Pine Mountain - AZT #21 Photoset • 00blackout • 2025-12-18 • HikeArizona.COM

Pine Mountain - AZT #21, AZ

	2025-12-18
	49 by 00blackout

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Pine Mountain - AZT #21, AZ

Hiking	15.06 Miles	2,232 AEG

Hiking	15.06 Miles	7 Hrs 36 Mns	2.37 mph
	2,232 ft AEG	1 Hour 15 Mns Break

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DesertNymph

Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

I had been looking at doing a portion of this section for a little bit, but road hiking is really not my thing, so we avoided the top portion and started off 87 at the Bushnell Tanks TH. Long sleeves at the start, as it was freezing cold with most of the plants in the area having frost on them. Made the right turn down into Sycamore Creek, but instead of heading down creek for a short distance, we headed upstream, meeting up with FR22, not realizing our mistake until 2 miles in. We got to an old road (1452) that climbed up to a small saddle, then down an eroded hillside full of catclaw that eventually got us back on track. From there, it was smooth sailing up to the Boulder Pools, where we spent some time before briefly continuing up the trail to a small ridge just above Crabtree Spring. Did not see any obvious signs of a spring from up top, so we turned around and started back. Besides my ankle getting cranky, it was an uneventful hike back to the TH, which included us skipping the road portion and sticking to the AZT.

Trail conditions - a ton of recent trail maintenance from Sycamore Creek up to the small climb at the end. Past the gate (heading uphill), the trail could use some light brushing as the catclaw is starting to encroach.

I was a little hesitant to hike this passage as some of the AZT passages can be kind of bland; however, this was a very enjoyable hike with great scenery.