HikeArizona.COM

Hey All!

I am a new scout leader, and new to Arizona - I am supposed to plan a bunch a campouts, without having been anywhere.

I was curious if anybody had any suggestions for a 2-4 mile hike within about 2 hours of Gilbert, AZ? Ideally we would like to drive to the trailhead within 2 hours, and then have a small hike - so we can set up camp at a decent time. Our last campout was Fossil Springs, so I have one notch on my belt!

Thanks,
Rick

You may want to clarify: Overnight backpack? Or day hike with car camp? I got the impression you meant backpack?

Yes - overnight camp. Really looking for the weekend of the 24th/25th of January. One place I had heard was Roger's Trough/Trail, but seems like a pretty rough road to get to the trailhead. But looking for something we can drive to in about 2 hours - 2-4 mile hike to camp overnight, then 2-4 mile hike out the next day.

Some suggestions from Supes, and based on where I have seen scouts before, Hackberry Spring (1st water TH) or Bluff Springs (Peralta TH), easy hikes, fit your milage profile for TH time and hiking to camp and a few things to keep scouts busy in area, and will be water for sure this time of year...plus larger areas to camp near each spot...

YUP Bluff Springs and Hackberry springs... both with reliable water... sizeable camp spots and fit your mileage.

Once it warms up.. Chevelon Lake up on the rim is another good one.

@friendofThundergod
Thanks. From the descriptions on the site - it seems like Hackberry is an easier trail to follow - so if we might have low light situations/first time in area - seems that Hackberry would be a better choice over Bluff Springs?

Hackberry is less physically demanding. It's easy enough to find, but it's not on an "official" trail like Bluff Springs.

@rickcmarsh
@big_load
Actually Big Load does have a point, remember there wont be an official trail going to Hackberry, but easy enough to find, just keep that in mind..

I recommend you doing a Scout Leader scouting trip prior-to leading a group on an overnight into these locations for the first time ;)

@Grasshopper
Thanks Grasshopper - I plan to, however only really have time for one pre trip scouting hike before the next scheduled camp out. Due to the time we will likely leave, I assume it will be low light conditions, so the easier to find/follow trail would be my preference.

@rickcmarsh
Those two spots are easy day-hikes as well, so if you need to recon, you could probably do both in same day...although, might be annoying with locations of THs and doing both in same day, might be a little more than you want to do, but at the very least, you could easily hike into Bluff and hike right back out..in really only a few hours...there will be water for sure, but you could even carry in an extra gallon or so, to cache, just in case for the boys..

Hackberry is a cake walk, no route finding skills really required... just stay in the canyon. The only slightly tricky part is finding the actual spring, right across the creek from the very obvious (and nice!) camping spot.

I hiked into Hackberry. I took the route from the Horse Parking lot, and circled around the mountain through the canyon. Nice place. I think it will work out great. Thanks for the suggestions.