Greer/Big Lake/Baldy 50 Mile Route

[rickcmarsh]

Hello All -

Some of you have been instrumental in thoughts and suggestions for where to do a 50 miler. We decided upon the Greer area, and I have completed a Rev 1 of our Route. I made it a loop for ease of pickup/dropoff locations. This is for a group of boy scouts - and I plan to contact the Ranger District as well as the Reservation for group camping and Baldy summit permission.

Outside of that, I was curious if some with experience in this area can see if my route passes the sniff test? A majority of the route is existing trails (East/West Fork, East/West Baldy, Big Lake Nature Trail, Thompsons, Black Fork, Indian Springs, etc.), but I did have to create some linkage trails that I would appreciate some feedback on.

Primary points of concern: I made a connection between West Fork and East Fork Trail heads in Greer by eyeballing google earth. For the most part we walk around parts of Greer, but curious if this is private land, or an OK attempt?

Other connections I used paths marked as roads in my mapsource software (Big Lake Nature trail to Indian Springs and Thompson to Baldy Trailhead). Are these OK roads to hike along, I assume they are rarely used forest roads, but open for suggestions in these areas as well.

Any feedback is welcome, and thanks in advance.

Rick

Route MGR Map => http://hikearizona.com/map.php?MY=11376&M=3

[nonot]

To get from West Fork to East Fork I walked through town on main st. Not a big deal. I am not familiar with whether your proposed connector will work. I don't remember there being an option to go that way but this was awhile back and I am not an expert on the town layout.

The end of your days are not generally in places conducive to camping. There are fairly nice camping options within about 1 mile of most of your proposed locations, but I haven't done the entire route as shown. At least one of your days appears to land in a campground where you would need a reservation.

Day 3 involves a river fording, so you will want to make sure to help your scouts across. The last few miles at end of your day 3 I didn't really find a trail in that area you have one drawn, but I was tired and not searching really hard either.

Day 4 seems pretty aggressive to put all in one day.

You should be fine hiking forest road connectors.

I would think that this is a pretty good route, the connectors might need a bit of massaging, and you may want to rebalance the distances and fine tune the plan for where to camp.

[azbackpackr]

Your route as shown up Burro Mountain isn't shown as a road on the FS topo map, but 8307 would work. What Nonot said, walk down the main street in Greer to connect east and west. He forgot to mention buying ice cream cones.

The local Scout troops start their 50 milers at South Fork lower trailhead off 260 near Eagar. However, they must do an out and back on that section. Yours does look more interesting, especially since South Fork took such a hit in the Wallow Fire.

Just do your hike up Baldy, don't ask to get a permit because they aren't going to give you one. You'll be up there wondering why everyone you see is going to the first peak without a permit. That is because everyone does. Just head for the huge cairn, but no further!

[nonot]

In my defense, it was cold and rainy on that day, not exactly ice cream weather!

[rickcmarsh]

Thanks for the feedback - just what I was looking for.

Re: the River Fording on day 3 - if I adjust the route to match the roads on the Route Mgr Map (Thanks Joe) from thompson to Baldy base do we avoid the river? Which day was the day that would need a reservation? We may have dads that are joining/leaving on different days so I would like to camp fairly close to road accesss, but all for dispersed/trail camping at the same time.

Regarding the Baldy day - is it possible to camp up the trail towards Baldy? Looking at Topo Maps, it appeared it may be possible at around 10,000 FT, but having not hiked the trail I wasn't certain.

[azbackpackr]

Yes, it is possible to camp up on Baldy. Some very flat areas on the East Baldy Trail.

Why do you want to avoid the river? It's gorgeous. It also is not really a river and has plenty of places to cross, except in April during big snowmelt.

[rickcmarsh]

When I hear the term River Fording I picture old pioneer videos - taking the handcart, turning it into a boat and hoping the Oxen can still pull it across...plus on the old Oregon Trail Video game, I always lost supplies when having to ford rivers en route to Oregon, lol.

I don't want to avoid Rivers, just scouts having to swim across rivers and hike while wet...if there are ways to cross then no problem.

[johnny88]

Near Mt Baldy:

There are some great places to camp along the East Fork of the Little Colorado River, both at 0.25 miles and 1-1.5 miles West of Phelps TH (I recommend the latter to end day 3 at)

West Fork of the Little Colorado River has many good camp sites as well, including near the marshy area

There's also a small site near the Spring just North of Mt Baldy, but I would not camp there during a thunderstorm!

I would make day 4 shorter and day 5 longer, both to get a better camp spot and enjoy Mt Baldy more

[azbackpackr]

When I hear the term River Fording I picture old pioneer videos - taking the handcart, turning it into a boat and hoping the Oxen can still pull it across...plus on the old Oregon Trail Video game, I always lost supplies when having to ford rivers en route to Oregon, lol.

I don't want to avoid Rivers, just scouts having to swim across rivers and hike while wet...if there are ways to cross then no problem.

No swimming is necessary. Handcarts are optional. ;) The only problem with Scouts is keeping them from getting wet when they are determined to get wet!

You can cross the West Fork of the Black and the East and West Forks of the Little Colorado in your dainty little shiny go-to-meetin' shoes and not get wet...most of the time. The Mainstem of the Black River is about knee-to-thigh deep in summer and it does require wearing shorts and water shoes. But you are not going to the Mainstem. The East and West Forks generally have some crossable places with stepping stones. Hiking poles can be helpful.

[nonot]

A river in Arizona is like a creek in most other states, except for the Colorado river, which is a real river...

Anyways the crossing can be harder or easier depending on the amount of recent rain. It would seem difficult to cross at the location indicated for someone scout height and weight when it is running heavy, but perhaps searching upstream or downstream will locate better crossing sites.

Regarding the pay site - I just turned on the satellite view of your route and one day appeared to end in a pay-type camp site with RV pads and stuff. Zooming in I think I could even make out which sites were occupied at the time.

[rickcmarsh]

Good to understand about the river crossings..

Tried moving some of the spots around, equal out the distance between days and not camp on an RV pad. We will probably work on the fishing meritbadge at Big Lake, so would like to camp somewhere close to there at one point.

Udated: http://hikearizona.com/map.php?MY=11627&M=3

How reliable is Burro Creek for water?

[nonot]

I'm not sure I recall Burro Creek flowing last time I visited, but you are a short distance from West Fork of the Black River, and could easily haul water from there since it is close to your ending spot on that day. There are pay campsites on the eastern side of Big lake, but I am not sure on the regulations for dispersed camping.

I'd say that revised plan looks pretty good as long as you can camp somewhere near your plan for Big Lake.

[rickcmarsh]

How are the dirt roads around the trail's I have selected? I would like to go up for a pre trip check - I don't have time to hike all 50 miles, and I only have time for 1 trip - so trying to get as much figured out ahead of time.

But can these dirt roads be navigated by a sedan or is 4 wheel drive required? I have a Kia Optima and Honda Pilot - and would prefer to take the Optima for the pretrip.

[azbackpackr]

Most roads in White Mountains are good with my old Honda Accord sedan. Call Springerville ranger district to see if roads are open for the summer before you go. They are generally gated off through March, sometimes they'll open some of them up in April. Depends on the road. I find their website a pain to deal with. It's easier to just call them, and hope you can talk to someone who actually works out in the field.

[rickcmarsh]

I have called them, and they don't appear to return calls - so I can see your point.

Pre Trip would likely be May timeframe, but I will talk with the ranger district before heading out.

Thanks.

[nonot]

Most of the roads near this route are paved or good quality gravel roads.