HikeArizona.COM

david_allen_3 came across this 2010 article and is interested if anyone has a route
Looks interesting for a trip

azdailysun wrote:At 11,500 feet, Philomena Spring is the highest year-round water source on the Peaks. The wooden tanks and pipeline down Whitehorse Canyon were built in the 1930s by workers for the Espil sheepherding family, which had grazing rights to most of the Peaks.
But given the steepness of the slope at the upper spring, it's amazing the...


Read more: http://azdailysun.com/lifestyles/recrea ... z1R4VlPbuv

Also from that article:

"From Domingo Tank, the elevation gain is 3,000 feet in less than 4 miles, so the hike should be undertaken only by fit hikers. Because the path is so obscure, this is classified as an off-trail hike and should be led by someone either familiar with the terrain or with good GPS or map-and-compass skills."

yes, curious if anyone might have that as a gps route to share

If it was a couple hundred miles closer I'd check it out in a heartbeat. The little touch of history makes the hike more exciting for myself.

Also know there's a use trail off that north ridge of Humphreys http://hikearizona.com/map.php?QX=900 for an upper access option
Then again I guess off-trail travel isn't allowed?

Probably more exciting to approach from below

Following the 11,600 contour, the spring is < 2 miles from the regular Humphrey Trail. Of course it's 'sidehill' hiking and could be a real steeple chase as well, but it appears (on paper) to be another option. (With the added bonus of seeing the plane wreck along the way +/-)

Philomena Spring is named for Philomena Wessel Babbitt (1865 -- 1948), wife of George Babbitt, Sr. (1860 -- 1920), and mother of Bertrand Babbitt (1888 -- 1960). The pipeline from Philomena Spring was mostly built by Bert Babbitt around the time of World War I to bring water to his potato farm at today's Potato Lake. Bert also ran sheep in the area for many years. The Espils' sheep allotment was on the northeasterly slopes of the Peaks near Rees and Aubineau canyons.

That is hunting unit 7E. I went up to Philomena Spring all the way down from my friend's cabin behind Fern Mountain. If I remember correctly, the spring was dry during the first two weeks of September. It has some galvanized pipe and wooden water troughs strewn about that brought water to stock tanks further down. I used to put in for archery bull elk in that unit, but have since moved on to greener pastures.

Access is limited due to a couple of road closures: the road to Bismark Lake is blocked off about 1/2 mile up from Hart Prairie Road, so are the private roads east of Fern Mountain. The people are nice back there and will no-doubt let you walk across their land if you ask them. The big prairie just east of Fern Mountain is owned by some sort of Animal Conservation Society, so that is another option for access. You can also just park along the Snowbowl Road and come across that way, but that is cheating.

Funny story: The conservation society used to (probably still do) put on a loud techno party just east of Fern Mountain each summer on the night before opening day, archery elk season. The loud music would scare the elk deep into the forest, ruining the road hunters' chances of success.

I hiked that big prairie up past Lew Tank, then just bushwhacked my way up. It is pretty steep and there is a really nasty section of dead fall in the Douglas Fir zone above the ponderosas from beetle kills. It is a fun hike, as you will be going through several different bio zones containing a wide range of fauna. It can be easily done in one day. 6 miles from Fern Mountain, or 4 miles from Snowbowl road. I would take the lower route from Fern Mountain. Just walk straight up the thing!

You can see the hikers along the top of Humphys peak from the spring, which just on the edge of the tundra zone.

My wife and I were at Lew tank and the AZ trail yesterday. Very cool area.
Wish I had read this before we set out, but then I wish I didn't leave my camera in the truck..

Techno? Lord help us. I would rather hear feral cats fighting...

I heard about the spring a few years ago and have wanted to get up there for some time but haven't made it. The Nature Conservancy is the outfit that owns the big meadow there, extending from the eastern third (+/-) of Fern Mtn across the open prairie. This is private land and not open without prior arrangement. There is plenty of public land surrounding so access is not an issue. Hadn't heard about the techno party but knowing the previous manager at the preserve, such would not surprise me.

