Snowshed Trail #246 • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Crest Trail #270D - Chiricahua Bypass

Mormon Ridge Trail #269

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I've been wanting to bag Snowshed Peak for a while. Decided to make a long loop out of it, and knock off a few more new-to-me Chiricahua trails too. I figured I could head up Turkey Pen and Rock Creek to Bootlegger Saddle, stay the night, move camp to Juniper Saddle and bag Snowshed Peak, then return to the car down any of several trails back down into Turkey Creek.

Turkey Pen
Started at the Turkey Pen trailhead around 9:30am on Friday. The Forest Service description claims this trail is a primitive route, but there wasn't anything primitive about it that I could see. The tread is excellent, there were no obstacles or overgrowth. It was obvious the trail was frequently used by equestrians. It starts off with a brief climb over a ridge, then drops down into Turkey Pen Canyon, in which it gradually climbs before climbing over a little saddle and dropping into Upper Rock Creek Canyon. Turkey Pen Canyon had some occasional surface flow and a series of nice slickrock pools. At the top of the little saddle above Upper Rock Creek, there were some enthusiastic lupines.

Upper Rock Creek
Turkey Pen Trail ends at Rock Creek Trail. There is a sign there for the Fitch Corral Trail, which heads North, but no sign for the Rock Creek Trail, which heads either East or West as it travels along the canyon. I didn't see any indication of Rock Creek Trail heading West, and in fact it took me a while to realize that Turkey Pen had effectively morphed into Rock Creek Trail.

Trail conditions on Rock Creek above the terminus of Turkey Pen declined somewhat, but it was still quite followable and free of obstacles. The trail would occasionally enter the creek, which had regular surface flow. Where it was faint there were cairns, flagging tape, or failing either of those, horse poo.

One stretch in the creek had steep cliff walls on either side for a stretch, and ended at a waterfall and large pool. It appeared to be a dead end, and the only way to continue was to scramble up a steep sidewall to get atop the waterfall. There must have been an alternate path for equestrians, as horse poo resumed when trail tread reappeared up the creek.

After the junction with the Saulsbury Connector trail, the tread just stopped. There were cairns to follow, however, and more horse poo. It wasn't terribly difficult to follow the route, and there were no obstacles other than faint or non-existent tread. The tread eventually reappeared, and remained in pretty good shape the rest of the way to Rock Saddle. Surprisingly there was only one short burn section not far below Rock Saddle, and other than a bit of overgrowth it was no problem at all.

Rock Saddle was burned at one point, and all tread is gone. It's actually a junction for several trails, but the sign is on the ground and completely weathered away as to be illegible. I had to scout around a bit looking for the trail to continue to Bootlegger Saddle.

There is some confusion about trail names here: the sign suggests the Bootlegger Trail #257, which descends from Rustler Park, continues up to Bootlegger Saddle. This makes sense to me, and some old maps concur. However, a lot of credible sources state that Bootlegger starts at Rustler Park and continues West to Rattlesnake Trail at Rattle Rock Saddle. In this case, Rock Creek Trail continues to Bootlegger Saddle, and Bootlegger Trail does not in fact go to Bootlegger Saddle. The sign at Bootlegger Saddle supports this.

Wherever it actually ends, Rock Creek Trail is absolutely gorgeous. It has many large pools in the creek, and miles of pristine piney goodness. For being listed as a primitive route, it's actually not terribly difficult to navigate.

I spent my first night at Bootlegger Saddle, and used Hillside Spring as a water source. It was windy, but Bootlegger has a large rock outcrop that effectively blocked it.

Crest 270A
Saturday morning I packed up and headed for Juniper Saddle, expecting to make camp there. This trail is clear and well-maintained, and sees regular traffic from hikers headed to Chiricahua Peak from either Rustler Park or Barfoot. In fact, the only other people I saw on the entire trip were on this segment: a solitary hiker and his dog, and a young couple with their dog.

The trail traverses a number of severely burned areas from the 2011 Horseshoe II fire, though the forest is recovering in different ways. There are beautiful views, aspen tunnels, remnant old-growth forest, stretches of charred tree skeletons, and meadows. Most of the time the trail hugs the western slopes of the crest, periodically descending and ascending as it enters and leaves a series of wide saddles called Parks. In the summer the wildflower displays can be amazing, and there are miles of raspberry bushes to sate any appetite, but my trip was too early for all that.

Anita Park and Spring
Shortly before Junction Saddle, I took the short path up to Anita Park, which is pretty horrifically burned but slowly recovering. On past trips, usually in the fall, I'd tried to use Anita Spring but often could not find it due to overgrowth. Since it was spring, I figured it would be much easier to find today, and it was. I dropped my heavy pack at Anita Park as the trail down to the spring is quite steep. I collected fresh, clear water from the spring and had a brief rest at Anita Park while waiting for the water to filter. The trail to the spring is clear and often delineated on either side with fallen logs.

Crest 270C
This leg of the crest runs from Junction Saddle at the base of Chiricahua Peak all the way southeast to Sentinel Peak. I only took it as far as Juniper Saddle.

Junction Saddle was wide and clear, all the trails were visible and easy to follow, and there were new signs! 270C is probably the least used of the trails that connect here, and in the past it had been hard to see, but not today.

Last time I was on this trail, the segment between Junction and Aspen saddles had many downed logs. They have since been removed, and there was only one large downed tree shortly after leaving Junction Saddle. The segment to Aspen Saddle burned, but not horribly, so there are still many old growth pines standing with new growth in between. It's actually quite densely forested and a nice hike.

Aspen Saddle is coming along nicely, with many young pines filling in the area. There is a lovely camping spot with remnant old growth surrounded by younger trees, perhaps 15-20' tall, and no more snags threatening to come down.

The views on 270C from Aspen Saddle all the way to Juniper Saddle are fantastic. It has a far less apocalyptic vibe than parts of 270A, and you get to enjoy relatively unobstructed views of Chiricahua Peak, Paint Rock, Rucker Canyon, Monte Vista Peak, Raspberry Ridge, and on into Mexico. For views, this is by far my favorite stretch of trail in the entire range. It's also great for solitude, as relatively few people come this way.

At Juniper Saddle I had lunch and started scouting for camp spots. Unfortunately the wind was getting quite strong and the natural rock formations were channeling the wind rather than breaking it up. I'd hoped to set up camp at Juniper Saddle and do a quick peak-bag of Snowshed nearby, but I wound up rucking my whole pack up Snowshed instead. I stopped to collect a couple liters at Juniper Spring first.

