Route Editor
Route Scout
Overview: From FR 421, the trail climbs steadily through lower Sonoran Desert and riparian vegetation up the arroyo formed by Sycamore Creek. It turns northward and continues to climb along a tributary, passing through chaparral, semi-desert grassland and juniper woodland. The trail tops out on the El Oso Divide and then descends to its end at Edwards Park in a stand of large Ponderosa Pines. Check out the Official Route and Triplogs. Leave No Trace and +Add a Triplog after your hike to support this local community.
One-Way Notice This hike is listed as One-Way. When hiking several trails on a single "hike", log it with a generic name that describes the hike. Then link the trails traveled, check out the example. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.
Most recent Triplog Review
Sycamore Trail #68
El Oso Mine / AZT 21 / Denton loop
This hike was an exploration of the El Oso mine road and the FR422. A certain hiking website admin told that the El Oso mine road had some great views and it. I parked at a camp site off of FR422 and headed to FR422A to the El Oso mine road. I headed down to the Big Pine Flat camp ground and headed down the Denton trail. I went along the Denton until it started to drop down and the overgrowth started to obscure the trail. The view from the Denton is awesome. You get views of Roosevelt Lake and the Tonto Basin area. Along the way I checked out the mines and offshoot roads. There wasn’t anything of interest at the mines.
I then headed down FR422 and checked out the various offshoots along the way. The Circle M spring had a pool of green water. The loop at the end of FR422 was pretty neat, it climbed up high and provided a 360 degree view of the area. On the way back I saw a cairn and a red ribbon at N33 49.876 W111 22.541. It was north of the Park trail and south of where the Sycamore (68) should be. I followed the cairn and found 3 more 2-foot cairns. Then the cairns got smaller and harder to find. I then wandered looking for the next cairn before giving up. Edwards peak was close by and looked doable. So I’m guessing the ‘trail’ goes to Edwards peak.
Then I found an un-marked (and not on any maps) a road that may be the start of the Sycamore (68) trail. The road dead ended where my GPS showed where the Sycamore crossed it. I saw no evidence of a trail past this point.
It was a fun day exploring around the area.
My only gripe is that 2 guys on ATV’s flagged me down to ask for directions. They didn’t have any idea where they were. They only had a book of ATV trails, which had a 4 x 8 map of the 4 peaks area. I told them where they were at and they asked how to get to the parking lot. I was like ‘which parking lot?” They replied the one off of the 4-peaks road. We just drove in and saw a parking lot. I told them how to get back to FR143 and hoped that they would remember which way to go. If you’re going out ATVing you should at least have a good map / GPS.
I then headed down FR422 and checked out the various offshoots along the way. The Circle M spring had a pool of green water. The loop at the end of FR422 was pretty neat, it climbed up high and provided a 360 degree view of the area. On the way back I saw a cairn and a red ribbon at N33 49.876 W111 22.541. It was north of the Park trail and south of where the Sycamore (68) should be. I followed the cairn and found 3 more 2-foot cairns. Then the cairns got smaller and harder to find. I then wandered looking for the next cairn before giving up. Edwards peak was close by and looked doable. So I’m guessing the ‘trail’ goes to Edwards peak.
Then I found an un-marked (and not on any maps) a road that may be the start of the Sycamore (68) trail. The road dead ended where my GPS showed where the Sycamore crossed it. I saw no evidence of a trail past this point.
It was a fun day exploring around the area.
My only gripe is that 2 guys on ATV’s flagged me down to ask for directions. They didn’t have any idea where they were. They only had a book of ATV trails, which had a 4 x 8 map of the 4 peaks area. I told them where they were at and they asked how to get to the parking lot. I was like ‘which parking lot?” They replied the one off of the 4-peaks road. We just drove in and saw a parking lot. I told them how to get back to FR143 and hoped that they would remember which way to go. If you’re going out ATVing you should at least have a good map / GPS. 2014-05-24 topohiker
