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| North Bush Horse Trails, AZ | |
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| | North Bush Horse Trails, AZ | | | |
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North Bush Horse Trails, AZ
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| Hiking | 5.70 Miles |
862 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.70 Miles | 2 Hrs 21 Mns | | 2.48 mph |
| 862 ft AEG | 3 Mns Break | 18 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Another day with only a 3+ hour window for a hike meant staying close to home. Unwilling to repeat any of the usual go-to hikes we settled for a hike just past Stewart Mountain.
Our trailhead was parking adjacent to the gate just across Bush Highway from the North entrance to The Rolls (South of Pobrecito overflow parking). The idea was simply to follow random horse trails on a general wide loop in an area which due to fires has become a dry wasteland of dead vegetation.
Three times in the past I began heading straight West and making a clockwise loop, so for something different we headed North roughly parallel to Bush Highway up and down and up for the first 1.5 miles. After rounding the corner past Peak 2229 we ascended SW to the next ridge, continuing with a long dip before ascending to the high point of the hike at an elevation of 2150', where we stopped for a 3-minute snack break.
From there, although the next mile was a descent of just over 350' it was not an easy descent, with some spots being steep enough to require a semi-controlled slide. Noting a few short detours it appeared even some horses weren't comfortable with the most-used track.
Eventually we reached the low point and began the steady climb to the 'saddle' on the lower North slope of Peak 2931 (part of the Stewart Mountain 'trio'). With enough trips out this way I knew which horse trails were the most used, so that would have been the easy thing todo, but, oh no, I decided on a route following the bottom of the largest drainage. It wasn't bad to begin with and there were still horse tracks but it steadily got narrower and thicker, of course the only brush still alive was of the thorny variety so it was time to climb up and out of the drainage. Thankfully there was a faint game trail to follow up the slope, which we did.
From then on it was simply an up-and-down-and-up-and-down trek through the aforementioned wasteland back to the car. We knew it wouldn't be a hike of beauty, but it was still good to be outside. |
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