We did a loop I put together as linked above, mainly to tackle Rock Creek #195. The drive in on FR650 is non-shy high clearance.

Rock Creek Trail #195
After hiking up 3 miles on the road we took old #195 down. There isn't even a hint where it starts as it was decommissioned thirteen years ago. With a loaded gps route we picked it up quick. Soon you enter Arizona Cypress, you can make out a trail if you pay attention.

Low ratings and warnings from others boggle my mind. I found Rock Creek to be scenic, enjoyable and dare I say enchanting. Believe we had perfect weather. Tag in the key is to follow it down. Since I know I enjoyed going up Spencer I will definitely put the two together as a loop in the future. Perhaps my love for cypress forest is not shared? Perhaps recently taking on Sawtooth Ridge made it more enjoyable being able to associate the jagged peaks? I'm guess all of the above. One thing for sure, miles of catclaw never panned out... 15 feet around one boulder and a few snags was all she wrote.

In no shape or form is it "easy" to follow or brush free. The key is to go down ( loop or shuttle ), keep an eye out for trail stretches, cairns, an eye on the gps periodically and some Wally sense ( move in the direction it feels it should go ).


Bull Basin Trail #270
Bruce stumbled upon a grave. Not sure if it was near the junction, if so perhaps the 24-GG unknown cowboy. We scurried up a well groomed mine ( Carlson mentions magnetite-hematite or chrysolite asbestos ) trail thinking we were on #270. Corrected and got back on track. The first half mile south/up from the #195 intersection is enjoyable cypress. After that it didn't excite me.

Haunted Canyon #203
When #270 intersects #203 you are back in a cypress forest. For those that don't get it. Arizona Cypress is a beautify gnarly looking tree. The bonus being trails typically maintain themselves in mature stands. Underbrush is typically minimal and you can see through storybook views. The short stretch from #270 on the #203 to the turnoff for Tony's Cabin is camping heaven.

Tony's Backyard
A treat as always.

Underdog finally scores a bone!

Wildflowers
fragrant bushes with small white flowers,

The drive on FR650 was a first for me. Rumored to be High Clearance but 4 x 4 not required. I concur. High clearance is a must as well as a good set of tires. I only hit the trailer receiver hitch once going down into a steep section. We parked at 8.75 miles in, but I would have thought we'd traveled twice that far. It took us 56 minutes to make the drive from US60 (and I'm not known for driving slow). Past the point where we parked, I would call it 4 x 4 only based on the sharp, steep, loose switchbacks. http://hikearizona.com/photo=400001.

Load the GPS track for this loop hike.

Up FR650 for 3 miles to the decommissioned Rock Creek #195 TH (ie no sign). We were able to get in an extra .5 miles of hiking after passing it up. The beginning is hard to see, but after 100 yards or so down, you can see the tread and it's pretty easy to follow. Rock Creek #195 is cairned pretty well. If you have not seen a Cairn for awhile, you are probably off trail. Now I don't want to mislead you, it is not a Supes Corridor type trail, and takes some trail finding, but is is not the overgrown mess that it's been made out to be. This is actually one of the prettier areas in the Superstitions.... assuming you like trees, water, and total solitude. I clocked 4.3 miles on this trail.

Rock Creek Trail
http://youtu.be/ihlIReiOCeQ

Next up, we made the turn onto the Bull Basin #270 trail.
I enjoyed the climb on the first mile of this trail. The views were top notch, but the views gave way to brush. You hit the highpoint of the loop at 5090' and start steeply downhill. This was my least favorite section of the hike. This Trail was in worse shape than the non-trail we just got off of. It stayed like this until we joined the Haunted Canyon trail at Mile 12.5

Bull Basin #270 Trail
http://youtu.be/JSZj-q-27dQ

The Haunted Canyon #203 trail is a super highway. Flat, picturesque, mountains, trees, running water, nice camping areas... still not a single person seen though. Tony's cabin is interesting. I did not go inside to see that 12 Boy Scouts had signed in earlier in the day. Would like to have spent more time exploring (ie. some rumored cave in the area), but we were burning daylight with more things to see before running out of light.

Haunted Canyon
http://youtu.be/MMTkPh4thFg

Tony's Backyard was a surprise winner., not quite as nice as Rock Creek, but close. I filtered some water and Joe showed me Beaker Falls (I see it now). Joe tells me this is an old Horse trail. It's thin in spots, but has been flagged within the last 2 years.

