Twin Peaks Trail #240 - Prescott NF • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Coal Camp Spring Trail #203

Kentuck Trail #217 - Prescott NF

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Was looking for something slightly cool with the 100 degree forecast in town, so Horsethief area seemed to fit the bill. There were a couple of trails I wanted to check out. Started at the SW end of Algonquin and took that down into Horsethief Canyon. Wasn't too hard to follow, just missed one switchback, and catclaw wasn't really an issue until the last quarter mile.

Then a brief flat-ish stretch in the canyon, and the steep climb up. Once at the Recreation Trail junctions, I headed east towards Twin Peaks. The first part was nice, but the climb up through the manzanita was kinda meh. Once into the forest it was was more pleasant.

Once back to the roads, I headed over to Kentuck Spring, and up to Horsethief Lookout. This trail was in decent condition. Chilled at the top a couple minutes. I had considered checking out East Fort, but it looked like it was burned to a crisp so I ditched that idea. Headed down Coal Camp Spring "trail", the first couple hundred feet of which offered false promises. It looks like someone started mowing a path through the manzanita, but gave up. The part on the ridge wasn't terrible, but a couple hundred feet of the drop down towards the saddle was straight up bushwhacking through manzanita and other scratchy things. But it eventually started opening up and the last part wasn't too bad, I even managed to find a cairn at one point.

The rest was just on road, headed down to Horsethief Lake, then back up to Algonquin TH. Traffic on the road wasn't too bad until the last mile or so, think I hit the post-lunch rush from CK.

	Horsethief Canyon	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Lots of pools above the Algonquin junction, only found one stretch with a very slight trickle. Also a pool and a trickle where the Horsethief trail crosses a side drainage a half mile or so from the Recreation trail.

_____________________

May 01 2021

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,760

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Algonquin - Horsethief - Twin Peaks, AZ

Hiking		May 01 2021
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	18.38 Miles	4,191 AEG

Hiking	18.38 Miles	9 Hrs 53 Mns		2.35 mph
	4,191 ft AEG	2 Hrs 3 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

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Poland Creek - Algonquin Trail

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joebartels

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

After the enjoyable 25 mile drive in on FR59 (aka Crown King Road), we parked at the Poulan Viewpoint which is the northern TH for the Algonquin #225. The Algonquin Trail has seen some minor clipping, but Joe still describes it as scratchy.

The stretch from Poulan Creek, turning up Horsethief Canyon/Creek and extending to the old Mining structure is one of my favorites. I saw my first rattler of the year here. It was all curled up and never made a noise. Even when Joe walked 6" from it. Once you are at the intersection where the Algonquin heads up hill and Horsethief Trail continues on up canyon, the recent trimming is quiet evident. (And much appreciated).

We were never more than a few miles from water all day. Horsethief Creek was running and or had clear pools the entire way. Even where it crossed the Twin Peaks Trail.

On the climb towards Twin Peaks off of the Senator Highway, Eagle Pond had plenty to filter from also.

At the intersection with Twin Peaks, Joe headed to the peaks to tackle them. I'd done them 11 years ago, so I took a break.

A bit concerned after an hour, I had not seen him, so I headed that way. I was lucky enough to run into him just as he was finishing the off trail portion of his excursion.

Twin Peaks Trail back to the Horsethief Trail, was in good shape. There are a couple of pockets of ponderosa and a few pools of water that I used to soak my neck gator.

Back down at Hrsethief Creek, I picked up the lemon aide I had cached at the creek for the final stretch. We had to be careful where we stepped, to avoid the pockets of bright green oily poison ivy.

A light covering of clouds, breezy conditions and the ability to cool off in the water, kept the temperatures decent on the day.

Always good getting back to the Castle Creek Wilderness.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Apple blossom Common Cattail Dudleya

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] HAZ - Hike HAZard

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Eagle Pond - CC Wilderness

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

	Eagle Pond - CC Wilderness	51-75% full	51-75% full
	Plenty to filter from

Light flow

_____________________

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

May 01 2021

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Algonquin - Horsethief Cyn - Twin Peaks Loop, AZ

Hiking		May 01 2021
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	17.63 Miles	4,316 AEG

Hiking	17.63 Miles	9 Hrs 54 Mns	2.06 mph
	4,316 ft AEG	1 Hour 20 Mns Break

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[ checklist ] Apple Claret Cup Cactus Dudleya Indian Paintbrush Pointleaf Manzanita Poison Ivy Radishroot woodsorrel Velvet Ash Western Wallflower

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The_Eagle

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

Algonquin Trail #225
Top of trail is a semi-washed out luge, not a concern for most. Approaching Poland Creek is starting to get catclaw naggy for about a mile, but still avoidable. Foxtails in various stages look to be a mini nightmare in about a month.

