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| Hiking | 11.20 Miles |
2,361 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.20 Miles | 6 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.87 mph |
| 2,361 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | We were craving cooler temps and a nature break, so we zipped up to the Anchas for a mini-escape. Camped along Reynolds Creek on Saturday night, where every campsite was filled EXCEPT (magically) for our favorite one.  So after a great night under the stars — including an entertaining evening visit from an alarmingly close skunk — we decided to try the Park McFadden trail up to McFadden Peak, which was new to us. Since there aren't many recent triplogs for this trail, I hope this will be useful to someone else.
Summary: If you're only happy when you're navigating some hairy back-country adventure,  then this is probably not the trail for you. But if you want a longish walk in the Anchas that includes a mix of terrain, a variety of flora and fauna, a decent workout with 11+ miles and 2300 feet of elevation gain, plus some great views, then this is a delightful outing. Bring a buddy,*** don't overthink the navigation*, and wear pants**. (More on those below.)
*Navigation: Some other triplogs mention that the trail is hard to follow. I interpreted this as meaning that it fades out at points, so I kept thinking I should be on alert for such a challenge. NOPE! The majority of the trail is old road — meaning really old roads, so some sections are quite rough — and is quite easy to spot. The only navigational issues we had were a few places where other, presumably newer, roads come in, as those junctions are not signed and one wasn't on our map, which led us to some second-guessing and backtracking. I've attempted to give a play-by-play below to save future hikers from any confusion. It's actually really easy!
In addition, there seems to have been recent maintenance and, as of October 2020, the entire length of trail 55 is marked with large cairns, including each junction. However, with the exception of signs at each end and one at about Mile 1, there is no signage along the way.
Details:
Circle Ranch Trailhead is on the west side of 288, just a few hundred feet north of Reynolds Creek Road. As of October 2020, there is a large sign on the east side of 288 marking the turnoff. The trailhead area is large and wooded, with several dispersed campsites available. To hike, park near the fence on the southwest side of the parking area. The trail starts next to the north corner of the fence and is signed.
***WEAR PANTS! The first section of trail parallels a private farm/ranch, wandering up and down through the woods. About a mile in, you'll have to stomp through a chest-high blackberry bramble for a few dozen feet, then get a respite for a quarter mile or so before facing a second, larger bramble at the bottom of a drainage. This was the only place where we actually had to hunt (briefly) for a trail,  as those vines are dense! But just stomp your way toward the northwest side and you'll be fine. Scratched, but fine. We picked a few (tart) berries for our trouble and congratulated ourselves on not wearing shorts.
Immediately past the second bramble, you'll come to a junction with the only useful sign on the whole trail. If it disappears, just know that you need the uphill route, which angles slightly left from the bramble. Now you'll start an easy climb that gradually gets steeper as it moves into high-desert chapparal, with manzanita and scrub oaks, plus the occasional cat-claw (I told you to wear pants). But overall, the trail is in good shape. Some switchbacks bring you up to the top of a rugged little canyon, with a rock outcropping that must make for a pretty waterfall after a rain. You'll continue along the north side of the drainage a little further before crossing over and beginning to climb up some rather rocky old double-track. There are a few downed trees over this section of the trail, but they're easy to scramble over/under/around. At the top of the hill, we encountered very recent ATV tracks along the road, as this section clearly sees frequent motorized use, unlike everything up to this point. This is spot #1 where we wondered if we'd missed our trail turnoff. No. Keep going on the double-track. A couple of other roads come in from the left as you continue, but just STAY RIGHT. You'll be traversing west along a dirt road for about 3/4 of a mile across a relatively flat and somewhat exposed plateau. One junction has a large cairn with the remains of a fallen signpost (no sign). Stay right, and in a couple hundred feet, you'll come to a junction with a trail coming in from the right. This is unsigned, but there is a cairn. Again: STAY RIGHT. This is the only actual turn you need to make to stay on 55. It leads into the woods, with Ponderosas and more shade trees that might provide some color if autumn ever comes. This part of the trail mostly follows a rocky drainage, sometimes crossing the drainage, and even heading directly up it for few short sections before it finally breaks off uphill to the left. Now the grade really increases and the second half of the hike is a legit workout as you climb through juniper and oak woods with beautiful agaves and occasional big views. As you continue up this steeper climb, you'll pass two more junctions, where old roads come in from the right. So now we STAY LEFT. Then you'll come to the first of two barbed-wire fences with gates that should be closed after passing through. The second gate is about 1/2 mile on. Keep going up and, eventually, you'll see that fire tower on the summit to your left. Just keep trucking. When trail 55 finally reaches FR 561, there is a sign that claims the distance back to Circle Trailhead is 4 miles. That sign is an unrepentant liar.  Anyway, once at the road, turn left and follow it the rest of the way up to the top. Views from the top were a little bit hazy from the fires in CA, but still beautiful, and they continue as you head back down.
