This is an awesome trail. I love the desert-to-forest hikes, and this one certainly fits the bill. Beautiful chaparral gives way to dense mixed forest as one gains elevation. I intended to get all the way to FR 651, but I lost the trail near a big cairn at about 7,000'. I bushwhacked a little ways up, but decided to turn back as it was getting late and there was no sign of the trail. The heavy carpet of leaves and still-thick patches of snow destroyed my ability to find the trail. This was right about where the switchbacks started. I estimate that I got to about 1/2 mile on the trail, and about 250 vertical feet from the road before I turned back.

There were some dogs hounding something as I started from the trailhead (around 11:30 a.m.) and still going at it when I got back a little before 5:00 p.m. I guessed they were hunting a bear, but the fact that they were still chasing whatever it was that they were chasing 5+ hours later makes me guess they were chasing a lion. They seemed to be in the canyon bottom just east-ish of Doghouse Spring, or a little below it. I thought I heard a dog yelp in (serious) pain, which would indicate a bear hunt, but I still think they were running a lion around.

Didn't see a soul. Good water in Icehouse Canyon. Not much wildlife at all. Got stuck in a traffic jam on the way there due to construction just west of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and also got stuck in a big-time traffic jam courtesy of the LPGA event at Superstition Mountain and the traffic lights around Gold Canyon.

I want to do this hike again, and soon! Muchas gracias to Fritzki for the maps. I'm shocked that this trail isn't utilized more due to its proximity to the Valley. I suspect one of the reasons is that it's (and the other trails in the Pinals-) not in any of the widely-available hiking books.