Horsethief Canyon Trail #30
Heading up, we quickly rejoiced that a maintenance crew brushed since our last visit. They took care of the big annoyances, probably as much as the rarely utilized trail will get. It still sports unfavorable grades, loose footing, little shade, and no world-class waterfalls, but I'm a fan.

Twin Peaks Trail #240
The upper portion we hiked is fabulous compared to yesteryear. Cut diameters along the trail range from two to three inches, clearly neglected for many moons. Tread would be considered rough by most. The route wasn't apparent for one fifty-yard stretch. Doubt they worked the lower trail, or it'd be near 5of5 for me.

Waypoints
Collected several* to finetune the Popup Map layout. Getting closer to the future intended functionality for RS Trip Notes.
*points of interest to myself, not helpful like the famous eagle/grasshopper waypoints.

Day in Review
Better than anticipated. Water in the creeks was lifting. Woke up at 4:18 am. Ran out of water about 4:45 pm, with a couple of miles to go. Home 11:40 pm. Cleaned up, hydrated, and coded 'til 2 am. Slept to 4:30 am for another day.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

Wildflowers Observation Light
Expected reflection of the dry conditions. Kinna needed a breather year after back-to-back super bloom years that previously only surfaced once or twice in a decade. Most notable was a droopy patch of Colorado Four O'Clock in the A.M. rejuvenated well past four o'clock!

	Eagle Pond - CC Wilderness	76-100% full	76-100% full
	Looked full to me

	Poland Creek - Algonquin Trail	Light flow	Light flow
	Light flow in the A.M. Trickle in the P.M. Clear and inviting.

_____________________

- joe

Mar 25 2021

LJW

Routes 154
Photos 1,505
Triplogs 266

31 male

Joined Jun 02 2019
Phoenix, AZ

Big Dipper - Horsethief Loop, AZ

Hiking		Mar 25 2021
		LJW • Triplogs 266

Hiking	22.48 Miles	5,046 AEG

Hiking	22.48 Miles	8 Hrs 19 Mns	2.97 mph
	5,046 ft AEG	45 Mns Break

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Big Dipper - Castle Creek Wilderness

Kentuck Trail #217 - Prescott NF

Coal Camp Spring Trail #203

Horsethief Lake Trail

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

I heard there was some trail work done around Horsethief Basin and in the Castle Creek Wilderness, so I was curious to check out the conditions of the trails as well as see how the water was flowing in Horsethief and Poland Creeks. Started at the northern Algonquin TH around 7:30 and went clockwise starting with The Big Dipper.

Algonquin down to the Horsethief Trail junction is wide and clear. Left the trail where it crosses Poland Creek and hopped my way down. One tricky section where the water pools between slippery rock walls. Didn’t want to get wet, so I slid my way across on the south side of the creek. Big Dipper was running pretty good, lots of water in Poland Creek. First time seeing it running, pretty neat. Figure most are waiting a week for the temps to climb to get some swimming in.

Back on Algonquin to Horsethief Trail, which received recent maintenance. Trail is in brilliant shape. Tread is clean and the path is clear. Probably my favorite trail on the day. Steep climb up to big views.

Next was Twin Peaks Trail. Again, recently maintained and in good shape as far as I went. Looped around using Twin Peaks between Horsethief and the 240 TH. Gate is locked to get to the TH, though there’s parking on Senator not too, too far away.

Walked Senator Highway to Kentuck CG, which is no longer a true CG and is day use only. Kentuck trail is in good shape until higher up where it gets a little brushy but never too bad. Stopped at Horsethief Lookout. It’s closed for the pandemic but still offered good views of Lake Pleasant and the surrounding Bradshaws from the windy steps.

