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Stringtown Trail #9917 - 2 members in 4 triplogs have rated this an average 4 ( 1 to 5 best )
4 triplogs
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Mar 23 2022
avatar

 Routes 154
 Photos 1,505
 Triplogs 266

31 male
 Joined Jun 02 2019
 Phoenix, AZ
Hyde Mountain Loop, AZ 
Hyde Mountain Loop, AZ
 
Hiking avatar Mar 23 2022
LJW • Triplogs 266
Hiking26.51 Miles 3,707 AEG
Hiking26.51 Miles   10 Hrs   20 Mns   2.84 mph
3,707 ft AEG   1 Hour    Break
 
Linked   7 linked trail guides
Stringtown Trail #9917
Hyde Mountain #6
7 Up To Hyde Mountain Trail #5
Apache Springs
Apache Creek Trail #9905
Graver Wash Trail #9904 - Prescott NF
Dead Steer Basin Trail #9908 - Prescott NF
Partners none no partners
Route Scout Route Recorded  on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX
Thinning operations are taking place SW of the Hyde Mountain area around Camp Wood and Yolo Ranch. Thinning will be taking place for approximately two months, with logging traffic on the road. The closure area will spread north as thinning continues into the slated 627 acres. From now until monsoon season, I would consult PNF on closure status for accessing Apache Creek Wilderness.

Wanted to remix a hike from last year to include Apache Creek from the springs down, as well as try out an alternative ending using an old ranching track and Dead Steer Basin Trail. Got going with Stringtown Wash heading toward Hyde Mountain.

Memories of Stringtown only a year old undersold. Tight walls and a bed of slick rock in the middle turns into relaxing open pine forest on the upper end. Good flow of water where it mattered, some of the way it was underground. Catching the trail on the upper end from the creek bed is tricky.

Hyde Mountain trail rocky and loose to hazy views. Almost no snow left on the shady slopes. Down 7up to Browns Spring and then up to the saddle and onto Pinetop Mountain. Followed the fenceline up and found a gate on top near the end of the road. Delighted by the big junipers and pines on top. Easy road walk to Apache Springs.

Apache Creek along the trail is easy going, defined by the grassy meadows, open pine forest, and lazy creek flow. From the springs to that point it's a gnarly canyon of granite boulders and outcroppings, forested but with healthy undergrowth. Can follow the water down except for in several spots where the water pours off and work-arounds are necessary. Some scrambling, light bushwhacking. The best of the creek is above the trail.

The Upper Graver Wash/Apache Creek jct is grassy and could be confusing heading up. Graver and the way down Apache Creek Trail is obvious. Decided not to cut it short and went all the way down to Graver, then walked the road back to Upper Graver TH. To the east there is a corral and an obvious trail. The trail leads down into Hyde Creek and dead ends at another corral. At that point I went over the ridge and into Dead Steer Basin, where I found the trail.

Dead Steer Basin Trail is an old double/OHV track. It is less pretty than the trail to Hyde Creek; it got burned over pretty bad. It's easy to follow and in good shape until the last creek crossing near where I picked it up. Once to the TH and FR95, the diversion started to make sense. The rest of the roadwalking back to Stringtown is through some awesome forest. The new sections and route finding made for a more engaging but difficult way to end.
wildflower observationwildflower observationwildflower observationwildflower observationwildflower observation
Wildflowers Observation Isolated

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water less than maxwater less than max Apache Creek - Apache Creek Wilderness Light flow Light flow

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water less than maxwater less than max Apache Springs Quart per minute Quart per minute
Total guess, good enough creek flow

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water 3 out of 5water less than max Pinetop Trick Tank 51-75% full 51-75% full

water 1 out of 5water less than maxwater less than maxwater less than max Stringtown Wash Pools to trickle Pools to trickle
  3 archives
Apr 03 2021
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 Guides 13
 Routes 38
 Photos 1,651
 Triplogs 577

60 male
 Joined Nov 15 2005
 Jackson, CA
Graver Wash Trail #9904 - Prescott NFPrescott, AZ
Graver Wash Trail #9904 - Prescott NF
Prescott, AZ
Hiking avatar Apr 03 2021
toddak • Triplogs 577
Hiking24.00 Miles 3,000 AEG
Hiking24.00 Miles   10 Hrs      2.40 mph
3,000 ft AEG
 no routes
1st trip
Linked   linked  
Apache Creek Trail #9905
7 Up To Hyde Mountain Trail #5
Hyde Mountain #6
Stringtown Trail #9917
Partners none no partners
Long haul out to this area but worth it, thanks to @LJW for the recent report. I would have never thought anywhere in AZ could have this much flowing water right now, still don't know how the small, relatively low Santa Marias apparently stay relatively wet. No doubt I'll be back.