Tony's Backyard
http://youtu.be/Q7wgY_LS5Y4


A stop at Wood Camp Cabin, in the almost total darkness and we were ready for the trek back out on FR650.

We were both surprised and blown away by the Rock Creek Trail... A must do out there

Lots of sign of Bear, Lion, Deer, Racoon, Coti, and even Honey Bunny tracks were seen.

I've never really been on a 4x4 trip but I can tell you, it's a whole lot of fun when YOU don't have to do the driving. I managed to get the day off once again so Hank's record remains intact. My only charge for this excursion was a Christmas-look for myself and to bring my camera. Well I can do that without batting an eye.

We met Eric along the 60 and loaded up our minimal gear. The vehicle was nice and clean and warm. Before you knew it we were on 172 heading toward
(1) Roblas Butte which is not too far before Elephant Arch. And though we were shaded by the Butte, Hank was able to snap a pretty good picture using a slightly increased exposure. And then it was on to the
(2) Elephant Arch. To our right was the creek with some fall color and to our left was the Arch with the winter sun shining on it .

At (3) Byous Butte we didn't quite get the sun shining on the Butte as the sun was hiding behind a light but big cloud. Before reaching Hackberry TH,
(4) Eric showed us a "creek/drainage to waterfall hike" he had done so we added that to the list. Apparently this hike goes to the east? and north? and gets close to FR172 so you'll have to stay tuned for that hike description . Next up was
(5) Hackberry TH , also the TH you can use to go to Millsite Canyon which was already on my list as it looks pretty scenic.

Coming in at
(6) was the Woodbury TH where we had done our CatClaw Revenge back in March 2009 http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=7550. Then the fun part of the 4x4 trip really got in gear as we made our way to the
(7) Rogers Trough TH. There's that one really tight corner that Eric made even tighter by hugging it over some deep sand. I didn't think there was any way he would get it on the first try but he did and it was so cool (I was riding on that side). There were a few cars at the lot and some limited snow on the ground. I re-acquainted myself with the look of Iron Mountain.

We then re-traced our route a bit back to FR650 for the second part of our journey. This part of the road definitely got rougher. There were lots of camping sites along the first part of FR650 as we made our way toward Montana Mountain. Our next TH
(8) Reavis Canyon Trail #509 North End was our coldest and windiest of the stops. In fact, Hank's camera and tripod took a header into the dirt as the wind blew it over. Fortunately, no damage was done and we moved the camera equipment near the Xterra to use as a windbreak. Needless to say, we were quite happy to be getting back into the truck.

On this northeastern section and near the high point of Montana Mountain, Eric did encounter some icy road conditions but not too bad. The views toward the snow-topped Sierra Ancha were just amazing Eric was able to point out Black Mesa where they had been the week before and Rockinstraw Mountain where they will be going this week. Also as we made our way down, you could see the results of the severe burn from this summer's fire as there were hardly any remnant trees coming up from the ground on the mountainside to the north of us. It definitely looked like scorched earth.

It was a bit of a tricky drive as we made our way toward stop
# (9) Spencer Spring Trail #275. Eric and I thot we saw a viewpoint to hike toward the north but alas, there were limited views. So it was back in the truck and onto stop
(10) Rock Creek Trail #195 though you couldn't see much from here as this side of the hill had been burnt pretty good.

And now after curving around the side of the mountain before coming out on the south side where you could see the valley below, it was a matter of switchbacking and switchbacking and switchbacking down to the floor. You could see the various switchbacks from above which was pretty cool; but what we also spotted was some sort of structure too and when we came to the fork in the road, we headed northeast?. It was really a rough road but only for 1/2 mile or so. Needless to say we were delighted at what we saw and thus stop
(11) Wood Camp Cabin was added to this Loop http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=228134.

Who knew we would find the perfect snack spot (it would have been our lunch spot but we were making such good time, it became our snack spot before an early dinner). But first, we would have to look around where we found all sorts of stuff like a well and a corral and a trough. Eric noticed some tailings so we investigated that. I walked up the highside of the creek bed and eureka, I found the adit . I got on the ground so that I could look in to check it out. It smelled like phosphorous .