Snowshed Trail and Snowshed Peak Trail
Neither of these trails have seen maintenance in years. In the summer or fall, they get very overgrown, and the tread is faint enough anyway that they all but disappear in places. There are aspens and other shrubby things growing in the middle of the trail, too. In spring, with less overgrowth, they are actually pretty easy to follow.

Snowshed from Juniper Spring to Snowshed Saddle is faint and eroded, but it's still visible and followable the whole way. Tread completely disappears at the saddle where it meets the Snowshed Peak trail. The junction is cairned and has been delineated with downed logs. There is no sign, but the metal band featured on most Chiricahua signs is rusted and bent on the ground where the sign once was.

The route to Snowshed Peak is cairned, with no visible tread as it leaves the saddle. It's not too difficult to stay on track, and the tread appears before too long and remains in decent to excellent shape almost the entire way. Many aspens are growing in the middle of the trail though. As it climbs toward the summit, it moves in and out of relatively unburnt forest. Just before the peak itself I found a decent spot to camp; it was breezy but not as bad as Juniper Saddle. So I found and signed the peak log, enjoyed the fair views to the south and southwest, and set up camp.

The weather was not particularly pleasant to experience because of the wind, and there were various isolated storm cells forming to the southwest and blowing in my direction. Some of them were rumbly, and it snailed lightly. Sorta like snow and hail, like it couldn't figure out which one it wanted to be so it tried to be both. It also rained a bit. But the real problem was the wind. I was hammock camping, which was not the greatest choice for the weather. I spent all night wishing I was in a tent, though my rain fly did a decent job of keeping the wind off me. I had to be very diligent about tying the guy lines down so they wouldn't get ripped out of the ground. I basically tied them to rocks and made little cairns over them to weigh them down, which worked. The next morning as I packed up (in the wind) I noticed one of the guy lines had frayed almost all the way through at a cord lock. Whew!

Sunday morning I made excellent time down Snowshed and around Aspen Peak to the Chiricahua Bypass.

Crest 270D "Chiricahua Bypass"
Another sparsely used trail, mostly because it's most useful for people doing loop hikes around Rucker Canyon (a definite minority of people). Or in my case, a loop hike around Turkey Creek with a dogleg to Snowshed Peak. I had done such a Rucker Canyon circuit last fall, and all I can report is that not much has changed. A little more trail is lost to erosion, and there's more deadfall. There are a few more downed trees at Chiricahua Saddle too, which are also obstructing the more commonly used 270B.

Mormon Ridge
This trail comes up from Turkey Creek to the Crest at Chiricahua Saddle. I took it down. It traverses a burn as it descends to Mormon Saddle, and there's some deadfall along it, but it's nothing major. At Mormon Saddle the trail sign is gone, but you have two options for the descent. Either continue on Mormon Ridge or drop down into Mormon Canyon. The former would deposit me closer to the car, but it's also a longer trail. The latter is shorter, much steeper, and would deposit me further up the road. I chose the more gradual, longer descent.

The remainder of Mormon Ridge has quite a variety of landscapes, from healthy pine forest to oak scrub, scree fields, and mixed woodland. The scrubby parts in the middle elevations tend to be overgrown, and tread quality is eroding in the scree fields, but generally speaking the trail is without any real obstacles. Since it's a ridge hike there was more wind, but it was warm out. Seeing how the wind was no longer viciously trying to tear apart my sleeping arrangements, I was able to appreciate its more refreshing side. There's also more sun on the hike, and that means more wildflowers. It was still pretty sporadic, but lower down there was quite a variety of blooms.

The trail ends at Turkey Creek Road. The creek had light flow and was easy to cross. The remainder of the trip was a little over half mile of road walk to the car.

Overall another fabulous romp in the Chiricahuas, with just enough Type 2 fun to keep things interesting. Next trip I'll go back to carrying a tent if there's any chance of wind.

Wildflowers Observation Light
Here and there, but at times in small, intense displays. Lupines especially, quite a few overachievers on Turkey Pen.

	Anita Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Spring box full of cool, clear, yummy H2O

	Eagle Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Overflow full and very green, as usual.

	Hillside Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Spring box under concrete cover was far down and didn't look much better than what was in the overflow trough. Lots of debris, but filterable. A bit of algae and grass on the nose, but filtered clear and tasted fine.

	Juniper Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Pipe to the spring trough broken, but water available in the spring box itself. Someone moved the concrete lid from the lower box to the upper one, which didn't seem to have done much to keep debris out. Filtered great.

	Turkey Pen Canyon	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Large slick rock pools and occasional surface flow.

5 archives

230587

Sep 27 2024

Jackluminous

Guides 2
Routes 310
Photos 1,165
Triplogs 315

52 male

Joined Mar 24 2021
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Backpack		Sep 27 2024
		Jackluminous • Triplogs 315

Backpack	16.70 Miles	4,508 AEG

Backpack	16.70 Miles	1 Day 2 Hrs 50 Mns
	4,508 ft AEG		22 LBS Pack

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Anita Spring Trail - Chiricahua

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I had the opportunity to get away for an overnight, and I've been wanting to try the east side of the Chiricahuas for a long time. The stars aligned and off I went!

I had planned on being at the trailhead by 10 on Friday, but things didn't work out and I got out of town late. For some reason I didn't want to drive to Herb Martyr campground with a battery that was mostly dead (as in, slightly alive). So I stopped to get a new one on the way out of town.

I started hiking from Herb Martyr just before noon. My goal was to reach Aspen Saddle to camp, which is about the halfway point on the Snowshed/Greenhouse loop.

Herb Martyr Trail
This trail was in pretty good shape. The weekend I went was a major heatwave with the valleys reaching 105; it was probably in the low 80s when I started hiking. The middle section of Herb Martyr follows an exposed ridge and man was it toasty. I hiked like a lizard, zipping between shady spots. The latter half of the trail was a super steep climb, but it was treed and therefore more tolerable. It got a little overgrown close to the junction with Snowshed, and erosion has definitely been taking its toll on tread quality up there.

Snowshed Trail
At the trail junction with Snowshed, the sign for Herb Martyr was missing. Well, pieces of it were here and there, but nothing legible. The Snowshed sign, however, was in perfect condition.

Snowshed was in fabulous condition from the junction with Herb Martyr until after just after Pine Park. This amounted to about 1/8 mile of piney greatness. The remainder of the trail to the Crest alternated between exposed scree and a bushwhack through overgrown shrubbery of various persuasions, and not all friendly. Between loose rocks and dense overgrowth the trail was a little treacherous in places. Nonetheless the trail was followable, until the approach to Snowshed Saddle where it pretty much disappeared. Pink flagging tape at the saddle was helpful.

Snowshed needs love, a lot of love. But it's worthy, with pretty incredible views along its length that just get better as you go.

