The drive in was slowed by the Barnburner MTB race going the opposite direction than we were going. I was yelled at a few times for my 3mph pace for kicking up dust. The bikes were kicking up more dust than I was. There was easily 300 bikes that passed us.

This loop was a summer staple for us. The last time though in 2018, it was a total cluster of downed tree on the Bull Basin Trail. Knowing they would never put out the manpower to clear the more than 300 downed trees, I'd written this one off for any future attempts.

Flash forward a year. Going CW around this loop.

Kendrick Peak Trail is still one of the best tracks in the state.

Pumpkin Trail is showing the effects of past fires, but is flagged for what appears to be future work.
We saw more than 5 friendly groups on this trail. The most people I've ever seen on it.
Big views for this trail!

Connector Trail This trail is best followed with a GPS Track. It is flagged, but most of the flags are shorter the the grass.
This is usually the hottest part of this loop being totally exposed.

Bull Basin Trail This trail from the Connector Trail to the top was a minefield of fallen trees last year. Recent August triplogs from @toddak and @LJW gave us hope. Holy crap have the ACE crew been busy. We did not see them on this day, but the cuts on trees were very recent, tools were still out there, so they are still busy at work on this. I'm guessing they are about 85% done with this trail. The worse part, as of this triplog, is the torched section just NW of the cabin.

Jupiter – reigns supreme in the September 2019 night sky. That’s because Venus is sitting close to the glare of sunset all month, leaving dazzling Jupiter to rule the night. Jupiter pops out at dusk – brighter than any star – and stays out until late night. Not sure which one is Jupiter? See the moon in Jupiter’s vicinity for several days, centered on or near September 5. Or just look along the path the sun travels during the day – the ecliptic – for the brightest starlike object you can see. That’ll be Jupiter.

Passed hundreds of mtn bikes after turning off SR180. Apparently the Barn Burner Race was in full swing!

Not many vee-hicles(ode to rizzo) at Kendrick Trailhead, maybe a dozen. Interestingly we passed and helloed more heading up than ever. Hikers, newbies, dog walkers, a large group with a good mix of ages and personalities, plus five runners including the famous lacey___jo and Rachel!

After several CCW loops Suburuce wanted more elevation early on so we summited then went CW down Pumpkin. We continued to pass more than anticipated. All seemed to be doing an out-n-back or a midway-up-n-back. One guy mentioned Sheepherders Cabin. I wasn't paying enough attention if he was referring to the summit saddle cabin. At any rate, that term caught my attention.

Bruce wanted to lunch further in than usual as he recalled a nice group of trees we breaked at with Karl last year. It sort of worked out as he described. Except we passed the area he pointed out along the way. Nevertheless he picked a seemingly decent spot. Neither of us found a comfy seat. It was good to rest regardless. At one point I had a dozen large ants crawling on me. Exhausted from previous whining, I sucked it up. Figured if gummo purposely picks up scary looking bugs I could survive ants. Only three bites, all when I was flicking 'em off.

We did not see anyone along the connector trail. Flags were faded, still helped navigate. Two washed out areas had dicing footing. Glad to be going CW since I have better balance to catch a fall on my right. Noted a little bit of foxtail. Not dry enough for pure hell. Prickly plants loaded my socks with scratchies. Nothing remotely irritating like foxtails.

Heading up Bull Basin Trail was a dream compared to last year. ACE teams have worked miracles on a majority of the trail. Notably 90% of the worst log jams. A few good sized jams still need to be tackled. With lots of traffic having passed through now the easiest route over is easy to decipher.

Fun Facts - Venus is always brighter than all other planets or stars (except the Sun) as seen from Earth.
This brings joy to my little shriveled up black heart. A vicious doubter argued like a hungry wolf. In the end I got lucky...

Good hike, Kendrick always delivers.

Back for another counter-clockwise loop. Two years since the 2017 Boundary Fire devastated areas of the mountain, and new vegetation is thriving in the burn zones as nature does her thing to soften the scars and begin the recovery.

On the way down Bull Basin I met a crew of 9 Conservation Corps workers doing a beautiful job grooming and refreshing the trail, and they said that a crosscut crew will be coming through soon to take care of the numerous downed trees . The full length of the Connector has been flagged, hopefully that means it is also scheduled for maintenance. Upper Pumpkin also had some flagged sections. So awesome that these trails aren't going to be abandoned!

