Pine Creek Trail #289 • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Decided to spend the weekend camping on Big Bug Mesa. We were lucky enough to see the superbloom occurring on Perry Mesa while driving north from Phoenix. Before leaving the pavement, we stopped at Gilligan’s Mayer Market for some last minute supplies. They have just about everything you might need for a camping trip, and I'm glad to know it's there for future trips to the area.

From the highway, we took Poland Road up to Big Bug Mesa, passing through the hamlet of Breezy Pines on the way. Lots of water was flowing in all the canyons and creeks along the way. The road was well maintained. Upon reaching Five Corners, we saw patches of snow still remained on Mount Union and the surrounding peaks. A striking difference in environment compared to high desert Mayer, only 10 miles down the road below.

The road on top of Big Bug Mesa was decent, but I can see how it would turn awful after a heavy rain, as I read in other reports. After setting up camp, we went on an off-trail hike.

The rockier edge of the mesa quickly gives way to more pleasant hiking when you move towards the interior. The beautiful forest of widely-spaced ponderosa pine is occasionally broken by small clearings. We saw a large herd of deer at one point.

Many of the trees were spraypainted and it appears that logging will occur in the near future, although I wasn't able to find any details about this online.

Eventually we turned south to check out Davis Spring Number Two. The wash/creek that the spring lies in was flowing with a good amount of nice clear water. The spring itself was beautiful and looked very likely to continue flowing even when the wash is dry, or at least have some water stored in the pools. There was one deep pool that would have made a great swimming hole. We picked up about 15 beer cans from the reprobates who used the campsite near the spring last, then made our way back to our camp.

It was a beautiful night camping with lots of stars and listening to Coast to Coast AM around the fire. I look forward to coming back to Big Bug Mesa in the future.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Davis Spring Number Two

_____________________

Jun 22 2019

joebartels

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

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Little Wolf - Pine Creek - Grapevine Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 22 2019
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	16.29 Miles	3,766 AEG

Hiking	16.29 Miles	10 Hrs 23 Mns		1.89 mph
	3,766 ft AEG	1 Hour 45 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

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[ checklist ] Alligator Juniper Golden-Beard Penstemon Palmer's Penstemon Parry's Agave Wild Bergamot Yellow Columbine

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BiFrost

The_Eagle

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

Moderate drive, pines, creek, relaxing pine road walk on the mesa. Those are memories from 6 years ago. An element of nature has changed it for the balance of my lifetime.

The drive in is semi gnarly. Confident 2WD probably squeaks through. It'll rattle your noggins regardless.

Luckily Karl drove. He got us 0.8 mi further then our 2013 lasso loop. Scorched pines among other mayhem greet you to the grapeless vine vicinity. We negotiated mild brush from 0.8 mi to 1.5 mi heading up towards Coyote Springs. Karl took a slightly lower route. Which I now see as a fair game trail on satellite.

This loop was possible in late June due to rare cooler than average temps. We still slow poked and enjoyed more breaks than average. Early on it was apparent it was going to be a long day.

Little Wolf Creek Trail #304
We stumbled upon a fencing crew as mentioned in this caption. No one loves this trail but I'm glad it exists and gets enough traffic to keep it relevant.

FR 67
Cabins in the vicinity meant the fire was tackled for a stretch. The nice forested views didn't last long. We stretched the 1.9 mi road-stroll out to 50 minutes.

Back to Business Men
After an easy 0.3 mi on a narrow path Bruce called a fire break ( not, never was, wrong! ) things got real. Roughly 10 yards of the path disappeared to dense chaparral. Karl busted through while Bruce and I suited up. We took turns slaying manzanita uphill with Karl directing overhead. Next, after 0.55 miles of easy off trail it was another chaparral war
7.27 mi - 12:02pm
7.72 mi - 12:42pm
Not terrible like the 10 yards of manzanita but listen kids, it's June...lol

We forged on another mile on a good trail to the Seaton Spring vicinity for a well deserved lunch break.

Bug Up!
Getting up Bug Mesa turned out to be another slice of adventure. I fell backwards on the slope near the top. Aside from a nasty bruise on my left thigh today it was no big deal and we continued onward.

"Top" of the mesa was supposed to be a relaxing stroll. It was far better than bushwhacking. I wouldn't advertise as enjoyable.