I definitely underestimated how the heat and the challenging trail would slow me down. I didn't make it to the Crest and Juniper Spring until about 6pm, which was sunset. I didn't have time to collect water, hike the 3/4 mile or so to Aspen Saddle, and pitch a tent before dark. I was also pretty tired, and Juniper Saddle was gorgeous. So I collected water at the spring and hiked to a flat spot on the ridge below, carpeted with wildflowers and featuring a stunning view of Rucker Canyon.

While setting up camp I realized that I thought I had packed my tent, poles, and ground sheet, but instead had packed my rain fly, poles, and ground sheet. No tent. Whoops. So I had to cowboy camp on a perfectly temperate, cloudless, moonless night staring at a blanket of stars. I regretted packing the poles and rain fly more than I regretted forgetting the tent!

I woke very well rested to a stunning panorama of Rucker Canyon, totally stoked that I didn't make it to Aspen Saddle.

Juniper Spring
See my water report.

Crest 270C
At first the trail was very, very faint but followable. It was almost gone south of Eagle Spring. Between Eagle Spring and Aspen saddle it was still faint but followable. From Aspen to Junction it was easy to follow but overgrown, with about four downed trees across it.

This stretch of the Crest is probably my favorite because of the views into Rucker Canyon. I look forward to the time when it gets the restoration work it deserves.

Eagle Spring
See my water report.

Crest 270A
It was a freakin’ superhighway! Lots of recent tread work really shines and even the overgrown parts are easy.

The area from Junction Saddle to Cima Park had burned really badly so it was basically a steeply sloped meadow of wildflowers and tree skeletons, some of them rather spooky. I've always thought of this stretch as the Halloween Trail.

Just south of Cima Park is a stand of aspens, which were turning at the time I passed through. It was really pretty.

Anita Park
The spur trail had a shiny new sign! The trail to Anita Park was overgrown but followable without trouble. I just went to check out Anita Park, which was tall grass and standing dead trees. I sat down on a log in the midst of an aspen stand, ate a snack, and cleared the stickers and seeds out of my shoes. This was a process I repeated many times on this trip.

I decided not to bother hunting for Anita Spring since there was so much overgrowth everywhere. Mental note: when hiking the Chiricahuas in late summer, wear gaiters and bring a machete.

Greenhouse Trail
I stopped at the cabin for lunch and to take advantage of the outhouse. The outhouse was being converted into an unsanctioned rodent hotel; there was a broom inside which I used for demolition purposes.

Greenhouse was in great shape in the forested section till you get to the creek, then things get dicey. Through the creek the trail was hard to follow at times, with lots of overgrowth and obstacles around creek crossings. Lots of water to collect though! And fall colors to enjoy!

Conditions improved as the trail left the creek only in the "easy to follow" department, but not in the "wildly overgrown" one. The tread was loose rock in the burn scars. Some of the overgrowth was pretty gnarly. It was consistently overgrown all the way to the road, but down in Greenhouse Canyon it was mostly grass. There was some deadfall, but only one large tree down near Greenhouse creek gave any trouble.

Winn Falls was not flowing much, it was more Winn Trickle. The views were pretty great nonetheless.

The last 1.5 was a road walk. At least it wasn’t overgrown.

This was what I would call a "real" Chiricahua experience. Neither Snowshed nor Greenhouse trails had seen much or any maintenance in recent years, and both have been pretty majorly affected by fire. I expected this to be a tough hike. While the hike was pretty challenging it was definitely worth doing. I hope these trails get some attention, as they are great trails to access the Crest from the Portal side.

Autumn Foliage Observation Light
The aspens are starting to turn. There are some nice splashes of red and yellow throughout the area, but especially on the Crest near Cima Saddle and along the creek in Cima Canyon. Fairly sporadic along Snowshed trail as well.

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Yard-high daisies everywhere, even down the middle of most of the trails! Bring a machete.

	Eagle Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Nice sign but trail down to it is faint and hard to discern if you don’t know where to go. Just hike down the slippery rocks toward the pine tree off to the right (facing the sign) and down the hill a bit. The spring is northwest of the tree. Overflow is full but slimy with algae. Cover for the spring box is about 1/3 buried with rock and gravel. The spring is useable if you don’t mind clearing out slimy gook.

	Juniper Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Overflow trough and tank not useful. A concrete dam is holding water a bit uphill. Water is seeping out around it, making the ground a little muddy. Water in reservoir is shallow but still deep enough to submerge a small water bottle. Filters great if you're careful to keep the cruddies out; useable spring.

	Winn Falls	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Even if the flow is great, how this is a water source is beyond me. It is impossible to get to from the trail. Jetpack? There was a trickle of water dribbling down the cliff, so I'm not sure you could really call it a waterfall at this time.

218184

Jun 15 2024

Mike_W

Guides 105
Routes 267
Photos 20,001
Triplogs 603

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Joined Dec 30 2005
Tucson, AZ

Long Park Trail #42D - Chiricahua Mountains

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jun 15 2024
		Mike_W • Triplogs 603

Hiking	15.82 Miles	2,533 AEG

Hiking	15.82 Miles	11 Hrs 19 Mns	1.85 mph
	2,533 ft AEG	2 Hrs 45 Mns Break

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Crest Trail #270 - Barfoot LO to Wilderness

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Brian and I camped at Barfoot park after hiking Ida peak the day before. We got up, had breakfast and got packed up to hike Snowshed. Brian drove us to Rustler park, getting there around 9:45 am. We started by taking the connector trail to the Crest trail #270.

It was a long hike with a lot of attractions along the way. The Crest trail #270 was in very good shape overall. There were only a few bad trail areas on the East and Southeast side of Aspen peak where there was some erosion and the trail was half gone. We stopped at Juniper spring to filter water and Eagle spring to view what was there since it was along our route.

We wanted to bag Anita peak, see Anita park, bag Aspen peak, see the Greenhouse on the Greenhouse trail, and more, but because of time constraints, we only had time to bag Aspen peak in addition to Snowshed peak. We were surprised at how good the trail was going from the saddle West of Snowshed to the Snowshed summit. The trail was very well maintained, especially considering that it was so far out.

See timeline below.