Worst part of the day was Coal Camp Spring Trail. One mile of trail from the LO to the road is lost to the forest. Needs to be regraded higher up and cleared the whole way through. Pretty good bushwack for about a mile from the LO to where it reaches the road that goes from Senator/Horsethief Lake to Coal Camp Spring/South Fort.

Road walk to Senator and then down to Horsethief Lake. Bad timing and I got there just as a few other folks pulled up. Had a walk around. Fun, short trail especially where it crosses along the dam. Then again, I’m a sucker for the small mountain lakes.

Three more miles of road walking to the southern Algonquin TH. Algonquin has been recently cleared the whole way and is a dream to follow. Big views as the trail descends. Good tread, no bushwacking. Was worried the whole hike about its condition, but it’s pretty much a highway the entire way now.

Got back down to the creeks and then back up. That final climb is never as bad as it seems. Mostly cloudy day, high 30s to low 50s. Didn’t see anyone besides a few trucks driving on Senator.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Horsethief Lake

Big Dipper - Crown King Quad

Medium flow

Horsethief Canyon

Medium flow

4 archives

Feb 10 2018

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Twin Peaks #240 - Castle Creek #239 Loop, AZ

Hiking		Feb 10 2018
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	12.47 Miles	3,374 AEG

Hiking	12.47 Miles	9 Hrs 28 Mns	1.48 mph
	3,374 ft AEG	1 Hour 1 Min Break

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The_Eagle

Tortoise_Hiker

Twin Peaks Trail #240
Upper 2 miles are fantastic. Thru mile 4 is decent trail with outstanding views. The bottom 4 miles is the current worst catclaw massacre search and find trail(cough) in Arizona I'm aware exists.

Castle Creek Trail #239
In 2010 & 2013 this trail was cleared just enough to make it enjoyable. Now it is a route finding hunt with lots of unpleasant catclaw and some shrub. Not a nightmare like #240, still too much pain for most. The upper most 0.25 mile is pure heaven with a great trail winding through tall skinny pines.

Synopsis
Friends don't let friends hike these two trails. Yet alone suggest and pressure those working Friday night shifts with phrases like come on man, bros before pillows...gasp

Twin Peaks was my second worst catclaw story for 8 years. Sandals through pre groomed [ Half Moon Trail #288 ] was the first. I was blind. Unprepared is not a parallel comparison. #240 wins the honors. I never want to experience it again... until the next time

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Catclaw Acacia

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] HAZ - Hike HAZard

	Eagle Pond - CC Wilderness	Dry	Dry

_____________________

- joe

Feb 10 2018

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,760

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Twin Peaks #240 - Castle Creek #239 Loop, AZ

Hiking		Feb 10 2018
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	12.53 Miles	3,377 AEG

Hiking	12.53 Miles	9 Hrs 28 Mns	1.49 mph
	3,377 ft AEG	1 Hour 2 Mns Break

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joebartels

Tortoise_Hiker

Last did this loop in June of 2010. While the area and views are killer, so was the catclaw. Blood letting in earlier days was thought to cure ills. I wasn't sick, I vowed this to be a one and done.

Turns out, I am sick, mentally (I know , no secret there). Joe suggested this late in the week and there had been rumors that some work had been done to the trail. My answer, lets give it a try....

The sleepy Turtle Joined us with and we started up top, clockwise, at the Twin Peaks #240 intersection with Castle Creek #239. 1.6 miles and 450' of gain and we were at our high point for the day. Trail's still good.

We start the drop to the lower intersection with Castle Creek #239. Through the 4.5 mile mark, there was evidence of trail work sometime in the last 8 years. It was cleared 8' wide in spots. The views are sweet. [ youtube video ]

At the 4.5 mile marker, it looks like they gave up. This was the start of the catclaw in earnest. [ photo ] and the catclaw basically went on for the rest of the hike. At a break, I strapped on the gaiters. This saved my ankles and shins for the rest of the day, but my arms and especially thighs fertilized the catclaw with life giving blood.

Joe and I both remembered the Castle Creek #240 trail "Not that bad". Should have said "Not as Bad". There was more catclaw than I remembered and the trail was only distinguished by cairn hunting. If you haven't seen one in awhile, you are off trail. The truck was a welcome sight

I will need photographic evidence of trail clearing, before trying this one again.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Catclaw Acacia

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Humor

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Lower Dead Cow Spring

	Eagle Pond - CC Wilderness	1-25% full	1-25% full
	Possible small pool

	Lower Dead Cow Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	The trough was full, not sure if it was from rain water/snow melt or what. It didn't look appetizing, but could be filtered I'm sure.

