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Prescott National Forest Stage 1 Fire Restrictions Aug 14th to TBD Easy hike in the pines by gregstewart1952  Origin I heard from another hiker that the Prescott area was developing a new trail system west of the Granite Mountain/Granite Basin area. It is near a summer camp called Emmanuel Pines, so some people are calling it the Emmanuel Pines trail system. Another man I ran in to on the trail said that he knew the guy that was developing the system, and he wanted it named after a geographic feature rather than the camp, hence Spence Basin. I'm attaching a map of the trail system. It's being developed for mountain biking and hiking, and I met some of each out on the trail. Hike The morning was cool and fresh after the monsoon rains, and the scent of the Alligator Juniper, Ponderosa Pine, Pinon Pine and scrub oak was wonderful. This is typical vegetation for the Prescott area at this elevation. This is high chaparral desert, so these trees don't grow very tall, maybe twenty feet. The trails are well marked, and except for a couple of major trails that are part of the Prescott Circle Trail system (e.g., Javalina Trail #332), they are named rather than numbered, with cutesy names like Happy Ending, Tunnel, Water Meter, Noodle, and Vista. I chose a relatively short 4 mile loop for our group of bi-weekly hikers, just to check out the area. There are longer loops and longer through-hikes in the area as well. The terrain is rolling, with no major elevation changes. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the area. There are several seasonal creeks running through the area, dry even after the recent monsoons. The area looked like it would be teeming with deer, but we didn't see anything due to the size of our group. The area is popular with mountain bikers as well, so you can expect to meet them on the trail. Synopsis All in all, the Spence Basin area is going to be a great addition to the other Prescott-area trails, something on the lighter side for a more casual hiker. Try it, you will enjoy it. Check out the Official Route and Triplogs. Leave No Trace and +Add a Triplog after your hike to support this local community.
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