Stats:
---------
Distance (round trip) = 15.82 miles
AEG = 2,533 feet
Strava moving time = 6 hrs 42 mins
Strava elapsed time = 11 hrs 19 mins

Timeline:
------------
9:45a - 0 miles - started hike at Rustler park
10:30a - 1.45 miles - arrived at Bootlegger saddle
10:56a - 2.12 miles - passed by Peak 9308
11:12a - 2.59 miles - passed by junction of Fly peak
11:40a - 3.50 miles - arrived at Round park
12:04p - 4.21 miles - stopped at Greenhouse trail junction and had lunch. Brian did a detour to bag Flys peak and arrived after me.
12:47p - 4.28 miles - finished lunch, continued...
1:18p - 5.39 miles - arrived at junction for Chiricahua peak, 270 A, 270 B, etc.
1:46p - 6.13 miles - arrived at saddle West of Peak 9660 (Aspen peak)
2:23p - 6.66 miles - arrived at Aspen summit (Peak 9660). The climb up to Aspen peak was fairly easy. We just stayed South of the aspen trees and found some interesting rocks along the way.
2:46p - 7.00 miles - arrived at saddle West of Snowshed peak
3:15p - 7.72 miles - arrived at Snowshed peak!
4:04p - 7.83 miles - left Snowshed peak
4:25p - 8.52 miles - back at the saddle West of Snowshed peak
4:40p - 8.91 miles - arrived at Juniper spring. Filtered water to make sure we had enough to get back! We were there for probably 30 minutes.
5:38p - 9.7 miles - back at the saddle West of Aspen peak
6:24p - 10.41 miles - back at the Chiricahua junction North of Chiricahua peak
6:50p - 11.37 miles - arrived at Cima park / Greenhouse trail junction
7:21p - 12.13 miles - arrived at Round park, South of Fly peak
7:47p - 13.04 miles - back at the Fly peak trail junction
8:21p - 14.09 miles - arrived at Bootlegger saddle, took Long Park trail #42-D which appeared to be a shortcut to get back to where the vehicle was parked
9:04p - 15.82 miles - finished hike. arrived back at Ruster park parking area

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Engelmann Spruce

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Ladybug beetle

Geology

Geology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Chalcedony Geodes

	Eagle Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	better flow than Juniper Spring

	Juniper Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Mostly standing water in a concrete cistern. We filtered some water here because we were running LOW!

_____________________

Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us

2 archives

216190

May 28 2023

chumley

Guides 94
Routes 851
Photos 22,827
Triplogs 2,045

52 male

Joined Sep 18 2002
Tempe, AZ

Basin Trail #600

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		May 28 2023
		chumley • Triplogs 2,045

Hiking	3.93 Miles	444 AEG

Hiking	3.93 Miles	1 Hour 44 Mns	2.27 mph
	444 ft AEG

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Ash Spring Trail #247A

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	BiFrost	John9L
	slowandsteady

After spotting a family of elegant trogons fluttering in the trees while randomly sitting at camp we decided to peel off a couple miles before dinner. This seemed like an easy option and it wasn't far from where the pretty birds were showing off their colors.

Ash Spring is an old 2 track that climbs gently from the Herb Martyr campground up to Ash Spring, which was a surprisingly nice water source here. Of course, it's so close to the perennial Cave Creek that it's really just a redundant water source.

Basin 600 led us through a sea of ferns and some unexpectedly fantastic views of Helen Keller's Yosemite of Arizona. A short connector along Herb Martyr brought us across the creek and up to Snowshed 246.

This ended up being disappointing as we were planning on a couple miles of creekside walking, but this route stays high, far out of sight and earshot of the creek below. We did make a quick detour over to the majestic HM Falls where a family of locals was swimming.

Back to camp for dinner over the fire and planning for tomorrow's hike.

_____________________

I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

207006

May 28 2023

BiFrost

Guides 4
Routes 494
Photos 11,066
Triplogs 1,286

56 male

Joined Nov 20 2012
Phoenix, AZ

Basin Trail #600

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		May 28 2023
		BiFrost • Triplogs 1,286

Hiking	3.93 Miles	444 AEG

Hiking	3.93 Miles	1 Hour 44 Mns	2.27 mph
	444 ft AEG

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Ash Spring Trail #247A

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	chumley	John9L
	slowandsteady

Quick hike before sunset and nice extra miles after doing South Fork Cave Creek earlier. Pretty easy loop from Herb Martyr Campground with some nice ferns and forest along the way. Checked out Ash Spring which had some decent water before continuing on the loop.

On the last two miles we crossed Cave Creek which had good water. However, we thought the trail would follow the creek only to find out that it stayed on a bench well above so we didn't get our creek side hike. Still a good hike before dinner.

_____________________

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208163

Sep 02 2022

xsproutx

Photos 115
Triplogs 31

male

Joined Sep 15 2020
Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Sep 02 2022
		xsproutx • Triplogs 31

Hiking	14.00 Miles	4,790 AEG

Hiking	14.00 Miles
	4,790 ft AEG		15 LBS Pack

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Day 1 - Climbs, thorns, snakes, bears, oh my

My first day actually started on Mt Lemmon, about 5 miles away from the Marshall Gulch trailhead. I woke up early, hiked out, and made the drive over to the Chiricahuas. As I turned on to Noland Road from the interstate and approached the Chiricahuas, I knew that this was going to be a special place. It was a beautiful day and the road was in great condition. As I got close to Portal, Cave Creek crosses the road and was flowing nicely which gave me comfort that the various creeks would be running. My original plan was to start at Herb Martyr Campground and hike up Greenhouse Road to Greenhouse Trail and, ultimately, end the night at the cabin near Cima Park. I had gotten a later start than anticipated, though, so wanted to see if I could drive up Greenhouse Road a bit to knock off a mile or more and at least 500 feet of the elevation gain on the first day, as it was a big climb. For the most part, Greenhouse Rd is in good condition and could be made by any SUV. It's tight in some sections and there's a chance you might get some pin stripes, but it's in good condition until about a mile in. I also saw a small bear in one of the clearings, but he didn't try to get in my way. Smart bear. At that point, the road crosses Greenhouse Creek and it gets a bit bouldery. I didn't have much an issue with my lifted outback but I did have to reposition some rocks in a couple of spots and had some tire spinning. Fearing it would get worse, when I saw an area that looked ok to park for a few days right at the creek crossing, I figured that was good enough and I'd start the hike from there. Turns out the rest of the road after crossing the creek to the actual TH is like the first part and just fine for any SUV probably, so the only part of that road I would say really needs clearance or AWD/4WD is that section that is about 1000 feet long.

