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| Hiking | 19.31 Miles |
2,892 AEG |
| | Hiking | 19.31 Miles | 9 Hrs 5 Mns | | 2.30 mph |
| 2,892 ft AEG | 42 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The White Mountains have always been a glaring hole in my Arizona hiking experience--mostly because they are just a little too far away to make a day trip from Phoenix. Over the Labor Day weekend, we decided to make a trip up on Sunday and spend Labor Day on the trails. Stayed at a motel in Springerville, then got up early and made the 30-ish minute drive to the trailhead.
Very happy to have experienced Mt. Baldy. On the way to the trailhead, we had to stop for a whole family of wild turkey to cross the road. 
Baldy is kind of a hidden peak, which was not what I was expecting, given that it's the second highest point in the state outside the San Francisco Peaks. I guess I was expecting a more SF-Peaks-type experience, with the mountains rising sharply from the surrounding landscape. Instead, it was more like: Where's the mountain?
We debated which trailhead to start from and whether to do the "crossover" first or at the end. Ultimately, we elected to start from the East Baldy Trailhead and head counterclockwise, up the mountain first, leaving the crossover to the end. My wife hadn't done any high-mile hikes in a bit, so we decided that doing the uphill on the front end made sense, and then if she wasn't feeling good on the back end, she could just finish off the West Baldy Trail and I'd do the Crossover and then pick her up. Turned out to be a non-issue, as she hiked the whole thing and did great! 
We were very happy with our routing choice. We passed by one campsite early on and then one more backpacking campsite on our way up, but didn't see a soul until well into our descent on the West side.
The "rock garden" area on East Baldy is striking and a definite contrast from the mostly forest and meadow hiking to that point. Then, after rounding/ascending the rocks, the trail breaks suddenly into a panoramic view. Super cool. A nice (though dry) camp spot is just beyond the viewpoint.
From there, it became mushroom heaven. Many varieties of mushrooms all along the trail. I've never taken so many pictures of mushrooms, and did not expect them to be a photographic highlight of the hike.
As we made the turn that skirts below the peak proper, we entered the "raspberry zone" and enjoyed foraging.  We came across a few small strawberries as well, but not many.
On the West Baldy side, the views were more expansive, and the meadows, with the west fork of the LCR alongside, stole the show. I can see why the lower portion of this trail is generally quite popular. That said, for a Labor Day, we expected to see more people, but had no complaints about the sparse human presence on the trail.
We stopped and soaked our feet in the creek for a bit--which was refreshing, before tackling the crossover. Based on triplogs, I expected the crossover to be a bit dull, but was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the many meadows and forested areas we crossed through. Surprisingly, this was the part of the trail we encountered the most people on. 
Crossing the last large meadow, we spotted a large female elk (we had heard some bugling earlier along the trail), which was a nice way to end the hike.
On my route, I flagged the Rock Garden, the Viewpoint on top of the rocks, the "berry zones," and a couple of nice campsites.
The drive back to Phoenix was long after a 19-miler, but the expected traffic jam of holiday weekend returnees never materialized. 
Now, to figure out my next White Mountains destination. Taking suggestions .... |
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