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I'm wondering if anyone might have any information on a trail that may or may not have been a named trail in the Superstition Wilderness. It would have been a link between Peters Trail and Hoolie Bacon Trail running from an obvious trail junction cairn on Peters Trail roughly ESE to connect with Hoolie Bacon probably near Horse Camp Basin.

Adding to the part I actually traveled I've drawn out how it may have connect to Hoolie Bacon Trail:
http://hikearizona.com/map.php?MY=5082&M=6

I first noticed the cairns from the Peters Trail three years ago but surmised they may have been for a slightly different route for Peters Trail and thought nothing more of it.

Until Friday when I hiked Peters Trail from the Tortilla Trailhead. I stayed on Peters until taking a 90 degree left turn to hike up to Peters Mesa summit, then due west to reconnect to Peters Trail, went down to La Barge Canyon, retrieved a fluid cache I left three years ago, then returned across Peters Mesa summit again and continuing along the ridge up to Music Mountain summit. On the way down the eastern slope of Music Mountain and heading back to reconnect with the Peters Trail I picked up this unknown trail and followed a well-defined series of rock cairns until I hit Peters Trail again.

I've been looking through all the Supes & Tonto National Forest maps I have, checked through old archived USGS maps along with miscellaneous others from the early 1900's yet have come up with nothing. With that in mind, I doubt it was ever a named trail, but I'm still curious.

Anyone have a clue about this trail?

@joe bartels I just read your hike description and viewed your photoset from your 10/29/2001 hike to Peter's Pass from Tortilla TH. The line you drew on the 10th photo looks to be very close to my estimated route, and in fact it appears much closer than the Peters HAZ-cut track. By the looks of that track I would surmise the definition of a HAZ-cut has nothing to do with 'short-cut'. ;)

Your HAZ-cut appears straighter so I guess it is a short-cut, but the climb up and over Herman Mountain gives it a much different flavor than just up and over the rise between Peters and Hoolie Bacon.

I'll have to get back out there to follow the cairns and see where they take me... and just maybe hit Herman Mountain on the return.

que la fuerza esté con usted

Weavers Needle Quad (1966) shows this trail. After heading SE from Peter's and over the ridge it splits in two. One heading east to the old corral. The other continues SE and intersect Hoolie where the two Horse Camp Basin drainages meet. This trail is labelled Peters Trail (!). I guess another case of trail renaming in the Superstitions (original Dutchman trail went over Bull Pass).

oh yeah the Horse Camp Trail

@mazatzal & @joe bartels Thanks! Looks like I might have a few more old trails to check out.

@mazatzal Not having any actual Quad maps, let alone mid-60's... Didn't the Superstitions become a Federal Wilderness in 1964? So I suppose your 1966 map may have been among the first Quad maps after it was declared a Wilderness?

Superstitions WA was 1964. You can see the Horse Camp Trail on the SSAR map.

joe bartels wrote:oh yeah the Horse Camp Trail

and Old Peters Trail

@CannondaleKid
Map is dated 1966 but the notes say:
"Topography by photogrammetric methods from aerial photos taken in 1962. Field checked in 1966."

Sounds like the same route we used in 2012.

http://hikearizona.com/gps=11765

Trail on map may be different than trail experienced in person. Do not consume after Jan 2, 1985. Prohibited in states of ME and NY.

(I was unable to find a trail through this area, but there is a lot of catclaw!)

Yep, I saw a few cairns, no trail and a lot of catclaw

When advising folks of your trip it would help if you list the map name, publisher and edition. Not all maps use the same trail names or numbers over time and a map may not label a trail that another map may label. Geographical names may also not be the same from one map to another or various editions of the same map (Black Cross Butte for example). If you are using a map with a compass take note of the current declination it may not be correct on the map for current use. Prior to be designated a wilderness, portions of the Superstitions were designated a primitive area by the land manager (USFS) and some trails were named and labeled and later changed.

I have taken that trail on a few occasions, Check out Jack Carlson's guide to Supers...It basically goes from near Horse Camp Basin to Peter's trail just before the saddle where Peter's trail drops down into Canyon and then back up to Mesa. It is a great shortcut if you are looking to cut over from Hoolie Bacon to Peter's Mesa or Peter's trail, otherwise, you are looking at five plus miles along Hoolie, sections of Tortilla and then Peters of course...I have a GPS of that route...

Now the interesting part is I guess there are some significant cuts in trail and markings to suggest timber was dragged along in in route to Peter's Mesa, perhaps old Spanish miners, there is also a large area of stumps in area, which may have been an old calvary camp, I am just going off what book says. I have seen Old Peter's Trail as name and also Old Spanish Trail.

joe bartels wrote:oh yeah the Horse Camp Trail

Yes you are right by the way...

Hey was also going to talk to you about that Lower Campaign Spring name..so I guess Lower Campaign is a newer name for that spring along Fire-LIne that is in a little disrepair. The original name was Black Jack, according to Jack and Elizabeth Carlson, however, three ranchers shared water from that spring and built some troughs in the area. Sometime around 1970s or so Lower Campaign Spring started showing up on maps, but I guess this was to mark location of troughs, the actual source of water still being Black Jack Spring, I guess they piped it down to that flat area where fire line meets Campaign Creek trail. Anyways, doesn't change much, but pulled out another older map this weekend, and they still have that spring labeled Black Jack and not Lower Campaign which is what my more recent Green Trails Map has, just food for thought I guess, kind of interesting. After reading guide book though it made me wonder, maybe they have it wrong, and those ranchers were piping water from the Black Jack Spring located on Mound Mountain that you mentioned, but I don't know if that was feasible or practical...

I checked my old map archives and library and did not note this trail labeled on my USGS 7.5 topo map 1966 edition, or the Superstition Wilderness Map 1969 edition, the 1986 and 1994 edition. I do recall a person was camped (70's) near Tortilla Trailhead and left for a hike some of his belongings were found on this trail referred to as the Horse Camp cutoff and his remains were found near Trap Canyon.

This trail and area is not included in the book Superstition Wilderness Guidebook by Michael Sheridan 1971 ed.

friendofThundergod wrote:Check out Jack Carlson's guide to Supers...It basically goes from near Horse Camp Basin to Peter's trail just before the saddle where Peter's trail drops down into Canyon and then back up to Mesa.

Thanks for mentioning Jack Carlson's Guide, it helped wipe a few cobwebs from my mind. And whaddya know? I have a copy I bought in 2002 when I first moved to AZ.

I seem to recall reading the history part then only a quick scan through the hikes but I was still in full mountain-biking mode and hadn't yet caught the hiking bug.

So now that you mentioned it I had to go digging for it... eight moves over 11 years and things tend to drop to the bottom of the barrel. :whistle:

But with enough perseverance I found it and sure enough, it shows it, referring to is as the 'old alignment of the Peters Trail'. And by how they talked about the conditions it was overgrown back then, which I would believe had to be prior to the first printing in 1995. So... give it close to 20 years of rare use and it's no surprise to find there isn't much of a trail left.

@CannondaleKid
Im telling you man, that book is the Bible of the Supers, I have Eastern and Western editions, also remember the authors tell you they are usually deliberately vague on some stuff to keep them protected from nubies and unethical people, so there is usually more to find in these areas they highlight...But ya that trail was overgrown each time I used as well, however, did find a prospect in that area, but nothing more than a pile of dirt and small hole..