Bug Down
The anticipated horrible part of the day just held our attention intensely. It was over quicker than figured.

Seedless, still juicy
Grapevine was a welcomed trail. There is plenty to desire. There is plenty to dissuade it from being crowded.

Synopsis
Bruce has officially written this one off. Understood. Yesterday I thought I was in that boat. Short stretches were enjoyable. Minus a fist sized bruise on my thigh, the pain has worn off. I'll probably plow through this crap again someday.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Bluestem Prickly Poppy

_____________________

- joe

Jun 22 2019

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

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Little Wolf - Pine Creek - Grapevine Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 22 2019
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	16.32 Miles	3,867 AEG

Hiking	16.32 Miles	10 Hrs 24 Mns	1.81 mph
	3,867 ft AEG	1 Hour 23 Mns Break

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[ checklist ] Antelope Horns Bluestem Prickly Poppy Wild Bergamot Yellow Columbine

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BiFrost

joebartels

Big Bug Mesa Trail 9434 seems to have taken a hit after the Big Bug Mesa fire of June 2016.
There was some trail at the beginning and some at the end towards the saddle. In between, we scrambled around the washouts. The first of many scrambles on the day.

At the saddle is where we intersected the Little Wolf Creek Trail #304. This one was in great shape because of recent fence repair and horse traffic. So recent, that we ran into the group doing repairs. We expressed our thanks and exchanged pleasantries in different languages and were on our way.

A bit of road walk over to where we went off trail last time. I remembered this section only being bad after jumping out of the wash. This is the last time for this hiker taking this "Shortcut". Manaznita push is not fun.

Great to be back on a trail again. We took the Pine Creek Trail #289, up to the dry Seaton Spring area for a well deserved lunch.

After lunch, Off Trail again, straight uphill to the NE and North through more thick stuff and rock climbing.
Joe woke up a rattler on the way up.

The walk across the mesa was a welcome one with flashbacks of flash floods, 6 years ago, hiking with Joe and Turtle.
[ photo ]

We opted to drop off the mesa to the east to get to Grapevine Springs. In hindsight, we should have continued a little further to a/the real trail.

Once on the Grapevine Springs Canyon Trail #4, It was clear sailing. Plenty of water, tons of Columbine, Ponderosa, and croaking frogs. This is the section that gets all the traffic to the area.

Thanks to Karl for driving allowing us to cut 1.6 miles off of the hike.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

Wildflowers Observation Light

Coyote Spring

Dry

Grapevine Springs

Gallon + per minute

Seaton Spring

Dry

_____________________

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

Jun 22 2019

BiFrost

Guides 4
Routes 491
Photos 10,890
Triplogs 1,257

55 male

Joined Nov 20 2012
Phoenix, AZ

Little Wolf - Pine Creek - Grapevine Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 22 2019
		BiFrost • Triplogs 1,257

Hiking	16.32 Miles	3,867 AEG

Hiking	16.32 Miles	10 Hrs 24 Mns	1.81 mph
	3,867 ft AEG	1 Hour 23 Mns Break

no routes

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joebartels

The_Eagle

Joe and Bruce had hiked this same loop in 2013 but it's changed a lot since the fire that pretty much took out 80% of the route. We had various conditions from road hike, trail, bad trail, and no trail. The no trail was particularly rough with very thick Manzanita and scrub Oak that took us awhile to negotiate. However, to counter the tough sections we took some nice breaks in the sections that survived the burn. There are some good stands of ponderosa still left especially on Big Bug Mesa and the area around Seaton Spring where we had lunch.

Near the end of the hike we dropped off Big Bug Mesa and did more off trail down to Grapevine Spring. It was steep down to the spring but not the thick brush we encountered earlier in the hike. Again some of the ponderosa forest survived above the spring and made for a decent hike. The spring had good water with decent pools along the creek. From here it was probably best trail of the day for the last 2 miles back to the vehicles.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Yellow Columbine

