Pocket Trail #38, AZ

The Pocket trail starts near the Soldier Camp / Soldier Camp creek. There’s a #38 trail sign off-of FR134 (close to the Soldier camp/Soldier camp creek) The first ~1.6 miles is an old Jeep road that fades in and out. At the Wilderness boundary the road turns into an old ATV trail, then it fades out completely.


It appears that the ranchers use this area for the cattle grazing. There’s cattle paths here and there. You’ll see the Pocket spring and the pocket tank. The trail crosses an un-named drainage and then it climbs to the east(right). Along the way there are red ribbons hanging from branches. About a third mile from the end you’ll see a black 4inch conduit PVC pipe lashed to a rock. The trail drops down a bit through some rocks and you take the plunge! You drop about 800 feet from this spot. You pick your own path (or poison) down. The terrain is loose scree rocks / dirt with shrubs. Don’t go past this point if you don’t like scrambling or sliding! It’s an energy draining drop, but the views are worth it. The Tonto creek looks like a mini Grand Canyon in this section of the Hellsgate Wilderness. There’s a lot to explore down in this Canyon.

The views are just amazing the closer you get to the Tonto Creek.

Check out the Official Route and Triplog.

Note
This is a more difficult hike. It would be unwise to attempt this without prior experience hiking.

Leave No Trace and +Add a Triplog after your hike to support this local community.

2016-11-16 topohiker