HikeArizona.COM

My husband and I have recently begun hiking....quite honestly I've never done a trail besides Windcaves at Usery, Siphon Draw to FlatIron, and First Water Trail to Canyon Lake. We would love to find some easy-moderate hikes that are close by (30-45 minutes) to the East Mesa-Apache Junction area. Ideally it would be a trail with some pretty rocks, formations, caves, and whatnot. We don't really want to hike for a long period of time in just desert. Any suggestions would be awesome...we are probably doing Hieroglyphics Trail on Saturday morning.

Thanks in Advance.

Most areas that aren't just desert will require a little bit of a longer drive, more like an hour to 90 minutes. The Pinal Mts. are a great area to get away from desert and not too long of a drive if you start from below. Driving up the beeline you can hit the Ballantine TH, or over to Cross F TH or Mormon Grove to access the mazatals. Those areas will start in desert and end up in semi-forested to heavily forested areas. Mormon Grove TH will require a 4WD, however.

Little Saddle Mountain trail in the Mazatzals is moderate and really scenic. Probably water there right now, too.

Taking peralta to freemont saddle and the view of Weaver's Needle is a nice moderate dayhike. If you think you can do the mileage you can even make a loop out of it as well.

Don't the Pinals have a lot of snow right now? Just a thought... It won't last long, anyway.

The Peralta trailhead gives you several options, so you can keep going back there for more hikes. Crowded, though, until you pass about 2 or 3 miles in.

Several beginner loops from First Water TH, which is where I did my first 9 mile hike and thought I was ready to sign on with Lewis and Clark. PIck up Stuart and Carlson's book on hiking in the Superstitions, if that doesn't pique your interest, nothing will.

azpride wrote:Little Saddle Mountain trail in the Mazatzals is moderate and really scenic. Probably water there right now, too.

I second this suggestion- I bet that area is just gorgeous right now, with all the precipitation we've had.

Goldfields for caves, arches & rock formations.

http://www.mile204.us/Goldfields/

http://www.arizonahighways.com/static/i ... tentID=349

The mapping features are getting pretty fancy! Maybe robust would be a better word, but this stuff is incredible.

If you are going to go on Forest Roads - especially up on the Kiabab - I suggest having the Delorme Arizona Atlas on hand. If a tree is down blocking the road, you can navigate around it safely. I also carry a little emergency kit in my truck.
http://www.rei.com/product/675263?prefe ... erralID=NA

Sredfield wrote:The mapping features are getting pretty fancy! Maybe robust would be a better word, but this stuff is incredible.

How about "fancily robust"? I learn new cool stuff about this site all the time- thanks Joe!

I don't think the trails from the bottom of the Pinals qualify as "easy-moderate," but they're well worth the effort. Icehouse, Sixshooter, Telephone, and Kellner all feature gains of around 3,000 vertical feet.
Little Saddle Mountain from the Cross F trailhead is a great hike that allows one to go as far as one wants to.

San Tan Regional Park has some nice short trails with some good vistas, especially at sunset. Ballantine Trail is real neat, and some very intersting rock formations up there. But I think my favorite hike is the Cave Trail in the Sups, its one that I tracked out with nothing by a map and compass sometime in the last century with my kids.
If you ever want to take a hike I'm off on Mondays and Tuesday and will gladly take you on a hike. Just send a message.

Was up on little Saddle Mountain trail a few weeks back. Yes it is a great hike. Lots of water, feet get a little wet crossing the creek. Weather was warm during the day chilly at night.