Parked about 3/4 mile from the trailhead, did the loop CCW. Apache Creek and the summit of Hyde Mtn are great, most of the road walking is not unpleasant. Stringtown from the west side follows the creek before climbing SE out of the drainage fairly close to the route shown on the FS map, and there is a decent path cut through the manzanita and pink ribbons help stay on track. Even so I eventually lost it, but easy to continue east to hit FR95.
_____________________
  1 archive
Apr 01 2021
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 Routes 154
 Photos 1,505
 Triplogs 266

31 male
 Joined Jun 02 2019
 Phoenix, AZ
Hyde Mountain Loop, AZ 
Hyde Mountain Loop, AZ
 
Hiking avatar Apr 01 2021
LJW • Triplogs 266
Hiking23.21 Miles 3,063 AEG
Hiking23.21 Miles   7 Hrs   49 Mns   3.17 mph
3,063 ft AEG      30 Mns Break
 
Linked   linked  
Stringtown Trail #9917
Hyde Mountain #6
7 Up To Hyde Mountain Trail #5
Apache Creek Trail #9905
Graver Wash Trail #9904 - Prescott NF
Partners none no partners
Route Scout Route Recorded  on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX
Original plan was to do a shuttle from Hyde Mountain through the full length of Apache Creek Trail with a stop at Granite Knob. Ended up solo, so I tried to come up with a loop and decided to forgo Granite Knob on account of the added miles. Came up with this one that starts at Stringtown Wash near the Camp Wood area and circles back using roads from the Graver Wash TH. Went clockwise around 8:15am.

FS maps show a road on the east side of the wash and the trail only going about half way through from the west. Figured it wouldn't be too much to work up the wash and connect them. Cows roam Stringtown, so there's all sorts of trails, almost to the point that the FS could just stick plastic cairns in the ground, update their maps, and call it a day. Ended up unexpectedly one of my favorite parts of the trip. There was water trickling through the wash, a few small cascades and a tiny waterfall. Nice forest of pine that gets nicer farther west. It is a little tricky to find where the trail picks up to the west, but if it comes down to it following the wash the whole way makes it to the road.

Brief road walk to Hyde Mountain Trail. Quickly works its way up to the summit. Rocky and loose in parts. Really nice views of Northern and Western AZ from the top.

Down the west side of the mountain the trail conditions are deteriorated but not too bad and it's easy to follow. Made it down to 95B and walked that to the upper Apache Creek TH. Really nice stretch of road through the pines. Goes along Hyde Creek, which had a light flow of water. Most every creek and drainage was flowing, and there was some snow left on the north side of Hyde Mountain.

Apache Creek Trail starts on the north end in a beautiful clearing in the pines. Not much in the way of parking or signage. There's a small wilderness sign that leads across the creek to the trail. Upper end is steep and the views are big and bouldery. Personal favorite stretch was everything after linking up with Apache Creek. Trail's in good shape, creek had a good flow of water. For a while it's all meadows and pines. The oaks have yet to regrow their leaves.

Graver Wash trail to swing back round. It had the only FS signage and register box by the TH of the trails I saw. It's in good shape and is a nice trail especially for the looping options it affords, but after Apache Creek it won't stop anybody in their tracks. 95A and 95B between the TH and Camp Wood are mighty rough. Road walk was frankly too long but gets good closer to Camp Wood where it enters the forest. Day ended up partly cloudy, low 40s to low 70s. Didn't see anyone on the hike.

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water 3 out of 5water less than max Apache Creek Medium flow Medium flow

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water less than maxwater less than max Brown Spring Quart per minute Quart per minute
A guess, but there was a light flow in the creek

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water less than maxwater less than max Stringtown Wash Light flow Light flow
  4 archives
Sep 13 2014
avatar

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

69 male
 Joined Jan 20 2009
 Far NE Phoenix,
Stringtown - Pinetop - Apache Creek Loop, AZ 
Stringtown - Pinetop - Apache Creek Loop, AZ
 
Hiking avatar Sep 13 2014
The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760
Hiking19.93 Miles 3,270 AEG
Hiking19.93 Miles   10 Hrs   18 Mns   2.28 mph
3,270 ft AEG   1 Hour   34 Mns Break17 LBS Pack
 
1st trip
Linked   6 linked trail guides
Stringtown Trail #9917
Hyde Mountain #6
Grapevine Springs Trail #9825
7 Up To Hyde Mountain Trail #5
Apache Springs
Apache Creek Trail #9905
Partners partners
BiFrost
We made the drive out to HAZVille and arrived to a mostly awake camp at 7:45.

