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| Pinal Mountains Sixshooter - Icehouse Loop, AZ | |
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| | Pinal Mountains Sixshooter - Icehouse Loop, AZ | | | |
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Pinal Mountains Sixshooter - Icehouse Loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 15.07 Miles |
3,931 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.07 Miles | 8 Hrs 11 Mns | | 2.05 mph |
| 3,931 ft AEG | 50 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | We hadn't hiked in the Pinals before, and this looked like a good higher-elevation loop to get out of the heat and see something new. We started on Sixshooter Trail from the empty Ice House Campground parking area. The first mile and a half was underwhelming through the fire-damaged area, but the scenery improved quickly after crossing the road near the bridge. Leaving the fire area behind, it was a pleasant climb with the creek flowing and a plenty of shade and greenery.
We connected with FR 651C and passed few cabins on the way up to Pinal Peak. Three people were walking down as we approached, but we had the peak to ourselves. The map shows a benchmark up there, but I didn't see one in the brief time I spent looking. The views are nice for a peak with a road, buildings, and communication towers, and this one had a lot of tower accessories scattered around.
Leaving the peak, we hiked over to Ladder Rock and passed a few tents and a horse in a corral nearby...turned out it was the three people we'd seen walking down from the peak. The views from Ladder Rock were nice looking off toward East Mountain with the lack of towers and unobstructed view in that direction.
Next up was Signal Peak, the second road/communication tower summit of the day. We took the road back to the west and passed a few more cabins, then connected with Middle Trail and Pipeline Trail. That was another area badly damaged by fire. Both trails were easy to follow in most places, and neither was especially overgrown, just scorched. Pipeline led us back to FR 651, where I saw a deer on the way up to Signal Peak. There was at least one person and a dog or two in the lookout station, and I took a look around and headed back down.
We followed 651 over to Icehouse Trail to loop back toward the starting point. There was some deadfall to climb over, but the trail was in pretty good shape overall. Lots of pleasant shade and a steady flow of water in the creek bed. Further down, the canyon become a lot more rugged far below the trail, and there were some impressive falls deep in the canyon. We also passed some nice cactus blooms with 30+ flowers packed together. We took a short lunch break with a mile and a half to go, then finished the loop back to the campground. Other than the three campers near Pinal Peak and a few vehicles on the roads, we didn't see anyone else all day. |
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Dog House Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| |  Steady flow in the creek bed near the spring |
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Icehouse Springbox |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Spring box half full of stagnant water, no obvious flow | | | |
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