It was about a half mile to the trailhead and while it was just a half mile of forest road, it was interesting: two groups of deer spotted, old bear scat mixed with still steaming bear scat, one snake (signs of what's to come). Once to the actual trail, I could see that this was going to be an interesting climb. As I started what would ultimately be 2700 feet of gain, I could sort of kind of see the trail but I mostly saw vegetation. It was thick, but mostly soft grass so not the worst thing in the world. Then I saw another rattler. Well, to be fair, I never actually saw this one, I could just hear it right off trail. After backing off and giving it a few minutes to see if it would move... it didn't. So, I climbed up the hill to the right a bit in waist high grass hoping I wouldn't find a friend of his and let him have the trail. As I made it to the wilderness boundary and the approximate 15 million switchbacks, the vegetation only got thicker and there was little sign of trail in most spots. If anyone wants to frame me for murder, I left about 5 gallons of blood there so I'm sure you can figure out something. I would not recommend this trail in shorts and this is coming from a guy who only hikes in shorts, overgrown trails and all: this felt like nearly an off trail excursion in a lot of areas.

Eventually, I made it to the Winn Falls viewpoint which was flowing quite nicely and I could hear loudly even from that distance. Loud enough that I almost stepped on yet another black rattlesnake because I couldn't hear it's rattle. Noped out of there real quick and got back on "trail", anxious to get the last bit of climbing out of the way. Eventually the trail meets up with Cima creek and what bit of trail you have disappears almost entirely to brush and deadfall. This next mile to the cabin took almost an hour as I figured out the best path but was an enjoyable hour if nothing else. Cima Creek was flowing beautifully and there are tons of little slick rock waterfalls and fun little chutes that it flows through to keep things interesting. I made it to the cabin around 7:30 or so, set up my tent, and started a small fire to relax by for a little bit before bed. The forest service has carved a couple of big logs as benches which left a ton of good firewood making it easy on me.

Day 2 - Fog, snakes, snakes, snakes, aspens

I woke up early to the pitter patter of rain and looked outside to see the entire area covered in fog and some fierce winds. What I thought was rain was actually moisture collecting on the trees above me and then being blown off by the wind. This made for some great horror movie vibes but did get me thinking about my plan a bit. Originally, I had planned on hiking north on the crest trail this day and making a 10 mile loop, ending back in the same spot or maybe another mile or two south. After checking the weather report again, it looked like things were only going to get worse in this area that day and night so I made the decision to hike on down Snowshed to drop some elevation and just play it by ear. I made this decision in the great forest service outhouse by the cabin. Truly fantastic.
The first few miles were brutal with the wind whipping the trees into my face but also beautiful. I dipped down to Anita spring real quick to check it out and then I climbed up Chiricahua peak to be met with... well, nothing. I couldn't see anything more than a few feet in front of me due to the fog. Don't worry though, because there was another black rattlesnake in the trail. Joy. This one gave me fair warning, though, which was nice of him. The wind and fog continued until hitting Aspen saddle where the trail starts to turn East. Of note, there is some good camping at Aspen Saddle that is tucked away in the trees; I took a break behind the treeline to get out of the wind and they did a great job of blocking it. I went south on crest to check out eagle and juniper springs and right at the trail split, it seemed like a light switch was thrown and the fog dissipated and the wind died down to a much more manageable level. The views from here to Herb Martyr are just absolutely insane and I found myself stopping often to take pictures/record/stare. Eagle spring is somewhat sketchy to get to; it seems there's been a lot of erosion and it's a fairly steep path with lots of small rocks. I scooted it on my butt. Juniper was a lot easier to get to and it just off the trail. There are three catchments, all have seen better days, but all had water of one variety of algae or another. I refilled here and while it still had a slight brown color to it, it tasted fine.
Guess what else I saw here? I guess black snakes gotta drink, too, because it was just handing out on the rock where a seep is coming through. We were pretty far from each other, though. I asked how it's family was, it didn't answer which I thought was rude, but whatever.
The next few miles are more just descending, beautiful views, and stopping when you hear a rattlesnake next to you to see where it is and realizing it's 6 inches from your foot on the side of this mountain making you an olympic track star. Sounds monotonous, but this one wasn't black like the rest, so it added a little spice.
Eventually I made it to Herb Martyr trail which was a nice change of pace. Well, the pace was still DOWN but now we're in green trees instead of rocky mountainsides. I was able to move much faster on this section and was making the plan to just pick a spot at the campground potentially for the night. I knew when I was getting close: the scent of hot dogs and burgers could be smelled from a mile out. I eventually made it there around 6. I found a spot right outside of the campground by the creek that had obviously been used for tents before and just pitched mine, which became more interesting than it should have. Halfway through, I feel someone smacking my back. I turned around ready for anything to see... a 12 year old boy. Who was immediately mortified and let out a small, "I thought you were my dad", before running away. No, small child, I don't believe I am. That was the first person i saw since setting out the day before, though. Then I checked out the vault toilet in the campground. Review: 5 star. Think they had cleaned it for labor day as it was spotless, the toilet paper was fresh, and it smelled like lysol.

Day 3: Just a quick 1.5 mile hike out along forest road. Nothing special but still a pleasant area. Found a family car camping right near mine which surprised me but it's a beautiful spot, so I get it. Drove out to the National Monument for some more hiking.

Final Thoughts: This is an absolutely beautiful, phenomenal, amazing, and remote area. It's also extremely rugged, tough, and affected by fire. These factors result in a trail that at times is trying to throw you off the mountain due to erosion and, other times, trying to separate your legs from your body with the vegetation. I also saw more wildlife in this one trip than I have seen on many trips combined including two bears, a scorpion, snake after snake after snake, a couple coatis, 6+ herds of deer, and all sorts of birds I haven't seen before. I would recommend the area and these specific trails to anyone wearing pants in decent physical condition and I will be going back soon.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Winn Falls

Wildflowers Observation Light

199377

Jun 28 2021

markthurman53

Guides 187
Routes 1,027
Photos 12,552
Triplogs 908

72 male

Joined Jun 27 2015
Tucson, Arizona

Snowshed Herb Martyr Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 28 2021
		markthurman53 • Triplogs 908

Hiking	11.07 Miles	2,691 AEG

Hiking	11.07 Miles	7 Hrs 17 Mns	2.03 mph
	2,691 ft AEG	1 Hour 50 Mns Break

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Snowshed Basin Trail

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On day 2 of my hiking trip to the Chiricahua Mountains I Hiked the Snowshed Trail and Herb Martyr Trail returning via the Snowshed Basin Trail. This was an 11.1 mile hike with 2700 feet of accumulated elevation gain. Wasn't sure if I was up to this hike today with being worn out from yesterday and having to do damage control on both of my heals. Once I got started I was determined to finish up this loop hike.

