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| Hiking | 19.28 Miles |
3,516 AEG |
| | Hiking | 19.28 Miles | 10 Hrs 28 Mns | | 1.84 mph |
| 3,516 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | It’s kind of funny how expectations can influence one’s opinion of a hike. Chris had invited me on a Deer Creek loop (including FS 201 and Gold Ridge). From everything that I had read and the few people I had talked to the consensus was that Deer Creek was a  and that the Gold Ridge was a  .
We started from the Deer Creek TH around 6am. It was dark out, but daybreak wasn’t far off. Didn’t see too much early on because of the darkness though by the time we were hiking down into the Deer Creek valley we could start to see the terrain around us. Stopped briefly at the Gowan gravesite. It’s hard to miss. It’s fenced and adjacent to the trail. The headstone looks to be relatively new or well maintained. As others have said, the trail is very nice up to the Mazatals Wilderness sign and starts to degrade as you continue. The first few crossings weren’t bad and the trail was fairly obvious. The deeper we went the more you relied on the cairns and the more the trail became overgrown. However, a long as we were out of the creek bed there always seemed to be a trail to follow, no matter how faint or narrow. We were probably in the creek bed (or very close to it) until 6 miles in when the trail climbed steeply on the north side of the creek. This was kind of a win-lose stretch. The trail was obvious with minimal plant encroachment, but it was narrow with, at times, a steep drop. It was a nice, but brief respite. Within a quarter mile (or close to that) we were back at creek crossings. However, the trail did tend to venture away from the creek more frequently gaining some elevation (above the creek) always to return. And these “ventures” from the creek almost always involved pushing your way through some form of brush. That being said, you could still see the trail as you were doing it. Around 8.5 miles we came to a very nice flat, pine tree oasis. A perfect place for a campsite. In this area there was another Mazatals Wilderness sign. Soon after that we starts our climb out of the valley. The trail was very easy to follow at this point. Gradual at first, but steeper as we went.
We rested at the Mt Peeley TH for a bit and Chris recharged with some Jimmie John subs. Noticed at the info board that there was still a missing person sign for gpsjoe, basically asking hikers to be on the lookout for gear that gpsjoe had on him. It’s been 16yrs so the likelihood isn’t great. After the break we hiked FS 201 to the Gold Ridge Trail. Views were very nice and the clouds offered some nice shadows on the landscape. Always looking for new trails, I was looking anxiously for the Gowan and South Fork Trails. Never saw any signage or indication of a trail for Gowan (on Deer Creek or the road), but did see the sign and what looked to be a decent track for the South Fork. Chris told me not to be mislead and that it wasn’t worth the effort. 
The Gold Ridge was kind of a surprise for me. I hadn’t done any research on this trail but everyone was saying what a great trail this was……in comparison to the Deer Creek. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t what I got. It was a very easy trail to follow and offered some great distant views and the upper half was nicely laid out. However, the midsection was an unimaginative, manzanita lined hill-a-thon. Reminiscent (to me) of some of the more unappealing ATV tracks that are part of the Prescott trail system. There were a couple of hills that were very steep. No fun going down or up I imagine. It was very gratifying passing through the only gate for this trail and hitting some flatter ground and knowing that the end was nearby.
It’s funny how the hype of something can color your view. I ended up enjoying Deer Creek more than the Gold Ridge because in my mind the Gold Ridge was going to be so much better than Deer Creek. More obvious, yes. Easier, maybe. But more interesting, more enjoyable, nope. And I imagine, this opinion has been influenced by what I was thinking going in. So in my opinion, this was a great trail and a nice loop. I did try to improve the Deer Creek Trail a little. I had my clippers with me so I was clipping as I went. A minimal improvement at best. Surprisingly, no wildlife to be seen. We did encounter three hikers at the Mt Peeley TH as they were finishing up a section of the AZ Trail and then two more hikers on FS 201, but didn’t see anyone on Deer Creek or Gold Ridge. |
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Route Editor
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