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Little Wolf Creek

Wildflowers Observation Light

_____________________

1 archive

Sep 13 2018

kingsnake

Guides 117
Routes 337
Photos 11,399
Triplogs 894

63 male

Joined Dec 20 2010
Sunnyslope, PHX

Big Bug Mesa, AZ

Hiking		Sep 13 2018
		kingsnake • Triplogs 894

Hiking	12.83 Miles	890 AEG

Hiking	12.83 Miles	4 Hrs 49 Mns	2.66 mph
	890 ft AEG

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Big Bug Mesa East Summit 6908'

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It’s been almost four years since I last explored Big Bug Mesa ( [ photoset ] ). In 2014, I hiked up Pine Creek Trail #289 from Pine Flat. Last year, the Goodwin Fire ( [ photoset ] ) ignited just west of Pine Flat, before growing to over 28,000 acres, threatening Spring Valley, Mayer and Poland Junction.

I mapped out a loop around the mesa top that would be at least 13 miles, and take in several “whazzits”. (What I call objects I see on satellite view that I can’t identify, or otherwise wish to explore.) Part of my loop would be on jeep trails, part on mild cross-country terrain. I staged out of Five Corners.

The first whazzit on my itinerary was just a bit up FR 103, the main jeep trail across Big Bug Mesa. It turned out to be a spring box with about 4″ of decent rain water in it. The water had to be rain, because there was no pipe feeding in from a spring.

My next planned whazzits were a cluster of a half dozen near an old mining camp.

What I found were an orange 40 ft. Hyundai sea container. Next to the sea container was what I thought was maybe a 10k generator, but was actually a water purification unit; I did not see any gallon capacity on it. At the end of the sea container there was a surplus Army M809 5-ton 6×6 in dump truck configuration (M817). On the other side of the sea container, was the drum roller, with conical spikes, for road construction.

In all, there were three M809 5-ton trucks in the mining camp, all in woodland pattern camouflage, with bridge weight markers on the front grill and unit designations on the bumpers. It’s been 17 years since I retired from the Army, so on my hike video I bolo’d narrating the unit: One of the M809s was vehicle 59, from Foxtrot Company, 181st Brigade Support Battalion, 81st Armored Brigade, of the Washington State National Guard.

The final whazzits were a 5th wheel trailer and a 500 gallon plastic water tank. Nobody was around, maybe not for years, as what I thought was a old stone fireplace turned out to be bags of cement that years of storms had turned to hardened cement.

ON my way east, I also found a wooden tower and a cement 'bench' (for want of a better word).

Where FR 103 turns south, I headed northeast on FR 103A. I thought I’d seen a whazzit on sat view, but turns out it was just deadfall. I went 1.5 miles on FR 103A, stopping at a clearing that had great views northeast towards AZ-69 and Dewey-Humboldt. FR 103A looks like it continues southeast to Grapevine Springs, but don’t hold me to that.

I backtracked up FR 103A a bit, before turning down an informal jeep trail. When it petered out, I continued cross country until I hooked back up to FR 103A. By the time I arrived at the next whazzit, eight miles into my day, my left shoulder was getting sore from my pack. Dunno why, as I was carrying my normal load.

On satellite view the whazzit looks like a collapsed 5th wheel, but it is a cattle tank lined with rubberized canvas. There was maybe a gallon or two of muddy water in it.

After checking out the tank, I ate lunch: G2, Cape Cod Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips, some home-assembled gorp, and a blue cheese buffalo wing chicken finger from QT.

There were a few other whazzits I wanted to check out, but with my sore shoulder I figured it best to bail to the trailhead, which was still over four miles away.

I shall return!

Hike Video: https://vimeo.com/496022005

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Thistle Aspen Fleabane Fetid-Goosefoot Fleabane Western Yarrow

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Spring Box

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Towers Mountain

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Quite a few dense clusters of small flowers. Western Yarrow and Fleabane Daisy particulraly prominent, along with some sort of red fern -- which appearaed to be the immature form of a fine green fern it was always in the company of.

_____________________

http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored.

1 archive

Oct 17 2014

kingsnake

Guides 117
Routes 337
Photos 11,399
Triplogs 894

63 male

Joined Dec 20 2010
Sunnyslope, PHX

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		Oct 17 2014
		kingsnake • Triplogs 894

Hiking	12.43 Miles	1,835 AEG

Hiking	12.43 Miles	5 Hrs 42 Mns	2.18 mph
	1,835 ft AEG

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After missing the trailhead, doubled back and drove over a small ditch to park. Trail #289 does not follow the path indicated on FS Topo or MyTopo. It criss-crossed Pine Creek several times, and is up and down, though obviously tending up. There were motorcycle and animal tracks in the trail, all the way to the top, but no human or horse prints. I was surprised at the fall colors, including one flame red tree, whose leaves were obscured by numerous leaf-less branches. I still got a decent picture, I think.