TL;DR: Follow the trail through two blackberry brambles, go uphill to the left, pass the rock outcropping, follow the doubletrack up to the plateau, stay right at every junction until you really start to climb uphill, then stay left until you get to the top. Close the gates behind you. Happy hiking!
Flora and fauna: There's some nice biodiversity on this hike, thanks to the 2300 foot elevation difference, so we enjoyed the mix of chapparal habitat lower and Ponderosa forest higher, with agaves, prickly pear, and hedgehog cacti along the way. Just a few leaves starting to turn at this point in early October. We saw a good representation of birds for the area: Ravens, Swainson's hawk, Stellar's jay, Pinon jay, Northern flicker, Hairy woodpecker, Brown creeper, Bridled titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Robins, etc. Lots of ladybugs around the fire tower on the summit. Saw a couple of deer and SO MUCH BEAR SCAT. And mountain lion scat. Which brings me to point #3:
***BRING A BUDDY. There are bears and mountain lions in this area and near this trail. While I personally love seeing them (preferably from a distance), I'd recommend hiking with a partner and being aware of appropriate precautions and behavior for any hike in the Anchas.
Final thoughts: While not the flashiest trail in the Anchas, this was a lovely way to spend a day, with great views from the peak and a good variety of terrain throughout. And effectively untouched by the 2016 Juniper fire. Oh — and we didn't see anyone else all day, despite being out there on a Sunday in great weather. Even the fire tower was closed for the season. Social distancing win!  |
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Autumn Foliage Observation None
A few leaves starting to change. |
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Wildflowers Observation None
Just a few tiny yellow flowers. But the manzanita berries were pretty! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
First up was Haigler Creek from Fisherman's Point - great area. Looks like the creekside campground a bit further downstream is pretty nice too.
Super fresh clear
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
We built a fire the next morning to quickly warm us back up before hitting the canyon again bright & early at 7am... We passed some cool slickrock sections before hitting another 40ft rappel at a falls but we were still able to stay dry. Further down canyon, a hallway section is encountered but with some climbing skills we were still able to stay dry. 
We slowly rock hopped our way down canyon until it finally narrowed up into some of the sweetest narrows I've seen in central AZ. Falls after falls and pool after pool until we reach the magnificent Grotto Pool that was featured in AZ highways way back in August of 2001. We both jumped and slide into it and it was such a sweet warm pool to swim and briefly hang at before unfortunately having to move on. The narrows were only half over and the falls & slide just got bigger. On the first one, I performed my first simal-rappel as we counter weighted ourself around a mound of rock into the pool below, swam below a boulder bridge, and out of the long pool on the farside. Some down climbing and we reached the final 30ft falls that was rocking with water flow into another pool. 
There's a 45ft falls down there required us to bushwhack up a chute on the leftside LUC and traverse above the creek to get passed the falls. After a mile or so of rock hopping and walking a side trail above Hell's Hole, I started to take what I though was the trail up and out of the canyon. Turns out that while I was very close to the trail, it was actually one more ridge over to the east as we slowly made our own bushwhacking route up game trails & clearings. 
After much energy expended and frustrations, the trail crossed back above us and we found ourselves on a great trail and only a half hour until sunset with about 5 trail miles left to hike out. 