_____________________

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

Feb 10 2018

Tortoise_Hiker

Guides 1
Routes 148
Photos 9,924
Triplogs 3,652

63 male

Joined Apr 02 2005
Mesa, AZ

Twin Peaks #240 - Castle Creek #239 Loop, AZ

Hiking		Feb 10 2018
		Tortoise_Hiker • Triplogs 3,652

Hiking	12.53 Miles	3,377 AEG

Hiking	12.53 Miles	9 Hrs 28 Mns	1.49 mph
	3,377 ft AEG	1 Hour 2 Mns Break

no routes

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The_Eagle

Bruce and Joe let me join them on this hike. It's been years since I've been in the area. Many fond memories with the family camping. Cool area with awesome views. Throw in great weather and great company and how could you go wrong. The start has a stand of Manzanita trees that rival the ones on telephone trail in the Pinals before the fire. The trail is great in this area. After that not so much. It was more like a cairned route. Kudos to Joe and Bruce for keeping us on "trail"

. As my skepticism would set in we would come across a trail sign

. The rolling hill, boulders, and grassland were pleasant to the eye. A shame the trail is in need of almost a full retread. The only drawback on the hike was the catclaw. I've seen thicker taller catclaw on Halfmoon trail in the Mazatzals but not for this many miles. After awhile you started getting hit in the same sore spot over and over. I apologize to Bruce and Joe as this had a severe affect on my disposition. I'm not usually one to throw out vocabulary words of that nature but gosh darn that catclaw. Well we survived and Bruce got us home safely with an awesome sunset on the way.

_____________________

Tortoise Hiking. Stop and smell the Petrichor.

1 archive

Sep 20 2014

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Algonquin - Horsethief Cyn - Twin Peaks Loop, AZ

Hiking		Sep 20 2014
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	16.10 Miles	4,075 AEG

Hiking	16.10 Miles	10 Hrs 26 Mns	1.74 mph
	4,075 ft AEG	1 Hour 10 Mns Break

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Recreation Trail #201

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The_Eagle

We headed out with a pleasant 75° forecast into terrain known to be a winner. The drive in showed lush tall green grass blanketing the mountains.

6:55am trailhead
Despite many visits this trail would be difficult to find without the carsonite post hinting the way. Recent record rains have turned this transitional zone into a jungle. Three entries in the register offered a suggestion to wear pants. Bruce advertised the event as "17+ miles and some blood" so luckily I came armed with pants.

The first and last four miles of our lasso loop hike had some unpleasantries. In addition to random catclaw there was miracle grow grass nose high in areas. Three species seemed to dominate. The shorter variety was seeding out. Not itchy just made Italians envy your legs. The minor annoyance was one of the tall hay bundle wannabes. Seeds plumed out in passing. The worst of the worst was a half mile stretch through wet sugar type sticky vegetation.

75° was probably the low, perhaps the forecast should have read 75% humidity...

enough of the negative
The rewards out weighed all the above. Ivy is out of control. Wildflowers had me thinking it was spring. Vertical terrain is the star of the show. Each hike out on the Horsethief Canyon Trail #30, especially heading back, leaves me in awe. It's friggen awesome. I love it, I love it, I love it! Due to the trail condition most will despise this gem never looking up from their feet.

fear no evil
We finished off the western end of the Twin Peak Trail #240. Albeit 75% evil end to end there is a gift for the persistent hiker. The fire didn't plow the tall pines down. It reminded me of Ballantine above Rock Tank in the southern Mazzies.

Bruce showed me where Denny used to take dance lessons. We yodeled in his honor, square danced with butterflies and headed home.

Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
Box Elders in a pocket up near Turney are getting a two day jump start on Autumn.

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Smaller white and purple daisy varieties are out in mass. Other ground cover and such varieties I'm clueless on identifying.