Spotted a triple-box tank just east of the trail. It had some interesting wood bits & bobs, the purpose of which escapes me. Just past that, the topos claim Trail #289 goes up Pine Creek. I saw no such thing. :roll:

Instead, the trail turned the opposite direction, west, beginning a steep and gravel slippery climb to the rim. The entire trail below the Big Bug Mesa rim is riddled with gnats, and I swallowed one and snorted another. :sk:

I checked out a small wall at the top of (actual) Trail #289, then followed a jeep trail -- there are jillions up there -- for awhile before heading off trail to Hill 7020. Just south of the hill, a foot trail headed left / west. I followed it for a bit, but it seemed to be heading down, perhaps towards Old Dandrea Ranch, so I skipped it.

Hill 7020 had awesome views of Moscow Peak, Mount Union, Mount Davis (each about two miles across Turkey Creek) and what sure looked like the San Francisco Peaks. I usually only slowly eat half my QT sandwich during a hike, but I wolfed down both halves. Whereas most of the hike was 1-bar reception, Hill 7020 was 4-bars, so I sent my wife a selfie to let her know I was okay. After Hill 7020, I spent some time searching for USMM 3. The ones I have seen before have a marking stake, then a rock with the number carved into it. I saw no stake, nor carved rock. (Just a beer bottle.) Bummer.

I followed a jeep trail towards the mesa's east rim, which also had great views, then cut cross country to what I hoped would be a line shack. It was, but was useless. Just past that was a couple of acres strewn with debris and garbage, in the middle of which was a collapsed home. Judging by the remains, it had log beams, with asphalt-shingled roof, and possibly a partial second story. There was a curved cinder block wall/rotunda on one side. Maybe 2000 square feet. It was a shame what has happened to it, as it was obviously at one time a very nice place, not a crap shack. Now, it's not useful for anything other than rats; you couldn't even shelter in it from a storm. When I heard some guys approaching on ATVs, I departed. Thankfully, no shooting ensued.

After the ruins, I searched for a trail down Pine Creek. I found none, and side-sloping was actually more impractical than the creek bottom, so down I went. It was quite congested with rocks and dead fall, and even a barb wire fence (wth!?) and was very slow going. :sweat:

At one point, I went to steady my hand on a rock, and instead steadied my hand on the business end of an agave. Ouch. :doh:

Finally I popped out at Seaton Spring, which was trickling and also had a full box. I was quite relieved. Never saw any trail up in Pine Creek. The maps lie.

While it had been cloudy most of the day -- and I could see rain at several distant compass points -- it was actually sunny for a bit on the way back down Trail #289. However, the crickets started chirping at 4:00 p.m. and the sun began disappearing quick. It was dusky -- though not yet dark -- by the time I hit the trailhead at 5:00 p.m.

-----

Two days later, and oddly the only sore part of my body is from my right elbow up to my shoulder. Wonder if I might have pulled something scrambling down to Seaton Spring ... :-k

-----

Video : http://youtu.be/j_Wbo9wQd_4

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Prickly Pear

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Cow

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Moscow Peak Mount Davis Mount Union Pine Creek Seaton Spring

Meteorology

Meteorology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Autumn - Color Foliage

Autumn Foliage Observation Light
Lots of yellow leaves and one absolutely brilliant red leaf. I'd recommend coming back here during peak color next year.

	Seaton Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Light trickle. Box at Seaton Spring was full. All three boxes of the triple-box, about 100 yards south, was full, and dripping over. Water in boxes looked decent.

_____________________

http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored.

3 archives

Jul 05 2014

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

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Yankee Doodle Eastern Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jul 05 2014
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	20.03 Miles	4,548 AEG

Hiking	20.03 Miles	9 Hrs 52 Mns		2.32 mph
	4,548 ft AEG	1 Hour 15 Mns Break	18 LBS Pack

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[ checklist ] Greater Short-Horned Lizard Ladybug beetle

Dolphin Trail #85

Dandrea Trail #285

Yankee Doodle Trail #284

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joebartels

Another Trip to the little traveled portions of the Bradshaws.