Back on the road again, the boys contemplated that maybe you wouldn't necessarily need a 4-wheel for this part of the road but they would soon discover that 4WD would be needed even for this portion. Next we got to cross into and through a creek (to get to the other side of course ) where we decided to stop to let some ATVers through. We got out to take some movies and photos. After enjoying the scenery, we loaded up and headed toward our last stop
(12) Reavis Canyon Trail #509 - South End. This is a very pretty area so we walked around the creek for just a bit before finishing our journey home.

Rather than take the highway home we took the Hewitt Station road back to where we met up with FR172. We finished our day with the Fish Fry at Red Sage Restaurant. guys for taking me along. It was great to re-visit some old countryside as well as seeing new countryside. Between this and my Verde Canyon Train (Claus Express) ride http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2593703735076.127918.1629171654&type=1&l=4e5ce8b8eb I got to see a lot of AZ in a couple days.

PS I almost forgot. We will have lots of video footage as Eric had his camcorder on tibbermode and I was doing my usual mixture of photos and videos.

1-4-2012
Video 1: http://youtu.be/m-Jv-smN4WY The first part of the Loop includes trail heads for Roblas Butte, Elephant Arch, a creek/drainage future hike description, Hackberry/Millsite, and Woodbury finishing off at Rogers Trough.
Video 2: http://youtu.be/sxyEOXt1l4U Rogers Trough Trailhead back to FR650 along Montana Mountain and down to FR172 with a side trip to Woods Camp Cabin. This part of the drive included trailhead stops at Reavis Canyon Trail 509 North, Spencer Spring Trail, and Rock Creek Trail.
Video 3: http://youtu.be/f3riJqKujqE At and around Wood Camp Cabin including the adit. From here we drove to the last TH on the Hewitt Canyon Loop at Reavis Canyon Trail South.

This is a very sweet cabin site. The setting is beautiful and the cabin is loaded with character. I really love this stuff and this was a good one. The stone construction is incredible. They really build this thing to last. If walls could talk. Everything was pleasantly pristine and very little trash or vandalism was present. The nearby cottonwood trees completed the package nicely. Very cool find.

This is a great 4x4 day trip. I first did this route in 1998 with my dad. I still enjoy doing this scenic loop and having great company to join you makes for a perfect outing. This day was all about Hank and I was glad to provide the warm transportation. Finding the old cabin near the end of the route was the icing on the cake. I love old Arizona history. It was great to finally meet you, Angela. Thanks for putting this one together, Hank. It was a fun day! Cold but fun.

The past few years I've always much enjoyed spending a part of Christmas week or New Years week car camping and hiking the eastern section of our Superstition Wilderness around and north of the Byous Butte area off Hewitt Canyon Road (FR172).

This holiday season I had the idea of doing a long day trip making the complete 4-wheel driving loop starting and ending at the intersection of Hwy 60/Queen Valley Road (with only 1.6 miles of this 48 mile loop planned to be on paved road). My thought was to document this scenic forty-eight mile loop by issuing a new hike description and a complete GPS Route with all the ~13 trailhead waypoint locations one drives by.

I felt very fortunate that Eric and Angela were interested in joining me so our planned loop drive would be much more enjoyable with good company, and Eric offering to drive his family 4WD Xterra, and Angela to offer her natural flair to our special holiday outing. Since it was Christmas week with Santa Claus visits pending, I thought a little holiday dress code with red and green was also in order. Of course this now made it mandatory to document each of our TH stops with a group pic

I am happy to report that we were successful in documenting with stops and pics 11 of 13 total TH locations . Also, thanks to Eric and Angela's good distant vision coming down FR650, we were able to locate, visit, and document a very interesting and historic old stone cabin and mining homestead- "Wood Camp Cabin" located off FR650 on a short 4WD access road within Club Camp Canyon.

I had often thought that this scenic eastern Superstition Wilderness 4WD loop trip would make an excellent day outing for family and/or out of state visitors who are not into hiking but would rather enjoy a longer back-country day driving trip with varied flora, geology, amAZing near and long distance views, and with ranching/mining history. I am now happy to report that for the right situation it would!

I would highly recommend those more adventurous with a good, stock, high clearance 4WD vehicle with LT type rated tires to strongly consider this one. It's a winner!