Bassett Peak is a top-10 Arizona hike anytime. But during fall, it might be second to none.

Obviously I'm not the only one who thinks so ... there were several meetup groups and a huge group of screaming kids. Somehow however, we had a very quiet hike with few interactions with other hikers.

A lot of HAZ folks were out there this weekend, besides those on this hike it was also nice to see rwstorm, outdoorlover, pivo, volcanoclmbr, whereveriroam, wyle coyote, jonnybackpack, redroxx44, ohiobike, moondancer627, and a couple of others too!

Joe and JJ nearly broke me on the way up, but I should have known that ahead of time. I went to the plane crash site on the way down as I hadn't been there before. It's interesting, but the scree chute to get down to it is a pain.

It was actually a bit warm on the exposed upper slopes and I was happy to reach the drainage with the vibrant colors and shade all the way back to camp.

On the drive home, I made it to Tempe in 2 hours and 55 minutes via I-10. On my way there I drove through Globe and the spectacularly scenic Aravaipa-Klondyke Road and it took 3:25. I still like that route better, especially if there is the potential for any traffic on I-10 in Tucson or the Phoenix area.

This hike was the cherry on a great weekend all around!

Foliage
It was a little early in the lower half, but absolutely rocking in the mile below the spring.

Since I live way closer than most, I decided to do a little public service and go scout the leaves around Ash Creek so I could report back. Figured it would make for a nice day - which it certainly did! - and if I too was early I could easily go back in a couple weeks - which, spoiler alert, I probably will be. What an amazing area! Felt like I was in some deep, remote corner of the Chiricahua's ... yet drive time from home at Roper Lake to the parking spot 7/10ths of a mile up FR660 was a mere hour and ten minutes! The road was in great shape the whole way. So, long story short, if I were making the long trek from the Phoenix area in hopes of the best leaf color, I would wait 1-3 weeks - the change is not happening early this year. Also the creek is bone dry. That said, I think just about anytime would be a good time to visit this awesome place.
Now for the long version ...
Which actually began yesterday. Monday was day one of four off, and I had made reservations to spend two nights in Silver City, NM. Intended to visit the Catwalk and Glenwood area, then night one in Silver City, then a full day at Gila Cliff Dwellings and surrounding hikes/hot springs before returning to Silver City that night and home on Wednesday. After a series of delays, mishaps, and thwarted plans - the Catwalk was closed, which I didn't find out until I finally got there ... and that was only one of at least four things that went wrong - I decided in Cliff, NM to bag the trip and go home. All in all it was still a really nice, REALLY scenic drive from Safford up to Glenwood via 191 and 78 and 180, the back down almost to Silver City - some freakishly gorgeous country there! I saw deer, turkeys, javelina, and many raptors, and had a lovely picnic at Leopold Vista. I shall return.
So that's how I came to head off on this trip on Tuesday rather spur of the moment. I realized halfway there that I had forgotten to load the hike on RouteScout ... oh well. I did the hike without a route, a map, or a care in the World.
The creek had not a drop of water that I saw ... yet I was so completely enchanted with the place that I didn't even miss it. The creekbed clearly has it's share of drama, so I eagerly anticipate returning when it's flowing - I'm sure it will be very entertaining. There are many gorgeous campsites along the way, just right for a Jeep with a rooftop tent.
I only encountered one person, A hunter with rifle in hand walking back down 660 when I was about a half mile in.
I startled a lone coatimundi from the creekbed and he ran up the tree right next to me - I almost could have petted him! It happened so fast that by the time I readied my camera he was already back down the tree and fleeing across the creek - a wiser course of action than his first, I thought.
I saw an abundance of deer, including several who seemed completely unconcerned by humans - so much so that I told them to be careful and wished them luck. If I had been shooting a rifle rather than a Nikon, I would be eating venison tonight.
Also saw a flockload of turkeys ... a group of at least two dozen, and some javies hanging with the cows on the drive out.

Finally we found that elusive Autumn Color

Randy (rwstorm) sent me a PM last week asking me if I wanted to go along to Ash Creek in the Galiuro's, one of the Sky Island Mountains in South Eastern Arizona, for a season ending search for Autumn's elusive color. I'm still nursing a sore foot that has been bothering me for several months but I can't turn down an offer to see some Autumn color and Randy promised me that I wouldn't regret it, and as it turned out, he was right on the mark. After previewing triplogs from JJ, Eagle, Joe, Ron, Red Rocks and Mark, I could only hope that the trees hadn't shed their all of their leaves yet.