The lower part of the Snowshed trail up to Cypress Saddle was steep and require a lot of standing breaks to to allow my legs a rest. Good views all along this trail down lower Cave Creek and Silver peak, Mount Sceloporus and Cathedral Rock. The trail is in good condition and easy to follow but I could see that at times the grass and brush could obscure the trail. Once past Cypress Saddle the trail follows along the north side of the ridge and appears to level off a bit and the walking easier. Fossil Saddle is 5 miles in and at 5.2 the Junction with the Herb Martyr Trail and Pine Park. This intersection is signed. I took a half hour break here. While resting here a very low flying jet screamed by and buzzed Chiricahua Peak. The forest is so quiet and then all of a sudden a defining roar of a jet that that took maybe 3 second to disappear over the mountain. then after the echo's died away the forest was back to quiet like nothing happened. That must be a kick in the pants doing that. I would of liked to video it but it was so fast it was over before I could even think about getting my camera. I wanted to contact the pilot and tell him I wanted a do over. Probably wouldn't do it anyway because I'm sure it was a marginally legal stunt. Reminded me of when I was in my early 20s along with a friend of mine, we were dangling our feet off the east cliff of Mount Whitney when two F4 Phantoms flew just hundreds of feet over the top of the peek with AB burning. Me and my friends both looked at each other and at the same time just said a very slow "WOW" (we were doing some of mother natures stuff). Before we could finish the elongated wow those jets flew over Owens Valley, past Inyo Mountains and were heading down Panament Valley. Very impressive. Well enough of memory lane.

The hike down the Herb Martyr trail was beautiful, The pillowy clouds with the shadows cast across the landscape made for some pretty scenery. The Trail is in excellent condition and appears to get a lot more use than the lower Snowshed Trail. Actually if I was going to go up to the crest via the Snowshed Trail I would use the Herb Martyr instead of the lower Snowshed Trail. There are some nice views of the upper Cave Creek Canyon along this trail.

The temperatures were in the mid 70's for most of the trail but at the high elevation the sun was intense (never seemed to be behind one of the many clouds in the sky). On the Snowshed Basin trail for the last 2 miles the temps were in the mid 80's with a high humidity. I was glad to get back to the jeep where I had some salty pretzel sticks and a root beer. I almost gave up on this hike as I was heading up the lower Snowshed Trail, I'm glad I stuck it out.

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187543

Jun 26 2021

MAP

Routes 143
Photos 1
Triplogs 111

44 female

Joined Oct 21 2016
Tempe, AZ

Snowshed Trail #246

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jun 26 2021
		MAP • Triplogs 111

Hiking	12.90 Miles	3,923 AEG

Hiking	12.90 Miles	8 Hrs 14 Mns	1.72 mph
	3,923 ft AEG	45 Mns Break

no photosets

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Stayed at Sunny Flat Campground Friday night. Great little campground with all the views! Started hiking around 5 am Saturday morning on the Herb Martyr Trail #247. It felt a little chilly for us Phoenix folx but we warmed up with our first few steps. Herb Martyr is up up up up up with a few short breaks of level ground. The trail is in fantastic condition and is a beautiful foresty trail with dirt and pine needles. Little to no tripping hazards allow you to actually look up and enjoy the surroundings.

We intersected with Snowshed Trail #246 around 3 miles. Snowshed continues the climb up a little more gradually. The views along this entire stretch are incredible. Snowshed Trail is also in great shape. There are a few eroded areas where footing requires you to pay attention but nothing major. Deer Spring is visibly dripping across the trail but not dripping enough to access with a container or to drink. We didn't scramble up to see if there is anything holding the spring water but there was a lot of green visible along the upper slope.

We reached the saddle and started up a visible peak trail marked with cairns. The trail disappears quickly and we hopped up the rock-covered sections to make our way up. There are sporadic cairns along the rock areas. Even with no trail, it is not a difficult peak hike. The new growth are mostly Aspens and are easy to move through. The peak has incredible views on the far east side. There was a nice breeze & temps felt good at the peak around 9:30 am.

We headed down & immediately felt an increase in temperature just at the saddle. Going down was fast but definitely had the eastern morning sun on us the whole hike. We reached the intersection of Snowshed/Herb Martyr trails & took a break. I checked my thermometer there & it said 85 deg. That point is around 2,000' from the trailhead and the trailhead temp was 93 deg when we got back to the car so that checked out. The hike down Herb Martyr was easy and we got some more shade from the trees. A couple nice pools of water in the creek to splash water on our faces was appreciated toward the end of the hike.

This hike was absolutely gorgeous, straightforward easy trails, and good elevation gain to make you work for it. We had large brimmed sun hats on, sun protective clothing, saltstick tabs, and I brought almost 4L of water for myself. We felt good at the end...definitely hot but not delirious hot. I wouldn't recommend this hike in the summer without extra preparation though. There is no protection from the southern sun unless it's a cloudy day and we didn't see another person the whole hike. Also, surprisingly not a lot of wildlife either aside from birds. That was a huge difference from the South Fork of Cave Creek just below that was teeming with wildlife!

Deer Spring

Dripping

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187482

Jun 02 2021

LJW

Routes 154
Photos 1,505
Triplogs 266

31 male

Joined Jun 02 2019
Phoenix, AZ

Snowshed - Paint Rock Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 02 2021
		LJW • Triplogs 266

Hiking	20.77 Miles	5,317 AEG

Hiking	20.77 Miles	7 Hrs 9 Mns	3.12 mph
	5,317 ft AEG	30 Mns Break

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10 linked trail guides

Crest Trail #270D - Chiricahua Bypass

Ash Spring Trail #247A

Paint Rock 9375 - Chiricahuas

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

A friend and I needed to get away. Hadn't made a trip down to the Chiricahuas this spring yet, so off we went. Wanted to repeat a loop from last year from Turkey Creek, but with lightning in the forecast around 11am, and since I've never been East of the Crest, we drove down through Portal with dive-bombing birds and neurotic jackrabbits flashing through the high beams trying to make sunrise. Figured this loop would be shorter, but I'm not sure it was. My friend lounged around Herb Martyr CG where she enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells of the wilderness while I disappeared for 7 hours and offered my body to it as a sacrifice. Went clockwise.

Herb Martyr Trail in superb shape. Sunrise views of Sanders Peak that nearly dropped me dead. A mile from the top took a break to catch my breath and heard footsteps out in the brush north of the trail. Bid hello from below, half dozen more slow steps and silence. Kept going, and didn't see anything. Trail climbs into a patch of old growth conifers near the jct and Pine Park. Really pretty area, and the last trees until Snowshed Peak.