I like this access to the Bradshaws on FR67 out of Mayer, because you only have 10 miles of smooth dirt road before you hit the Senator Highway. Much nicer than the Road to Crown King through Cleator. We'd hit up parts of this before, ending in an epic thunderstorm high up on Longfellow Ridge.

I put this loop together to visit new areas and return to Pine Mountain when we could spend a little more time.

We started in the tall cool (68) pines close to the 67 / 52 intersection.

The plan was to head northish following trails, old mining roads and two track that I cobbled together using Route Manager. I'd seen some buildings on the Sat. view that needed checking out.
I thought they may be mining ruins of some sort. Ended up they were for a place called Camp Helaman. Nobody was there, not quite sure what type of camp it is/was. Nothing I could find on the web.

We made the climb up the Dandria Trail #285 from the Old Dandria Ranch site and hit the Yankee Doodle #284. There was activity in the Mt Union Tower but we continued on and made the southern turn on the Yankee Doodle and started down Longfellow Ridge.

I really like his trail. You start in high in the pines, then just views all over!

The storms were starting to make noise in the area. We had a bit of lunch and got rained on a bit. You could see squalls starting up to the South and Northwest. Finally made it up to Pine Mountain to enjoy the views. The track I had drawn, had us doing about a mile of off trail, East down the mountain, to an area I wanted to check out. We made the decision to go to my plan B, since it had now started to pour and my off trail portion looked a bit "Thick".

Plan B had us backtrack to a bailout track I put together getting us off the Ridge. It would have worked out better If I'd used the scale right on my GPS, but we still hit a pretty established, unnamed path coming down.

I short road walk and we're back to the Truck.

Short Video http://youtu.be/dpLVQH9ohm4

On the way home we ended up taking the scenic route. When we got 1 mile from the 17 on Rt 69, traffic came to a standstill. After checking, we found a fatality accident at Sunset Point had Southbound 17 shutdown. So instead of a 40 minute drive to get to the Park and Ride, we opted to turnaround and go back through Prescott Valley, Prescott, Wilholt, Yarnell, Congress, Wickenburg, Lake Pleasant to get to the 17. 2:40 and 140 miles.

Lots more to do in the Bradshaws!

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Benchmark Mining Claim Trail Signs and Markings

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mount Union Fire Lookout Pine Mountain

Meteorology

Meteorology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Rain

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

_____________________

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

Sep 14 2013

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

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

BB Mesa-L Wolf Crk-Pine Crk-Grapevine Lp, AZ

Hiking		Sep 14 2013
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	18.65 Miles	3,795 AEG

Hiking	18.65 Miles	11 Hrs 3 Mns		2.12 mph
	3,795 ft AEG	2 Hrs 15 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

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joebartels

Tortoise_Hiker

The drive in on Grapevine Road is definitely not for anything but HC Vehicles. If there is even the slightest chance for rain, park at the Gate and walk the additional .8 miles (4x4 recommended). Expect Arizona pin-stripping unless you are in a small Samari sized vehicle.

Beautiful sun filled morning and 58 degrees to start. At 11am it was in the 80's when the clouds rolled in and the temps started dropping down into the 50's. A 20% chance of rain dumped on us for the better part of the late morning until about 3:30pm. We had to hunker down for 45 minutes waiting for the Hail and Lightning to subside. This storm caused all the washes up on the Mesa to run, 3 of which we were forced to cross the freezing water.

13 second Sampler :next:

http://youtu.be/pnEHvD7_ZOg

A second wave came through for the last 1-1/2 hours of the hike, but luckily was not as strong as the first.

This ended up being a plan "B" hike, we ended up just doing a loop when the bushwhacking in spots slowed us to a crawl and the strong storm forced us to seek shelter. The original plan would have forced us to cross more of the newly formed rivers.

We saw 3 large racked Mule deer, one Denny and I considered trophy sized.