After our quick hellos to the gang, a scan to see if we had any takers on our hike, Karl and I headed out with no takers.

I wanted to head up the Stringtown Wash from the east, to see if we could find any sign on the Stringtown Trail #9917. The Prescott Nat. Forest web site description and the PNF GPS track don't come close to agreeing with each other. We did find remnants of the trail starting at about .75 miles from it's Western TH continuing to that spot.

On the Hyde Mountain Trail #6 now, I turn west off the Grapevine Springs Trail #9825 to try something new. The trail name didn't make any sense to me, because the actual spring is to the east and this trail goes to the west off of #6. Checking Sat. views now, it appears there's a faint unofficial trail that goes towards the spring, and what could be a spring box/s .1m off #6, a 1/3rd of the way to the spring location.
Anyway, Karl went up to the top of Hyde to check out the views and we met back up at the lush Brown Spring.

From Brown Spring, we were on a new to me section of the 7up to Hyde Mountain #5 Trail. We went up the saddle and down to the western terminus of this trail by the dry, Camp Wood Tank. We were able to find a blood free route to the top of Pinetop Mountain to check out one of them most elaborate tanks I've seen. This covered tank, uses the roof to funnel the water into the tank. Chumley's math placed it at 22,000 gallons.
FR19 took us off the top of Pinetop Mountain, with it's big views to Juniper Mesa and the Apache Creek Wilderness area we'd be in next.

The 3 mile trek from the Springs to "The Swimmin' Hole", through the water, slots and boulders is the reason we were doing this loop. Wow is this a sweet little off trail jaunt!!
Highly Recommended..... I suppose with a little work you could avoid the water, and like us you'll try for awhile, but don't waste your time. enjoy it!

When we started the day, the skies were blue, with not a single cloud. With only a 30% chance of rain, there was no reason to bring the Chrome Dome, Rain Jacket or waterproof GoPro. Yep we got dumped on and had electric spears thrown at us for almost an hour (back at HAZVille, they did not see a drop).

There was a brief pause where we thought we were in the clear, then a Flash/Boom with zero delay. That was close. 50 yards further up was a Ponderosa that was struck and spewed a 7' section of pine, another 50' away. Based on some of the weather I've hiked in this year, I'm glad I don't have Astraphobia or Ombrophobia... but I should.

With the rain now stopped, we took a dip in "The Swimin' Hole". On the Apache Creek Trail #9905 it was clear sailing back to HAZVille now for some Burgers, Dogs and Barley Pops with the crew.


Video :next: http://youtu.be/NJnKPAy2p_o
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water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water 3 out of 5water less than max Apache Creek - Apache Creek Wilderness Medium flow Medium flow
Plenty of filterable water the entire length we hiked.

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water less than maxwater less than max Apache Springs Quart per minute Quart per minute
Spring areas were lush green and water could probably be found. No need though because there was water for the entire length of the Apache Creek

water 1 out of 5water less than maxwater less than maxwater less than max Brown Spring Dripping Dripping
Enough to filter if needed, creek below was flowing with large holes. Careful of cow activity in the area

dry Camp Wood Tank Dry Dry
Dry as a bone even after recent rains

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water less than maxwater less than max Panther Spring Quart per minute Quart per minute
Hard to tell where the spring source was with all the water in the area

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water 3 out of 5water 4 out of 5 Pinetop Trick Tank 76-100% full 76-100% full
7' tall and 30' around filled with filterable water

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water less than maxwater less than max Stringtown Wash Light flow Light flow
Water almost the entire length we hiked next to. Recent rains I'm sure contributed

water 1 out of 5water 2 out of 5water less than maxwater less than max Upper Hyde Spring Quart per minute Quart per minute
Searched for source with no luck. Plenty of water in the wash area, beware of cattle activity.
_____________________
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry 🦅
 
average hiking speed 2.51 mph

WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.

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