Snowshed trail to saddle and up. Went straight up and bumped into a decent trail that climbs the ridge. Followed it most of the way down. It's often overgrown or covered over with deadfall, but it beats wading through the aspen. Summit views okay, but the forest of fir and pine on the summit/ridge is worth the diversion. Back to snowshed and took that around Aspen Peak. My favorite views in the range are probably looking across Rucker Canyon to Paint Rock, Raspberry Peak, and Monte Vista. Long time to admire from the Snowshed/Crest jct to Chiricahua Saddle. Trails in good condition to that point, although the end of Snowshed near Crest is soon to disappear in the ferns.

Short out and back under stormy clouds up Paint Rock. Probably my favorite summit in the range I've been on and the worst place to be with a chance of lightning. Fun climb up to the summit, but the views were a little hazy. Back to Chiricahua Saddle with a short break under the trees. Brilliant forest around Chiricahua peak. In the burn areas where the fir and pines are gone aspens are growing in. Decent trade off. Around the peak with huge views north toward Graham, Dos Cabezas, etc.

Got to Cima Park and headed down Greenhouse. Wanted to be there before 11, got there at 10:30. 10:50 heard the first thunder and was happy to be off the crest of the mountains. Greenhouse was my favorite new trail of the day, old growth forest and big views toward Silver Peak and Portal lower down. Wound back around with Basin Trail. Good road walk between the trails. Basin had unexpectedly good views. Cut down to the TH with Ash Spring Trail through some of the tallest junipers and sycamores I've ever seen. Didn't see anyone on the hike, 60s just about the whole time.

Wildflowers Observation Light

4 archives

186891

May 22 2021

bretinthewild

Photos 392
Triplogs 25

38 male

Joined Apr 01 2018
Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Backpack		May 22 2021
		bretinthewild • Triplogs 25

Backpack	17.00 Miles	4,756 AEG

Backpack	17.00 Miles	4 Days
	4,756 ft AEG

no routes

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First exploration of the Chiricahua Wilderness! A fun adventure with my brother, whom I'd not seen in more than a year. Hopefully this log will be helpful for anyone seeking to plan a backpack into this area. There doesn't seem to be too many HAZ logs for these parts.

Here's a breakdown of our trip:
Day 1: Car camp at Herb Martyr Campground
Day 2: Hike up Herb Martyr Trail, dry camp at Pine Park (near Snowshed Trail junction)
Day 3: Camp at Anita Park
Day 4: Camp at Cima Cabin
Day 5 Hike out on Greenhouse Trail

Day 1
We drove from Phoenix to Portal on a Saturday afternoon. We car camped at Herb Martyr Campground. It was about half full (ie 2 other groups). There are some nice open walk-in sites, bear-proof trash cans and a toilet, just no running water.

Day 2
We started our hike from the campground parking lot on the Herb Martyr Trail (which is marked "Basin Trail 247" at the TH). The hike takes you up into the mountain at a steady pace. Our goal was to dry camp at Pine Park, just 3 miles, but 2200 feet in elevation gain. We each carried 6L of water and it took us 2.5 hours. Set up camp and enjoyed time soaking in the views and the sunset.

Day 3
We continued on Snowshed Trail on our way to the Crest Trail. This section of the wilderness was badly burned in the Horseshoe II fire in 2011. It is very exposed, hot and dry, but being between 8000-9000ft elevation the breeze kept us cool enough. We planned to fill up water at Deer Creek, which seemed to be running slowly, but I misread the map and thought it wasn't the right spot so we kept going. Skipping the spring would haunt us a bit later as we started running low on water after last night's dry camp.

At the trail junction on Snowshed Saddle, we attempted to find Aspen Trail #246A to take us around Aspen Peak on the northeast side, but we couldn't find the trail amongst all the young aspen trees. Rather than go all the way around to the southwest side, we opted just to go off-trail straight up and over Aspen Peak and down to Aspen Saddle.

From Aspen Saddle we ran down to Headquarters Spring, which I had read on a local blog was fairly reliable. But alas, the spring was bone dry. Rather than trying our luck at Ojo Agua Fria (an extra mile round trip), we opted to go over to Anita Park and see if we could find water at Anita Spring. As luck would have it, there was a perfectly nice cool pool of water waiting for us at Anita Spring. Thrilling.

We opted to camp at Anita Park that night, next to a nice young grove of Aspen Trees that gave us protection from the wind, which eventually died down. The camp spot was also pretty safe as far as any potential treefall from the many dead ponderosas in the area. Total for the day ~6 miles (Pine Park to Anita Park w/ spring hunting).

Day 4
Leaving Anita Park we took the Crest up to Cima Park. There are some incredible views on this section of trail. At Cima Park we took the Greenhouse Trail down, attempting to find Cima Spring and a potential place to camp on our last night. Where Cima Spring is marked on the map, there was a spring box but it was dry. We continued on maybe just 0.5 mile further and came to a couple idyllic forest service cabins with an amazing camping area, fire ring, clean pit toilet and spring box full of water. It was set in an unburned section of pine forest, which is fairly rare in this area. What a find! We camped here, of course. We also enjoyed a nice day hike up to Round Park for lunch.

Day 5
We finished off the Greenhouse Trail and a bit of primitive road hiking to finish the loop to the car at Herb Martyr. Greenhouse Trail is only about 4 miles but it drops about 3000 feet. There is a neat viewpoint of Winn Falls, which were dry this time of year (late May) but I'm told are often icy and running in early spring.

Overall, this is a really cool place, as long as you are OK with hiking up steep mountains, scrounging for springs at times (as we do in AZ) and walking through some pretty heavily fire damaged areas. We experienced tremendous solitude -- after leaving the campground on Sunday we didn't see another soul until returning to the car on Wednesday. That was pretty special.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Rocky Mountain Iris

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Campsite

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Anita Spring Cima Spring Winn Falls

	Anita Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Nice clean pool in the side of the hill. Was refilling itself slowly.

	Cima Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Full spring box, located just below Cima Cabin. Has a lid on it, need to lift it up. See photos in triplog.

	Deer Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Dripping from the side of the hill

	Headquarters Spring - Chiricahua	Dry	Dry
	Just a dry tub. Very disappointing.

	Winn Falls	Dry	Dry
	Not running at all

2 archives

186678

Nov 28 2020

ShatteredArm

Guides 12
Routes 192
Photos 896
Triplogs 365

43 male

Joined Nov 30 2015
Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Run/Jog		Nov 28 2020
		ShatteredArm • Triplogs 365

Run/Jog	17.60 Miles	4,674 AEG

Run/Jog	17.60 Miles	5 Hrs 49 Mns	3.03 mph
	4,674 ft AEG

no photosets

Linked

8 linked trail guides

Crest Trail #270A - Chiricahua Peak

Snowshed Connector Trail #246A

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Plan was to loop Snowshed and Greenhouse. Got started a little bit late, so brought lights just in case. Herb Martyr Trail was steep but pretty. Snowshed was not as steep, but rougher. Loved both; beautiful terrain up there.

