South Fork - Gold Ridge Loop Photoset • DixieFlyer • 2022-04-11 • HikeArizona.COM

South Fork - Gold Ridge Loop, AZ

	2022-04-11
	37 by DixieFlyer

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South Fork - Gold Ridge Loop

Payson, AZ

South Fork - Gold Ridge Loop

Payson, AZ

Hiking	13.80 Miles	3,427 AEG

Hiking	13.80 Miles	7 Hrs 12 Mns	2.11 mph
	3,427 ft AEG	39 Mns Break

Linked

linked

Deer Creek Trail #45

Gold Ridge Trail #47

Camp Grasshopper - Mazatzal Main C/Site

South Fork Trail #46

Partners

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no partners

Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

I decided to do this loop to get a workout and to check out the wildflowers in the area.

I definitely got a workout going up the Deer Ridge Trail to Camp Grasshopper. There were quite a few flowers to see along the trail, and I also saw a gopher snake in the trail.

Going down the South Fork Trail was slow going. The trail is not easy to follow, but thankfully there were quite a few cairns which were helpful. There was water running along much of the South Fork, but the flow is less than what I have seen in other years. Wildflowers were nice in a one mile stretch of the South Fork Trail, about a mile from the TH. Owl clover is only about 3-4 inches high though.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Coulter's Lupine Desert Globemallow Desert Marigold Desert/Mojave ceanothus Doubting Mariposa Lily Fairy Duster Indian Paintbrush Manzanita Owl Clover Poison Ivy Spreading Fleabane Strawberry Hedgehog Sugar Sumac Utah serviceberry Western Wallflower

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Gopher Snake

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Spring Box

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mazatzal Wilderness Pigeon Spring South Fork Deer Creek

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
There were some nice flowers going up the Deer Ridge Trail; a section of the South Fork Trail about a mile from the TH was nice also.

	Pigeon Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	There was a pool of filterable water next to the sign for the spring, but the springbox was basically mud

	South Fork Deer Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	There was running water in many places in the creek, but the flow is not as great as I have seen it in the past

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Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there

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