Sredfield wrote: Hadn't heard about the techno party but knowing the previous manager at the preserve, such would not surprise me.

They trucked in huge speakers and played the music all night; with the bass traveling a great distance...thump thump thump. The sound came from the grove of aspen trees in the center of the preserve.

Hunters gather at the edge of that meadow each year and the elk have to run the gauntlet in the early morning. The music has a way of diving them deeper in the woods than normal, forcing them to water further up the hill, and changing their pattern. I was not going to hunt down there anyway, but it was annoying and kept me up. It was not even good techno; just some sort of minimal, repeating beats, over and over. Had I been in charge, they would have played industrial beats, heavy on the Nine Inch Nails.

It is a great summer hike. Nice and cool out there.

Maybe they should play something to drive away the hunters like John Tesh or Yanni.

I've been think if I go up Humphrey again this summer, I might try to hike over to this spring and then to the Peak. I'll take pics if I do it. I'll need a good break period in the monsoon, so it will be a while as we are in a very moist and active pattern.

Jim_H wrote:I've been think if I go up Humphrey again this summer, I might try to hike over to this spring and then to the Peak. I'll take pics if I do it. I'll need a good break period in the monsoon, so it will be a while as we are in a very moist and active pattern.

My dad made it up to the spring with me one year, and he was overweight and pushing 60 at the time. We thought the elk were using it as a watering area, but it turned out not the case. The neatest thing about the spring are the old-fashioned water troughs that were built before they went to pipe. Make sure to bring some water because that spring was dry when we went, unless my Alzheimers is getting the better of me again.

It is a relentless, uphill slog with no letup. You will probably see lots of critters and interesting things; adventure awaits.

I was considering doing it this Friday, but am not too sure about it, or it even being worth doing either at all, or just during monsoon season. If there is avalanche debris, and the spring likely to be dry this time of year, it doesn't make a lot of sense to do it. Probably best to do when the spring is guaranteed to flow, say in June after another good winter. I wonder what, if any contribution monsoon storms have to the spring. 11,600' is only 1,000' off Humphrey, so even with the recent heavy rain, there may be no way of knowing the spring is there unless having been at another time when it was flowing.

For what it's worth, I know a couple of people that hiked to the spring a couple of weekends ago (July 23) and the spring was flowing.

Any chance they commented on the flow. I would like to do this, maybe this weekend, but I can't see this off route hike being worth while if shooting for an invisible needle in a proverbial haystack.

I'm going to go hike Elden and see how my knees feels. I think I will post this as a hike for this Saturday, since weather should be good. I ought to be fine seeking the spring, so it's the Peak that is in question. Might as well go for it.

Jim_H wrote:Any chance they commented on the flow. I would like to do this, maybe this weekend, but I can't see this off route hike being worth while if shooting for an invisible needle in a proverbial haystack.

Find the pipe and just follow it up the hill. I am sure you will make it, use map and compass if need be, or GPS the easy way. Off trail is always more fun; you will likely see some deer, elk, and turkeys...one year me and my dad called in a bear with the elk bugle. Never know until you go.

Outlander wrote:Off trail is always more fun

Ol' Jim knows a thing or three about being off-trail on the Peaks ;)

Found Philomena with great ease, mostly aided by the metal pipe leading nearly to it. The spring is mapped in the wrong area. It is actually one basin south at:
35.345931, -111.683774

Satellite imagery isn't working so I had to use aerial photos. They're not as good, so this is about as accurate as I could get it to be.

@Paintninaz
I did Humphrey on the 23rd via the trail and saw several adult men, a boy, and at least one dog coming up from a basin which at the time didn't make a lot of sense, but now I know they had gone to Philomena. I didn't give them much thought until yesterday. Interestingly, if they followed the maps and that news paper article, they were headed for what they probably thought was Humphrey, but ended up being the last false summit.

thx, I updated it
Guess the chief didn't glean that from your triplog