Big Bug Mesa Trail #9434 - Real pretty trail that gets little use.
Little Wolf Creek Trail #304 - Continuation of the above, becomes two track close to the south end.
Pine Flat 67 Road walk - It's a road.
Bushwhack - This was probably a fire break at one point. Took it to a drainage to try and find the 9439 trail indicated on Topo. "Thick" in many spots and hard to follow.
Pine Creek Trail #289 - Back to a real trail! Pleasant with nice views
Big Bug Mesa walk - Pretty easy walk with a GPS to guide you. Deer Country, lots of old tree stands observed.
Grapevine Canyon - not a bad bushwhack if you stay close to the drainage. When bypassing the 30' to 40' waterfall, go to the NW side
Grapevine Springs Canyon Trail #4 - Pretty area, lush, green, lots of water.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Shrub live oak Unidentified Flora

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Pamina Bulls Eye Moth

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Informational/Interpretive Sign

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Coyote Spring

	Coyote Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Wet area with filterable water

	Grapevine Springs	Gallon per minute	Gallon per minute
	Numerous areas with running and/or pooled water

	Grapevine Waterfall	Light flow	Light flow
	Light flow over the waterfall

	Little Wolf Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	Running in spots probably due to recent rains

	Seaton Spring	Dry	Dry
	No water observed in the area of the spring

_____________________

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

Sep 14 2013

joebartels

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

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Little Wolf - Pine Creek - Grapevine Loop, AZ

Hiking		Sep 14 2013
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	18.70 Miles	3,630 AEG

Hiking	18.70 Miles	11 Hrs 3 Mns		2.01 mph
	3,630 ft AEG	1 Hour 45 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

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The_Eagle

Tortoise_Hiker

We parked in the spot before the green gate 0.8mi before the official trailhead for Grapevine #4. Followed #4 0.2mi from the TH to #9434 turnoff. Followed #9434 for a mere tenth of a mile.

Next we followed Coyote Springs Canyon aprox 1.4mi up to Little Mesa Saddle. No clue where Bruce got the track but there was an actual trail in fair shape. Route finding was questionable near the bottom and top otherwise a fantastic quaint canyon.

There was a minor blip trying to locate the trail down LWC which Bruce fought a rusty barbed wire fence. We took a break for him to tape up his leg. Then found the trail down that jj and I ascended in late August. This doesn't really agree with topo as #304... we did go to the spot as depicted on topo for the top (turn) of #304 and did not find any sign or trail heading SSW.

Upper LWC is not shaded yet I continue to enjoy the views all around. Met up with FS67 and followed it 1.9mi to another mysterious track Bruce acquired.

From 10:35am to noon we traveled 1.4mi through uncertain "which way do we go" terrain to Pine Creek Trail #289. The last ten minutes got interesting as a storm started to unleash splat sized raindrops.

We boogied up to the Seaton Spring Overlook for lunch in the same spot jj and I took a break. Things weren't looking so great. We tried to stick to our planned loop however it just wasn't happening. The next few hours involved a lot of swearing, arguing, gang signs and whatnot before we found a way to survive unexpected tortures. I'm just glad no one got hurt. Especially Bruce as at one point I nearly took my 1.5-inch jj knife and killed him if he said "turn right" one more time.

After turmoil we found FS 103 and headed off-trail down to Grapevine Waterfall. Along the way I got an unexpected stinging pain moving an oak branch. It felt like I grabbed a filament haired cactus such as prickly pair. Thought it might be Mala mujer. Turns out I grabbed an automeris caterpillar. Having recently read phrases containing "poison" and "toxin" I was concerned. Everything turned out fine. Later read "deadly in severe cases". Imagine that would be dozens with an allergic reaction or such.

Unsure about my hand we didn't spend much time checking out the waterfall. A third storm sprinkled on us back to the end. Perhaps some time needs to pass to heal the wounds... I'd still like to check out these trails more in the future. The Bradshaws continue to intrigue...

	Coyote Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	just enough filter, several tiny and shallow pools dot the canyon below

	Grapevine Springs	Gallon per minute	Gallon per minute
	Typical flow, perhaps a tad more.

	Grapevine Waterfall	Light flow	Light flow
	More than a trickle. Slightly disappointing considering all the rain. Either the immediate catch area did not receive what we experienced or it really soaks in fast.

	Little Wolf Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	very light flow in some areas One riparian area was about the same as late August, the rest was recent runoff.