Because of all of the closures, this was the most cars I've seen at the Kendrick TH. Luckily, this did not equate to jammed trails, as there is plenty of room out there.

Kendrick Peak Trail #22 is a jem. Great shape, nice gain and great views. Only slightly noticeable fire damage.

The Bull Basin Trail #40 took the brunt of the fire damage from the last couple of fires up there. Starting from right behind the cabin at the saddle, some places look like a moonscape. There is one 200 yard section up top, through the non-existent Bull Spring, that a GPS is you main means of finding the trail. Even with this devastation, you can't beat some of the views up top. This trail is really needed to make this wonderful loop happen. I'm guessing we went up, under and/or around, 200 or so trees on the length of this trail getting to the Connector Trail. With all the trees down, I find it unlikely the FS would bring in hand saws to clear this wilderness trail. I for one, would not mind giving the FS special dispensation to use chainsaws in cases like this. I know the purists will yell at me for this, but I can't ask FS workers to do what what I wouldn't/couldn't do.

The lower sections of Bull Basin Trail and the Connector Trail #80, are wide open and exposed. It provides an eerily picturesque landscape.

Having accidentally drained my backpack's bladder at lunch and not feeling the best, I split from Joe and Karl at the Connector/Pumpkin intersection, They went up and I went downhill on the Pumpkin Trail #39. This is the first time I'd been on this portion of the trail. It's actually quite nice and just as steep as the upper portion. I always thought this trail got it's name from the steepness of it. I was wrong [ photo ] .

Taking some FR's back, I met Joe, then Karl back at the TH. An enjoyable day.

Kendrick Peak Trail #22
Still one of the easiest ascending treads in AZ. Fire damage is notable if you concentrate on it. On route to the trailhead and on this trail most of the burned trees still had green crowns. Expected worse, plenty of untorched forest remains.

Bull Basin Trail #40
Perhaps a hundred plus trees to crawl over. It's tidy mess. Travel is just slow and tedious not horrible as other burn areas I've been through in other areas. Personally I would descend it again. Forget ascending until serious trail maintenance.

Connector Trail #80
Albeit semi moonscape in areas this trail gets a bump up from 2 to 3 for myself. Views are easier to appreciate now that the prickly shrub is all gone. Route finding still demands your attention in areas. Enough pine covered islands/stretches to enjoy a lunch break.

Pumpkin Trail #39
Aside from a little more route finding in the mid-lower section, same tree cover and tread as years past.

Synopsis
Busier than ever with lots of nearby areas closed due to dry conditions. Piestewa Peak is still busier in 100+ temps... Humphreys if open would have five times the visitors so enough with the I don't have the most popular part of the wilderness all to myself in prime season sniffle syndrome.

Wildflowers
Light for most of the loop. Lower mountain ridges of the Pumkin Trail are a blanket of lupine.

I had to go check out the damage caused by the Boundary Fire in June on Kendrick Mountain, home to one of my very favorite loop hikes. I went counter clockwise from the Kendrick trail head, with side out-and-backs to the Bull Basin and Pumpkin trail heads.

Heading up Kendrick Trail it looks like there's a few fresh burn areas in the lower and middle sections, but this area has burned before so its hard to be sure. As you approach the Lookout Cabin saddle there's clearly some recent burn areas along the ridge.

Continuing past the Lookout Cabin and heading down Bull Basin Trail, you soon reach an area of utter devastation. What used to be some of the most mature pines on the mountain have been reduced to charred matchsticks, many of them on the ground. The trail is non-existent, and even the soil looks like it has been sterilized by the heat. At one point I just stood there and cried. Fortunately the worst damage extends only a few hundred yards, and then the trail continues down through stands of young aspen that survived. There are dozens of old downed trees across the trail among the aspens. Further down and on towards Bull Basin trail head is now a patchwork of mostly low-intensity burn zones among surviving forest.

The Connector Trail was never in very good condition before the fire, and its worse now with lots of erosion from post-fire monsoon rains. Lupine and a few other plants look like they're thriving in the ash-enriched soil, and they are overgrowing the trail in places. Still, there's lots of cairns to help keep on track.

