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| Woods Canyon Lake Loop via 260 TH, AZ | |
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| | Woods Canyon Lake Loop via 260 TH, AZ | | | |
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Woods Canyon Lake Loop via 260 TH, AZ
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| Hiking | 16.77 Miles |
1,876 AEG |
| | Hiking | 16.77 Miles | 8 Hrs 46 Mns | | 2.21 mph |
| 1,876 ft AEG | 1 Hour 10 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | We started from Two Sixty Trailhead around 8AM, and there were quite a few mountain bikers setting up to ride, though not many on the trails early on. Temps were in the mid-60s when we got going, and we hiked the loop clockwise. The first 4+ miles were smooth sailing on Highline, and the trees were buzzing with cicadas. Mountain bike traffic picked up as we approached the Drew Trail intersection. We turned there and started the climb toward the rim, and just about all the elevation gain on the route is concentrated on the first mile along Drew up to the rim.
Everything up to that point was pleasant pine forest, but the beauty of the landscape dropped off quickly around the campgrounds on top...lots of cut/downed trees, not much shade, and huge piles of dead branches and pine needles. We took a short food break just after crossing FR 300, and the scenery improved again as we started following the creek toward Woods Canyon Lake, with a lot more tree cover and greenery.
The lake was beautiful but crowded, as expected, with lots of boats and people fishing from the shore. We saw a water snake early on as we made our way around the north shore of the lake toward the dam on the east side, staying close to the shore to avoid the bald eagle closure (didn't see any). The area around the boat ramp to the south was packed...I was happy we weren't over there.
From the dam, we left the trail again and followed the creek for ~2.5 miles. There were game trails in many places, and even when it was more overgrown, it was easy off-trail hiking, and the creek was dry enough that avoiding the water wasn't an issue despite criss-crossing many times. That section of the hike reminded me a lot of the [ East Clear Creek - Dry Lake Loop ] we hiked a few years ago. Once we left the creek bed and got up into the forest again, we sat down for a lunch break and watched an elk pass in the meadow.
The terrain took another underwhelming turn as we connected with Military Sinkhole Trail, with more cleared trees and charred stumps. If we passed the sinkhole, it didn't stand out as anything remarkable...we didn't notice any of the sinkholes along the route today. Once we dropped down off the rim, we were back in pleasant, shady forest the rest of the way to Two Sixty, and the descent seemed more gradual than the hike up Drew earlier in the day. Only one car remaining at the trailhead when we finished up in the late afternoon.
Overall, this was a fairly typical Payson area/rim hike--consistently pleasant and often shady, and this one had an interesting mix of solitude and crowds while alternating between thick forest and barren, burned areas before/after Woods Canyon Lake. The route we followed was virtually identical to one The_Eagle, trekkin_gecko, LindaAnn, and rayhuston hiked earlier this month, but our Route Scouts recorded the mileage at closer to 17, compared to ~15.5 for theirs...not sure if ours were generous with the mileage or if theirs were stingy  . |
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