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| Hiking | 20.15 Miles |
4,785 AEG |
| | Hiking | 20.15 Miles | 10 Hrs 34 Mns | | 2.16 mph |
| 4,785 ft AEG | 1 Hour 13 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Early meetup in Mesa with Kelly, John, and Wally, and we got to the Campaign trailhead just before 0700. The road is in good condition right now, some sand, but not too bad, medium clearance AWD is all you need. Temps in the 30s, which felt refreshing.
Some water in the creek, but easily hopped over. John was sad we didn’t have to swim across. At the Campaign/Reavis Gap jct, we debated which direction to complete the loop. We opted for counter-clockwise, which ended up being the right call. Clockwise would have been a tougher day.
Reavis Gap trail was in reasonably good shape. Wally pointed out some ruins, and various items of interest. It’s fun hiking with the local expert—he also told a ghost story. Views were good, and the prior day’s rain had knocked all the dust down.
We were only on Reavis trail for the duration of the ranch area, which was deserted. We had a snack break at the ranch, then made our way onto Fireline.
Fireline is in rougher shape. Most is still fairly easy to follow, but manzanita will take over some spots within a few years if not cut back. Views are more open than they used to be.
We made our way over to Circlestone—that route has become more vague, but common sense and cairns keep you mostly on track. Had another snack break at Circlestone, and encountered our first hiker of the day—a man who was wandering around looking for his lost cellphone. It seemed like he had been taking the wrong way up to Mound Mtn when he lost it. We tried calling it, but no luck. He quickly gave up on the phone and decided to keep hiking to Reavis North. He assured us he knew the way, however, he did not know how to leave Circlestone. Wally escorted him to the first few cairns.
After that, we headed over to Mound. Far less manzanita than there used to be. Crawling thru that mess almost a decade ago with Lee, Rick, and Bob was a distant memory. It’s now fairly clear. The steep 300’ climb is still steep. Lots of slippery dead leaves as you scale the mountainside. Luckily, there are lots of trees to hang onto and pull yourself up. Not all of the trees are firmly rooted. There was some discussion of the minimum trunk diameter needed to inspire confidence/trust. Once along the ridge, it was a quick walk over to the summit. Views were great, Wally could see Mt Ord, or something with towers on top. Kelly worked on identifying some scat near the benchmark. Eventually, we worked up the courage to descend Mound. It wasn’t too bad, the trees controlled our descent. We saw one other hiker as we were leaving Circlestone.
It was nice to see a large amount of pines still standing along Fireline. Tons of bear scat, mostly old, but some newer. The eastern end of Fireline is in rougher shape, especially the final quarter mile.
Campaign Trail has seen better days. At times we stayed in the creekbed, other times we found what was left of the trail. One deeply eroded channel needed to be crossed. Easy enough for the guys with longer legs. Wally suggested Kelly and I get a running start. Ha. We opted for a helping hand instead. As we headed north, the catclaw increased. We followed the trail as much as we could, but at times, I think we would have been better off in the creekbed. Saw some cattle. There was more water in places than we were expecting, but it was not an obstacle to travel. Eventually, Kelly and I gave up on finding the trail and stayed in the creekbed until we caught up to John & Wally at the Reavis Gap jct. The final
1.40 miles out was easy, and we finished with some daylight to spare. I would not hike Campaign Trail again until it sees some significant maintenance.
Overall, a fun day, with plenty of good conversation while we covered a lot of ground. Caught some of the RenFest traffic in Gold Canyon, but it wasn’t the end of the world. |
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| Stop crying and just go do the hike. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Light flow, lots of filterable pools 
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
and continued to Fireline. From Brushy Spring to Fireline, there is a good amount of old tread to follow up on the east bank but I know from recent experience that after Fireline it gets a lot harder to follow. Had lunch, relaxed under the pines at Fireline, and had an uneventful hike back to the truck. We thought about hiking up to a couple of small hilltops to check out some ruins but it was already getting late so we'll save it for next time. The only 'wildlife' sightings were a couple of cows that scared the crap out of me when I wasn't paying attention, but tons of coyote, 
how bad could it be? Packed a pair of clippers just in case, but opted to tackle the hike wearing my normal attire with bare legs and arms, figuring if I managed the cross country bushwhack through catclaw thickets from the Peters Trail over to Hoolie Bacon without too much damage, surely I'd fare okay.
Route 
. He said he'd be fine and wouldn't have any problems navigating back to his car at Reavis North without his phone. He took off, then returned minutes later because he couldn't find the trail down from Circlestone, so Wally pointed him in the right direction. Not a great start, but hopefully the guy eventually found his way off the mountain and to a T-Mobile store...
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It also has great views, but not quite as good as Mound Mountain. The creek section has rugged beauty, but not quite as nice as Campaign Creek, Fish Creek, Frog Tanks or Rogers Canyon (to name a few others). I ascended the official route to the summit, but decided to descend the SE ridgeline to the Cuff Button Trail. It was a last minute decision after enjoying some liquid courage in the wind with the bee flies and ladybugs. The alternate route seemed like less of an interior Chaparral bushwhack, but it turned out to be worse lower since the Cuff Button Trail is in horrible shape. Lots of ripping and tearing Wait-a-minute bushes. By comparison, the Campaign Trail to the Pinto Divide is actually not too shabby! I hadn't noticed Wally's triplog about descending the SE ridgeline until after getting home. It definitely is a more direct route. At least I hiked some of a trail I hadn't done before and Jerky Spring was also kind of neat. Most of the bypasses along the West Pinto section are essentially worthless since there is a bunch of deadfall and thick, fresh vegetation. You also miss many of the good creek sections on the silly cairned diversions. I thought following the creek bed on my ascent route was much more enjoyable hiking. 
