Bassett Peak old trail help

[RedRoxx44]

I would appreciate if the next person who posts here a bit is on Bassett please help locate a possible old trail crossover. [ photoset ] ; this is a hike I did on a reclaimed old trail out of Jackson cabin to Bassett. Also there is an old trail leading out of the first spring tank area on the main trail from Ash heading up toward the southern shoulder of Bassett. I followed it until I lost it at the base of some rock cliffs.
From the peak walk out onto the gravel cleared shoulder to the south of the peak. Please look around to see if you can note or locate a likely trail crossover. I believe these segments were original old trail from the Jackson cabin side to allow access to the flats heading toward Willcox prior to the road the goes out to Muleshoe. There is no map or FS reference for these trails.
The trail from Jackson cabin has an interesting reemergence when a hiker (rwstorm knows all about this) got lost on a traditional Bassett peak hike and made her way to Jackson cabin and noted her distress in the log book. She was recovered and helicoptered out. The hiking group she belonged to helped later on to restore this trail. However I haven't been on it in a long time so don't know the condition now.
I will get to looking at this myself at some point; but I'm getting older so the help would be appreciated. Thanks for any help and feel free to PM me if needed.

[ShatteredArm]

A couple of my maps have a trail from Bassett Peak down to Jackson Cabin. Is this what you're talking about? When I was up on Bassett, I accidentally started following a trail past the peak before realizing I had passed the summit. It seemed like it started going down the mountain, and was easy to follow up there.

I'm considering going out there in a couple of days for a few nights if I can bring myself to brave the cold.

[big_load]

Yeah, I followed a trail in that direction that was fairly evident at the time (maybe 15 years ago). I didn't follow it far enough to be sure of where it went.

[RedRoxx44]

Yes, at first if appears the main trail continues past the summit. But then the cleared off area ends. The trail from Jackson cabin when I did it in 2006 had very old flagging on it and at times the only way to discern parts of it were old brush cutting. Unless hunters or hikers are keeping it clear it could be a little hard to see where it comes up. But when I was looking around I wasn't aware of the other trail taking off from lower Ash Spring. That trail initially has some tree trail markings in keeping with what the FS would have done. The trail is extemely brushy and in poor shape. At some low cliffs animal trails took off and I was unable to tell the correct path. I am thinking these trails converged on that shoulder somewhere.

Got the bright idea to go on GE, the trail from Jackson cabin to Bassett is "sketched" in as it appears not visible from satellite; edit looked closer and some trail tred can be seen. 1985 Landsat. There is a suspicious line or two going across a saddle from the Lower Ash Spring route, that if it got into a ravine bypassing the cliffs could come up to the other but cannot be observed.
[ photo ] ; from near lower Ash Spring

[jacobemerick]

@RedRoxx44 I'm planning on doing a loop in early '24 (as long as life doesn't get in the way of hiking) that would follow E Divide from Bassett -> Rattlesnake, then W Divide from Powers Cabin -> Jackson Cabin, then the old trail up the SW side of Bassett. Same loop that @etale did in 2020, with a few side destinations. Planning on taking lots of pictures and writing up a painfully detailed triplog afterwards , so hopefully that will answer your request. Not sure if you're talking about that the route up Bassett or a different segment, but yeah, maybe March '24.

[rwstorm]

@jacobemerick
The abandoned trail segment that Letty is talking about went from Ash Creek (where we all go to enjoy the maple fall colors) near Lower Ash Spring by the present day water tank, through a major side drainage, then up to the ridgeline south of Bassett Peak, where it joined the trail that is there now. In fact, if you go to the HAZ Topo map option, where the trail south of Bassett suddenly ends is the exact spot where the trail coming up from east climbed out of the drainage to join the existing trail (coordinates: 32.498536, -110.277012, 6953'). That is the area, perhaps within a couple hundred feet anyway, where a search for clues as to existence might be found. In fact, if you go to Lists of John and zero in on Bassett Peak from menu options, then on map options go to the Hist. 1945+ option, you will see it displayed.

[jacobemerick]

@rwstorm thanks! Yeah, I can definitely hunt around and report back... in like 3-4 months, unless someone beats me to it.

[rwstorm]

@jacobemerick
March would be a great time for it...more daylight and probably (hopefully) more water.

[RedRoxx44]

@jacobemerick
It's been years but around Echols/Knothe spring the trail is faint but there. You should find a dry spring box, from there cross over to the left side of the drainage LUC. The trail winds between some healthy vegetation but gains altitude steadily but nothing crazy till it delivers you to the saddle below Long Tom. I camped there in some snow years ago under a cedar tree. If you can go up to the mine; an ore cart stands almost right in the entrance. The mine itself is short but pretty neat.
When I was there the springs were dry but I found water in a drainage below the Long tom mine buildings. When you leave Hooker cabin and go a short ways till the trail leaves the bottom the short drainage alongside the trail might have some pothole water.
[ photo ] ; I think in that photoset I also have a set of prints in the snow that I think is on the trail up from Knothe spring.

[jacobemerick]

@RedRoxx44 thanks! Yeah, I'm mentally preparing for some ambiguous trails between Hooker & Long Tom, gonna plan for some extra time, hoping to explore both the "main route" around that hill and then backtrack to go up Redfield drainage. Did you continue on Redfield, not climbing until you reached that drainage that goes by Cedar Spring? That darn 1945 map that @rwstorm answered a ton of questions I had about some of the "dead-end" trail segments, starting to play with the idea of trying to follow some of those through the brush. Oh, and that Outtakes photo gallery is phenomenal. Knew you had done a lot of miles in the Galiuro Range, didn't know you had covered all the trails - Mad Respect!

[RedRoxx44]

@jacobemerick
Both, the trail leaves by a side drainage past Hooker cabin but I have gone up Redfield also. The 1945 map opens up a lot of possibilities---Some of the decommissioned trails I've been on but not all---