	Pipeline Canyon	Dry	Dry
	bottom of Pipeline was dry

Seaton Spring

Dry

	Taft Canyon	Dry	Dry
	bottom of Taft was dry

_____________________

- joe

Sep 14 2013

Tortoise_Hiker

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

63 male

Joined Apr 02 2005
Mesa, AZ

BB Mesa-L Wolf Crk-Pine Crk-Grapevine Lp, AZ

Hiking		Sep 14 2013
		Tortoise_Hiker • Triplogs 3,652

Hiking	18.65 Miles	3,795 AEG

Hiking	18.65 Miles	11 Hrs 3 Mns	1.69 mph
	3,795 ft AEG

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Arrastra Creek Trail #275

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joebartels

The_Eagle

Another adventure hiking with Joe and Bruce.There were Springs,Pioneer Ruins,Mining stuff and Mine,4 or 5 old Deer stands,Flowers,Mushrooms,Huge Juniper,a Healthy Forest,3 big Bucks,a Little Waterfall,and some Nice Views.There was also the gash in Bruce's Leg.(great stitchwork hom-ec came in handy for Bruce)Then the Rain and Hailstorm.Then the Flash Flooding.Then Joe's encounter with the Toxic Catepillar

.A couple of tough Hombres!A pleasure to hike with them and I hope they are both OK!

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Fly Agaric Mushroom

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] HAZ Gear Hunting Blind

Meteorology

Meteorology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Flash Flood Hail

_____________________

Tortoise Hiking. Stop and smell the Petrichor.

Aug 17 2013

joebartels

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

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Arrastra Pine Dandrea Yankee Loop, AZ

Hiking		Aug 17 2013
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	25.00 Miles	5,150 AEG

Hiking	25.00 Miles	12 Hrs		2.38 mph
	5,150 ft AEG	1 Hour 30 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Pine Flat Connector Trail #9275

Yankee Doodle Trail #284

Partners

partners

The_Eagle

Summer double-feature mega-hit. Sit right back and you'll hear a tale of a Classic Bradshaw Loop. It started at the confluence of Arrastra & Turkey creeks.

Within minutes a cozy old homestead set the character for our first leg of the hike, complete with a rare Arizona cellar. We followed the better than anticipated Arrastra Creek Trail #275 alongside Turkey Creek. At 5k the forest and ambiance has a Reavis Ranch Valley feel... trade sycamores for cottonwoods & apples for grapes.

Onto Pine Flat Connector Trail #9275 we found out this loop had more promise. We worked our way up Pine Creek Trail #289 around the eye-candy of 6,809. Dreamland changed faces. The lack of perennial water or absence of designer enameled publications to throw your money at may leave some running back crying. I found it wildly intriguing looking forward to each step.

The skillet started to simmer on the ascent. A front rolling over Mount Union dared battle against the mighty sonoran heat bubble. Finally around 6,800 feet the front started to win. We got much needed relief from the blazing August sun.

39 years ago I was stung by a bee and knocked off my tricycle. Lucky until crossing paths with a tree swarming with bees today. In a dull effort to impress Chris and Joel ( local bee haters ) with a video I was stung a couple times on the back of my head...lol Never thought much of bees until the pain surfaced... intense for maybe fifteen minutes.

Upper Yankee Doodle Trail #284 is pure paradise in tall pines with far reaching views. Our tiptoe through Eden was rudely interrupted. 5 hours of erratic lightning rattled our nerves. Rain pounded us wave after vicious wave. At times it felt like we were dancing in a blender.

If you enjoy the finer hikes in life this one delivers.
http://youtu.be/Lx_ux_XyhkY

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Grape Common Cattail

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Benchmark

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Longfellow Ridge Pine Mountain

Wildflowers Observation Light
lots of Purple Nightshade at our trailhead

_____________________

- joe

Aug 17 2013

Arrastra Creek Trail #275

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

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Arrastra-Pine-Yankee Doodle Loop, AZ

Hiking		Aug 17 2013
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	25.44 Miles	5,494 AEG

Hiking	25.44 Miles	12 Hrs 3 Mns		2.41 mph
	5,494 ft AEG	1 Hour 30 Mns Break	17 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Pine Flat Connector Trail #9275