We met at a secure gas station parking lot east of Tuscon at 0730, I loaded my gear in his truck and we took off for a long day's adventure. It's a good thing that Randy remembered the route, cause I would have gotten lost any number of times, but we finally arrived at the entrance to the Ash Creek trail, grabbed our gear and hit the trail.

We hadn't gone far before we began seeing the color we were looking for, the bright yellow, gold, orange and red's that the Maple tree is so famous for lined the trail paralleling the dry creek and it only got better the further we went. The occasional glimpse of tall rugged cliff faces on the opposite side of the wash only added to the brilliance of the color that we were basking in. The gray clouds that had been gathering as we drove in, were now breaking up, leaving long white streaks in the Arizona Blue sky and a steady breeze showered us with red, yellow and gold leaves

We took a break, Randy with his sore knee and me with my sore foot, to allow our aching joints to gather relief but soon we were on our way again. We finally made it to the Upper Spring Box where we decided that this was enough punishment to our lower extremities and made our turn-around to head back down to Randy's truck. On the way back to Tucson, we stopped at La Unica Tortilleria y Taqueria in Willcox for some excellent Mexican cooking (and a cold refreshing beverage) then the long drive back home.

Thanks for the invite Randy and thanks for driving to the trailhead, we finally got to see some awesome Autumn color

The predicted cold front with high winds and rain potential may be the spoiler to this Arizona Autumn hot spot, but many of the Maple trees were still in the late stages of green which means that there could be more color available, so don't write this one off yet.


Foliage
Lots of Maple in their best Autumn brilliance and some are still in the green stage, so there's more to come folks.

We changed the hike up to get to a place a little cooler with color.

First time in this area for me and it's some pretty country. A Pistachio grove, fields of Bright Red Chili Peppers, Tomatoes, Apples, Pears, Peaches and cotton were all passed on the drive in. On the turn off from the Sunset Loop to Ash Creek Rd, there were Campers / RV's all set up for deer hunting. We saw 3 hung up on the way in and at least six on the way out. We heard no shots all day.

JJ made the most of the available road getting to the TH. We only stopped once to move a boulder out of the way, with JJ trying to put his Cherokee through a slot the same width of the rock opening.

The hike is enjoyable through Ash Creek to Upper Ash Spring. There was plenty of color, but also plenty green. A week or 2 should make this perfect.

Making the climb out of the creek, the views started opening up. The Mt Graham area looms large behind a vast grassy area running to the base of it. It's a steady climb to the top, with just a few loose spots. The turn off The East Divide trail to get to the top is a bit thin, but it's been recently flagged it to top.

We headed down to to checkout B24 crash site from 1943. 12 tragically lost their lives here. It is steep and loose getting down to this site. There is quite a bit of debris scattered about.

After climbing back up to the trail, it was all downhill to the Trailhead.

I'm glad I was able to finally make it out to this one. It's been on the radar for quite awhile.

Thanks JJ for all the driving...

Great hiking with you and the Turtle again. Two Thumbs? up!

Top 5! Wow, Bassett is an incredible peak and the trail is amazing. The views from the south end of the Galiuro Wilderness are as good as anywhere. You can truly see EVERY single sky island from here. Just amazing!

Of course we timed our trip to try and catch some colors and we weren't disappointed. I can see how this canyon could provide some amazing autumn colors, and while this year has been less than optimal as far as colors go across the state, we were not disappointed with this.

The aspens at upper Ash are the most unique, out-of-place trees I've ever seen. At one point I took a photo that included an agave, manzanita, fir, aspen, maple, juniper, chaparral, and probably a few other things I didn't identify. The diversity is truly unbelievable.

The wreckage from the plane crash deserves extra exploring, but we saved it for the next trip.

The weather was ideal, and we were surprised to find a peaceful canyon with no crowds. The first person we encountered saw us approach and looked at me and said "Chumley"! Always nice to meet fellow hazzers out on the trails. It was nice to meet Roger!

We also ran into Letty as we were about to head home and spent a few minutes chatting. Good to see her again too!

