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Well, due to lack of rain/water, I've decided to ditch my Chiricahua trip and have decided to go to the Galiuro wilderness. My friend and I are going to do the Tortilla trail; Powers Garden; Rattlesnake; East Divide loop out of the Deer Creek TH. Gonna drive out there THIS Friday, and need to be back to Phoenix by Monday afternoon (~3-4pm).

Questions

1) Which direction would those of you who have done this recommend? Out through Corral Canyon? Or in through corral Canyon?

2) I have the Kennedy Peak USGS topo. They dont list Tortilla trail, but instead have a Pack trail on the topo. I assume that these 2 trails are one in the same?

3) It seems in the triplogs for this hike that there is some mention of how the topo isn't accurate for the route. How much a concern is this? Is it reasonable close, or is the trial semi-obvious to find?

I probably will contact the Safford Ranger District as well. Initially, a couple of days ago, they said that there shouldnt be too much of a problem with water; hopefully they are right!

Thanks in advance!

In response to Ravialdo's reply:

I recorded a GPS track that reflects the altered route of the Tortilla Trail. I've been meaning to post it, but haven't finished cleaning it up. I can send it if you'd like. Also, signs at some trail junctions were down last fall, but others had been recently replaced.

In response to big_load's reply:

Yeah, although I don't have a GPS unit, I imagine those might be helpful, as I can still plot them on my topo.

From your post I also gather that there were SOME trail signs? That's more than I expected!

In response to Ravialdo's reply:

Because of the horse traffic on the main trails, route finding is generally easy. The place I got off track was where the trail followed the stream bed for a while and then turned off (which I missed). A lot of people seem to keep going, perhaps because there are some seasonal pools in the stream bed further down.

The current trail goes on the other side of the high point than what is mapped. You can probably still find the mapped trail, but parts of it may be heavily overgrown.

Long stretches of the trail are ankle-busting rocky. However, it is a wonderful trip.

Please check your pmail.

How is access to the trail (288) on the west side of Galiuro's?
Is 4x4 low range required?
Where have people found water on the trail? In april conditions?

How is the trail up to grassy peak?
How is the trail on grassy ridge?

Thanks

What I know is---

Power's Hill---2wd HC to Rattlesnake Mesa top, then a MODIFIED 4wd vehicle down to TH. HC and lo range with good tires.
If you hike from mesa top add about 2 miles or so to trip.
That part of Rattlesnake will have intermittant pools, it is 4 miles to Garden from top of Powers Hill at TH. The Garden will have some water at spring, longer this drought the less it will be.

Deer Creek is 2wd HC access. Water at mud springs is too early to be useful. Don't count on anything till you get to the Garden. May be water at Corral but you will have to climb up canyon to get it.

Grassy Ridge/trail will have no water. To get to it it is either Rattlesnake/Pipestem/ West Divide with poor trail conditions past Rhode Peak and you must carry ALL water.
Other access if from East Divide, either from Garden or from head of Rattlesnake and go past Holdout which has water but is iffy right now.
At top of divide over to Kielberg will be trail spur to Grassy Ridge, which parts of trail is faint but ok. No shade and will be warm in there. Water will have to be carried in there to from either the Garden, or maybe Kielberg tank if Holdout is dry.

Better know your terrain to get to Grassy Ridge from west side. It's a long way, tough hiking, and little water.

We (a group of 5) just did a 3 day BP to Powers Garden during spring break. The road was easy to find with RedRoxx44 directions. The trail was fairly easy to follow except for a few areas. There were some new signs put up but some we (I) did not see until the return trip. The hike is amazing and absolutely beautiful. I would sugest that you leave the trail head early so you have plenty of time to route find and rest if needed as you may know that all trails in AZ are up hill! LOL We took about 5.5 hours to get to PG, but we had whereeveriroam along as our guide and (I, being the last in the pack) barely rested.

Enjoy and preserve this hidden jewel... encourage others to go there and see for themselves... It's hard work but worth it!

F.Y.I went to the deer creek th & tortilla trail (through mud springs)

In response to dreams_are_work's reply:

I ended up going quite literally through Mud Springs. There were some cows and a bull guarding the trail, and that bull was not happy with me at all. I tried going through the grassy area downhill from corral. The mud was almost knee deep. Fortunately the bull gave up on me when the going got rough.