The first mile of the Pumpkin Trail is now among mostly burned pines, all they way up to the ridge. Up higher the trail goes through a large stand of young aspens that did not survive. Further up used to be a beautiful mix of thick pine, aspen and grassy meadows as you climb to the summit. It is now a patchwork of around 50/50 burned/untouched.

In terms of the trails themselves, Kendrick had no significant fire damage, and some work has recently been done clearing downed trees on upper Pumpkin, so apparently those will be maintained. I can't imagine anyone investing any money trying to clear and restore the Bull Basin or Connector trails.

So overall a pretty depressing day. It seems that the few areas that survived the 2000 Pumpkin Fire have now been mostly lost. But fire is a part of wilderness, and I will keep coming back and watching how the mountain slowly but surely recovers.

Nice to meet HAZ member mt98dew doing the same loop in the opposite direction. He passed me on the climb up Kendrick, we crossed paths at the Pumpkin/Connector junction, and we met again going back down Kendrick and hiked the last couple miles together. I'm pretty sure that qualifies him as a hiking partner.

Set out to summit Kendrick via the Bull Basin Trail, returning via Pumpkin, two trails I had not previously hiked.

The lower parts were great, but this winter has taken a toll, and the deadfall at the top of Bull Basin was tiring. At around 9700 feet we hit snow, and it looked as if it was going to be pretty solid the rest of the way to the cabin due to the sheltered north-facing slope.

I informed the others that I would be leaving the trail and heading directly up to the ridge where there would be no snow to contend with, clearly giving them the option to follow or continue on the snowy trail. Everybody decided to follow me.

The ridge is a complete disaster area. There was very little snow, but the zig-zag puzzle created by life-size lincoln logs made for a very arduous journey to the cabin. The 4-foot snow drifts on the trail would not have been better. But I had no idea of the mess on top of the ridge. Oh well!

The tower was staffed last weekend and this weekend due to the high winds. Oh yeah. It was windy! Generally sustained from 25-30, with gusts over 40. Pretty sure we got a couple spots over 50 crossing the shallow saddles on the way down.

The top of Pumpkin has also suffered a lot of winter deadfall, but after a mile or so it was much smoother sailing.

I really liked these two trails and the loop in general. A little saw work is in order, but that's what the FS is for, amiright?

Lovely day clearing downed trees from the trail, with aspen blazing gold and elk bugling all around. I added a GPS track from the correct Bull Basin trail head to the junction with the Connector Trail. This trail head is located at the end of the road signed 90B. To get there from Flagstaff I went Hwy 180, left on 191C, right on 767, straight onto 760A which becomes 90, then left on 90B. About 7 miles on dirt, very rough and rocky, definitely high clearance plus AWD if wet. I took the long way around going home (90B, left on 90, left on 144, left on 171, left on 193 back to 180), about 20 miles on dirt but much smoother than the way in.

Always a great loop, went CCW from Pumpkin trailhead, with side out-and-backs to the KP and BB trailheads. I'd rate the full Pumpkin route as one of the best climbs in the state - relentlessly steep, interesting burn zones in various stages of recovery down low, gorgeous forest and green meadows towards the top, huge views, no crowds.

Not many choices to get out of the 114 of the valley on Saturday.

After a short wait, we headed for the high country with Bubby in tow.
There were more than 8 cars in the lot already
Joe explained why AsBens are popular. Some more than others. A humid climb to the saddle.

We left Bob back in the saddle again and made our way down the Bull Basin Trail, on our CCW Loop. There has been some recent clearing in the upper reaches, but there seems to have been more new fallen, than cleared. Still like this trail, with it's good views to the west.

We always surprisingly run into people on this back section in Bull Basin. This time, a group of 6, going the other direction.

The Pumpkin trail is aptly named. It always kicks mine. I still love the views. aspens, grasses and pines.

We talked to the Fire Lookout volunteer for a bit, but the swarms of flying ants got to be a bit much.... Plus the T-Storms were getting real, real close and we were at the tallest peak in the area.

The temps dropped 20 degrees as we started down. The 4 mile walk from the top rattled off smoothly and we only cranked out the umbrellas for the last 1/2 mile of steady rain.