We decided to do the out and back to Snowshed Peak. The first half is easy, then it gets overgrown. Looks like they've done some work on the first half.

Headed towards Chiricauhua via an alleged trail north of Aspen Peak, which my map shows but clearly does not exist in any meaningful form. Would have been easier just to go up and over.

Chiricauhua Peak was comparatively easy. I had been up from Rustler Park a few years ago, so nothing new.

Greenhouse Trail was cold. Creek was mostly frozen, as was Winn Falls.

Made it back to the car just as the sun was starting to set.

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2 archives

181636

Nov 12 2020

desertadapted

Photos 117
Triplogs 23

49 male

Joined Apr 25 2017
Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Backpack		Nov 12 2020
		desertadapted • Triplogs 23

Backpack	36.00 Miles	9,700 AEG

Backpack	36.00 Miles	3 Days
	9,700 ft AEG

no routes

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Mormon Ridge Trail #269

Saulsbury Trail #263

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Given how far the Chiricahuas are from the Valley, I've only had a chance to visit once before, on a brief backpacking trip with my family. My plan was a bit diffuse initially, but I ended up deciding to use the Crest to backstop two loops, one east, one west: Herb Martyr and Mormon/Saulsbury. Given the colder temps we've been having (finally), I decided to camp low to stay warm.

Day 1. Started at Bootlegger Park. Started immediately on the Crest Trail, which has had some work done on it over the last couple years. Several years back it had been washed out in portions. It's now solid, and no overgrown. I was struck at how slow that area has been to come back from fire. I took a hike over Flys Peak, which does not improve on the crest itself in terms of views. Anita Spring is full. Unsure of what kind of water I'd be seeing at Herb Martyr, I overfilled. I'm the poster child for the backpacker who has incredibly expensive lightweight gear and screws it all up with overly conservative water carries. So it goes. After Anita Spring I continued on the crest to Snowshed Trail. Snowshed is thin, angled and exposed. There's very little post-fire growth in this area, leading to notable erosion. Pine Park is lovely, however, and the Herb Martyr Trail was perfect in all respects. After crossing Cave Creek (flowing nicely), I continued around on FR713 to head towards Greenhouse Trail. I found a nice campsite. Hadn't seen a soul all day (even at the Herb Martyr Campground).

Day 2. The hike up Greenhouse was steep. Winn Falls is flowing slightly. Cima Creek was flowing and I was able to refill my still-ample water supply. I encountered my first (and only) backpacker heading down from Chiricahua Saddle to Mormon Ridge. Route finding was generally fine on Mormon Ridge but I did manage to briefly get off trail towards the beginning, and was glad for GPS. I'll note that Mormon Creek had a ton of deadfall at the start, so I opted for Mormon Ridge instead. There was ample water in Turkey Creek where the Ridge Trail connects to the road. I curved around and headed a bit up Saulsbury, but was gassed from the morning's climb.

Day 3. Saulsbury up to Saulsbury Saddle is relatively well-maintained and easy to follow. The stretch from the Saddle back to the Crest Trail has need seen attention for a while. I frequently had to course-correct with GPS, and push through overgrowth, deadfall, and brambly evil. It's also steep, though that might have been my legs giving out. Once back on the Crest I had a quick walk over to Flys Park and took that road back to Rustler Park. Given how much I struggled up the second segment of Saulsbury, I was ready for some easy hiking.

I'm truly bummed that it's such a drive to get to the Chiricahuas. Living in the Valley, it's tough to commit. I look forward to getting back there in another couple years. I'd like to start out of Rucker on the south side to do some more exploring.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Anita Spring

	Anita Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Tank is full and clear.

	Deer Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Spring was dripping across the trail. Did not go up to spring - a bit sketchy post-burn.

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2 archives

181193

Sep 17 2020

markthurman53

Guides 187
Routes 1,027
Photos 12,552
Triplogs 908

72 male

Joined Jun 27 2015
Tucson, Arizona

Snowshed Basin Trail

Snowshed Basin Trail

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Sep 17 2020
		markthurman53 • Triplogs 908

Hiking	7.62 Miles	989 AEG

Hiking	7.62 Miles	3 Hrs 10 Mns		2.41 mph
	989 ft AEG		15 LBS Pack

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Since it was a bit warm (Or I'm turning into a whimp), Rather than tackle the Snowshed Greenhouse Canyon Loop I decided to save that for a cooler day and instead did the lower Snowshed Trail, Snowshed Basin Trail and the lower part of the Herb Martyr Trail. I started at the Snowshed Basin connector Trail along FR42A .3 miles to the junction with the Snowshed Basin Trail and headed east toward the Snowshed Trail #246. I could not find the trailhead for the Snowshed trail along FR42 so I continued on the Snowshed trail down to its start point on FR 42. Now I know where it's at. I returned the way I came to the junction with the connector trail and continued west on the Snowshed Basin trail to the Herb Martyr Trail #247. I spent a little time at the Herb Martyr Junction trying to figure out how todays trail connects to yesterdays trail. On the return trip I stopped off at John Hands Falls which is about 100 yards off trail. This falls like the Herb Martyr Falls were once dams along Cave Creek but have since filled with gravel. The flow in Cave creek was slow especially for monsoon season (the one that bypassed us this year).

This is a fairly level trail with minor ups and downs. The majority of the AEG on this hike was along the lower section of the Snowshed Trail #246. I did see a King snake along the trail. It was a small one and I thought it might be a coral snake and since I can't remember how the rhyme goes I left it alone. When I got home I determined by the color bands that it was a a friend of Jack. Once again lots of friendly deer, it's like being in a national park. From the trailhead along FR 42A to the Herb Martyr trail is a nice walk and a good way to spend a couple of hours. Finished this hike around noon and time to head back to Tucson.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Kingsnake

	Cave Creek Canyon	Light flow	Light flow
	Light flow in some areas

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179606

Jun 17 2020

DixieFlyer

Guides 100
Routes 1,640
Photos 16,756
Triplogs 1,535

male

Joined Jan 07 2017
Fountain Hills,

Chiricahuas - South Flys and Snowshed, AZ

Hiking		Jun 17 2020
		DixieFlyer • Triplogs 1,535

Hiking	15.90 Miles	3,563 AEG

Hiking	15.90 Miles	8 Hrs	2.35 mph
	3,563 ft AEG	1 Hour 14 Mns Break

Linked

8 linked trail guides

Rustler Park to Barfoot LO

Crest Trail #270B - Jct Sdl to Monte Vista Pk

Ward Peak 9570 - Chiricahua Wilderness