for a year.
Tackling the trail was really just an easy drive that started just east of our RV park in Fort McDowell, and ended just north of Apache Junction which is southeast of Phoenix, AZ. The trail was pretty much deserted except for a couple of people on their dirt bikes, which we ran into at the south end of the trail. We were able to drive the return trip on the regular roads, but the two on the bikes couldn't as they were not street legal motorcycles. So to get back to their road legal vehicle which was back at the beginning of the trail in the north, they had to run the trail back the other way. They had two problems. One was that it was now getting on toward dusk, and they would be running the trail in the dark, and the second is they didn't have enough fuel in the bikes to make the return trip.
We always carry extra fuel in jerry cans on the Defender, so we had some to spare. We offered to help them out by filling the tanks on their bikes. Once filled, they jumped on their bikes and took off north without even offering to pay us for the fuel. Wasn't that nice of them. These weren't a couple of young kids, you understand. But rather a middle aged husband and wife that you'd think would show some appreciation. It takes all kinds, I guess.
