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| Hiking | 5.84 Miles |
1,437 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.84 Miles | 3 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.67 mph |
| 1,437 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Went up to Camp Verde to check out the property which allowed for a quick run over to Dewey to do another trail in the Bradshaws. Got to the Green Gulch TH around 6am to do the Red Mountain Trail. Have you ever done something where you weren’t expecting a lot and then find that it is a lot better than you anticipated. I’ve seen quite a few movies where I wasn’t expecting much and they turn out to be fat better than anticipated. This makes the movie feel like an A movie when in reality it was probably a B movie at best. This trail is that movie. My last two hikes from this TH were Charcoal Gulch and Nemo Springs; both rocky, exposed, ATV tracks. More road than trail. I was expecting more of the same and was wrong.
I hiked in on the Charcoal Gulch for about .9 miles to reach the Red Mountain Trail #43. The connector between these two trails is a bit odd. Trail 43 is up a steep berm, just to the west of Charcoal Gulch. There is a trail marker there, which makes it easy to identify, but if the marker wasn’t there you wouldn’t know the trail was up there. Trail 43 starts off as a road and I’m thinking Nemo Springs/Charcoal Gulch. But within .1 miles the trail transitions to a single and stays that way for most of the hike. For the next mile the trail gains elevation gradually and spends a good portion of the time in a nicely treed area. At 1.78 there are a couple of lazy switchbacks that are part of this gradually elevation gain. Shortly after the 2 mile mark the trail starts the first of 5 noteworthy climbs. The first two are short, quick switchbacks that are more concerned with climbing than switchbacking. The third climb was the longest and varied from moderate to aggressive. With the first two, there was a definite starting and stopping point to the climb. The third climb was harder to pin down the start, though it had a definite ending when it passed through the second gate. After the gate, there was an annoying down climb and then the 4th steep ascent. After the climb, the trail briefly level off and then around 2.5 miles it dropped down, passed through the third gate and entered a nice forested area. There is a dry tank at this spot. From this third gate the trail becomes a dual track with one last climb that occurs at 2.68. The trail ends when it reaches the top of the hill at 2.8 miles and junctures with the Prospector Trail #42. The views from this spot are just ok. The saddle is wide and the brush tall so the views are fairly limited.
I wasn’t looking forward to the return trip. Some of the those climbs were steep and rocky. Not bad going up, but a potential “ski-fest” going down. Utilized a solid, broken tree limb as a pole for the descent. Felt pretty old and and I know I gave the slopes more respect than I would have 10 years ago, but I stayed on my feet. Also, I was slowed down a bit because I spent quite a bit of time eye-balling Sun Devil and Stoneridge Peaks. Both are readily accessible from this trail. I can definitely see myself coming back to enjoy this trail and the surrounding area.
Very nice hike! Little chilly to begin with. I was hiking in my typical shorts an t-shirt not thinking about the Prescott weather. It was in the 30’s and windy at the start. Brrrrrr! Definitely motivation to keep moving.  It wasn’t too bad once I got into the mountain (out of the wind) and the sun had come up. Looks like I got lucky. As I was driving away you could see rain coming down on the ridgeline I had just vacated. Sadly, no wildlife. Encountered 3 hikers near the bottom of the Red Mountain Trail. |
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Route Editor
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