In the wildlife sighting department, we saw a Goulds Turkey. i swear it had to be over 50 lbs and stood 3 feet tall. It was enormous! Bright orange neck, and a distinctive, loud call. A real treat to see him gobble through our campsite!

Drove there via the Klondyke Road and arrived in 3:30 hrs. On the return trip we went through Tucson and managed it in 3:15. Depending on weather, I think the dirt road is a more pleasant trip and the slightly longer time is worth not having to deal with Tucson.

Foliage
Near peak for this year. Depending on storms this week, next weekend will also be great.

It was time for another getaway. The dates worked out for this weekend and it matched the peak color timeframe from our trip a couple years ago. I invited a handful of tagalongs to be nice but they all ended up bailing so Noel and I got our wish for the weekend alone. We drove down Friday morning, lost a tire on the way in, switched it out, got some mud and some hunter waves and then parked for feet time.

Two years ago was a color s'plosion but a dry one. This year was a switcharoo. Everything was flowing but mostly green. We decided to pick a new camp spot since we didn't need the lower spring nearby. We figured out bears pick the best camping spots so we found the area with the most bear poop, great nestle factor, leaf color, and adequate fire chimney, at the fork of two bubbling creeks. Noel had joked that there was enough bear poop to make a full size bear and I'll be darned if I didn't come back from collecting firewood to catch her molding something that may have in time become a four legged brownie if I hadn't early return scared her into knocking it all down.

She moved on to the cleaner duty of setting up the tent and zipping our bags together while I worked out the fire ring and the rest of the wood. A lot of the wood was damp or wet still but we got the flames going strong enough both nights.

Since the color was a little scarce, we set about waterfall hunting up the mapped but unnamed very flowing creek next to camp (south of the trail and west of the Lower Spring). We got to its split and followed both forks for a ways. Pretty little areas. I'd recommend it if the water's flowing.

We had lunch back at camp over a pool that begged to be swum in. Sometime after that, we did the hike up to the Upper Spring (This section had the best color) then came back before too dark to fire it up again.

The next morning we packed up and then hiked back up to the Upper again. The color seems better with the morning sun on this stretch. We lazily came back down, got our gear and hiked back to our wheels for the drive home.

We never did run across a bear but we saw 4 deer bound away and one getting walked out not of his own accord.

In short,
Yay water.
Slow clap fall color. As in, "It had good color... for Arizona," as in "This ice cream tastes good... for being sugar free."

Went up early to seek autumn colors.
Moderate at best right now.
Needs 2 more weeks.
Hiked to upper Ash Spring & back + a little extra.
The aspens at the upper spring are just turning.
Still a great hike even without the peak colors.
Hunters everywhere setting up camps.
Saw 12 pronghorn antelope on the drive in & a bald eagle along the lower creek.
Good hike with great friends!

Foliage
Moderate at best.

Well this was a great trip.
I had a party of 7 with me on this.
I swear we saw 40 people hiking out as we were driving in.
I asked a few people about how the springs were doing and was told there was no water even at the holding tanks. That was a little disconcerting but I figured we could find a puddle or two to filter from if we had to. I planned to set up camp near the lower spring. When I headed up the side trail to the concrete tank, I found the first catcher completely full. The pipe was dripping about once per second and a hike up to the spring source showed it full and clear too.
With that out of the way, we picked some bright trees to set up camp under. After that, it was time to start wasting time in the beauty.
The next day we hiked at our own pace to the upper spring. I think it Noel and I a record 3-4hrs.
The peak color was great. The aspens at the end were about done, but we were able to find plenty other colors about.
Thanks to those who went before and contributed to my research on dates and the area!

i knew that it would be busy on this trail, but i didn't know exactly how busy. SOOO many people. there was a group from tucson backpackers that included 21 people, and there were many other groups as well. i met skatchkins - he recognized the haz shirt.

we camped along the road, just outside the gate. the coyotes howled something fierce a few times during the night - enough to wake me up. the color at this location never disappoints, but it looked like we were a few days late for the aspens. they were just about spent.

How to time the leaves. Look on weather for temps in mid 30's in Willcox for the first time of autumn. As the maple grove is about 1000' higher the temps will be perfect and the trees ablaze with color the next day. The photos are superb.
There are hundreds of maples, sumacs, ash, aspen. Even Golden Columbine was golden leaved. Lots of Smooth Sumac.