_____________________

- joe

Sep 20 2014

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,760

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Algonquin - Horsethief Cyn - Twin Peaks Loop, AZ

Hiking		Sep 20 2014
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	17.27 Miles	4,283 AEG

Hiking	17.27 Miles	10 Hrs 29 Mns		2.02 mph
	4,283 ft AEG	1 Hour 56 Mns Break	16 LBS Pack

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http://youtu.be/6zdmkDkRxlA

Recreation Trail #201

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joebartels

Joe and I are in a small group that are hooked on discovering what the Bradshaws have to offer.

We have a few more trails to discover out there. Today was to find out if the section of trail between the Horsethief Canyon Trail #30, going east, still existed.

For this hike, long pants and a GPS track is helpful. The route is cairned throughout, but gets sketchy at some of the many creek crossings. If you are hiking just the Algonquin to and through the Horsethief Canyon, you will have water opportunities the entire way. For the route we took, we were next to water probably 70% of the time.

Down the Algonquin #225 from the road to Crown King. All of the entries provided warnings to go back and get your long pants. The majority of the hike included knee high grasses/weeds interspersed with catclaw, locust and other things that liked to cling to you. With long pants on all you had too worry about, was the crap that clung to your socks.

You pass the old Algonquin Mine building along the way. This is quite an interesting area. Someone spent a lot of time shoring up the walls that created the road to the mine. Just past here, the Algonquin Trail veers off to the west and the Horsethief Canyon Trail #30, continues to the south. The Horsethief Canyon walls are steep and close to you, adding to the wow factor on this hike. The climb out of the canyon is a steep one. Just south of leaving the Wilderness area, you'll hit the western start of your next trail.

The Twin Peaks #240 Trail was flagged to be cleared by the forest Service, maybe 2 years ago. These flags made it possible to follow this trail. The brush was not too thick except for one section where we lost the flags. I hope they do come back to clear it. Along the way on this trail we found the burned remains of trail sign, indicating trails 800 and 801? (could not read the names) There were cairns going off to the Northeast. I've never heard of these, or seen them on any Topo maps. Sounds like another trip to this area.

On the way down from the Twin Peaks area, I finally checked out and named an unmarked pond, that's had my curiosity the last few times out there.

To round out the first time experience, we went in through the Turney Gulch CG area to pick up the southern end of the Horsefthief Canyon Trail #30. It follows an abandoned FR52F, past the old Rec Hall Ruins? and the old Sewage plant ruins, before finally turning into trail.

Another fun day in the Bradshaws!!

Video :next:

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Teva

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] HAZ - Hike HAZard

Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
Some trees are starting to turn yellow

Wildflowers Observation Moderate

	Eagle Pond - CC Wilderness	76-100% full	76-100% full
	Plenty of filterable water

	Horsethief Canyon	Medium flow	Medium flow
	Good flow the entire length

_____________________

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

Jun 10 2010

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		Jun 10 2010
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	12.15 Miles	3,104 AEG

Hiking	12.15 Miles	9 Hrs 20 Mns	1.30 mph
	3,104 ft AEG

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The_Eagle

I've pondered many times why no one has posted on these "near" Valley trails in the nearly 14 years HAZ has been online... The area of this triplog is what every rest stop visitor to Sunset Point ponders in awe, the eastern flank of the Bradshaw Mountain Range.

The original plan was to loop up Castle Creek Trail & down Twin Peaks and check out a seventy foot waterfall off trail on the way back. Heading out to the lower trailhead we were pretty surprised to find out Castle Creek was flowing in June. Being so close to Phoenix and with such little rain in months this seemed wacky, maybe it's perennial? Anyhow there was no way we could get up enough speed to negotiate the terrain. Off to plan B... take the 27 mile road up and then 7 miles over to the upper trailhead.

The long drive had us starting later yet the temps up top were a mere 63 degrees

Castle Creek Trail heading down went pretty easy. For the most part it's pretty obvious with only a couple route finding issues. It appears to have been catclaw clipped a year or two ago. It's growing back but not horrible yet. The main issue we encountered was getting tangled in the dead clippings that were right on trail. Before that all started I opted to throw on pants. Whereas Senior Boyscout Bruce chose the shiny grail, the hot girl and a bag of fine grain sugar. Sorry, back on track... the views heading down were better than anticipated. You have a sweet view of Black Mesa and Perry Mesa. More of what you expect to see in Utah or northern Arizona, not central Arizona near the valley.

The cool weather was tapering off as we neared the lower elevation junction for the Twin Peaks Trail. After the turn the cat's claw started encroaching more and cairns became the game. Then the cairns let up and the trail just turned to ravines filled with cat's claw. I've seen some pretty bad stuff on the Half Moon Trail. So while conveying that story was dealt a whole new nightmare. This stuff went on for... friggen miles. It was unreal. One section was over our heads. In total disbelieve there were cairns below under the cat's claw. So we hacked through that too.

The going was grueling slow. The temps were undoubtedly hovering 90 yet breezes kept us in the game. Our energy levels dropped from the constant fighting for five foot sections of trail most would never deem possible. It was daunting in the middle of these huge cat's claw fields with no end in sight. Finally it let up around 5,400 feet to good old fashion bushwhacking.

With the joy of survival on our side things looked on the up and up. Not for long. Soon we realized we had 2,400ft in gain and the little water left in our packs was depleting fast. With a good four to five breaks we finally put this one to rest. The long hours spent in the June sun and the relentless bush fighting really owned me today.

Bruce stopped by the lake were we washed off our feet. Next he bought me one of the best burger and fries I've had in my life at the Bar in Crown King. (appetite may slightly alter my "best in life" rating but it was darn good!) A pretty swell guy I must admit. I made up the stuff about the grail and what not. However I couldn't make up the following, cause nobody would ever believe me. Bruce brought pants but was too stubborn to put them on until after the cat's claw. With a wounded hand from a fall and the rest of his non clothed body resembling a mistreated package of sausage I have to say... you're crazy man! Yet something must be wrong with me cause all I have to say at this point is, thanks for a great hike!

Wildflowers Observation Light

_____________________

- joe

Jun 10 2010

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,760

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		Jun 10 2010
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	12.15 Miles	3,104 AEG

Hiking	12.15 Miles	9 Hrs 20 Mns	1.30 mph
	3,104 ft AEG

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joebartels

The plan was to first, avoid the 34 mile drive from I-17, on the dirt road past Crown King and second, start the Hike at a lower elevation before the heat of the day. A 5 mile drive on FR 684 just prior to to the booming metropolis of Bumblebee seemed to be the ticket and would cut the off I-17 mileage to 9 miles. I'm not shy when it come to off road driving, but only having a 2WD Pathfinder, the final straw a half mile in, was a boulder crossing, then a stream, then an uphill through sand. Anybody taking this route to reach the eastern TH of the Castle Creek trail .... 4x4 IS A MUST.

So back out and around we went, and 1:25 minutes later we were at our upper TH. The temps were great at 8:30 one top at around 65 degrees, but we knew this meant hiking up 3100 ft in the heat of the day once we reached the bottom. The Castle Creek trail was actually in not bad shape and I can recommend it. The toughest part was actually finding the Trail from the Trailhead. The views down towards the Sunset Rest area were real sweet and now I can say when I pass by there "I was up there".

We did not make it to the lower TH that we planned on starting from, instead opting to just take the Twin Peaks Trail. In hindsight, this was a good choice, as it would have added 4 mile to our trip, and another 1000' in AEG. We really wanted to check for the waterfall that is just west of the Castle Creek Cabin on the TOPO maps. In talking to a horseman last week, he mentioned he'd seen the waterfall 10 years ago, but thought the Forest Service has since burned down the cabin.

Now.... as far as the Twin Peaks trail goes, until/if they ever get back in there to clear cut the catsclaw, the only part of this trail I'd attempt, is from the upper trail heads to the area by the Twin Peaks. It's too bad because there are some great views up there, but you'll be so weak from busting through brush and blood loss that you just don't pumpkin care.

Side note, and save this for future pranks.... Joe really, really, really, really does not like spiders and spider webs. I heard a scream so high pitched, that I thought I was hiking with a 12 year old girl. He spent more time picking out spider web, than I spent pulling out catsclaw needles!

A memorable trip to say the least.

PS the Catch Phraze of the day was, "I think I have a trail...Crap, we gotta go through that?"

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Thistle Purple Nightshade

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Teva

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Throwing a Wendy

Wildflowers Observation Light

_____________________

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

Jun 02 2010

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,760

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Prescott, AZ