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| | | A few trails in the Prescott National Forest, AZ | | | |
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A few trails in the Prescott National Forest, AZ
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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
1,246 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | 3 Hrs 25 Mns | | 2.34 mph |
| 1,246 ft AEG | | 4 LBS Pack | | |
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none
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| no partners | | Got to the trailhead at 1pm. It was a bit hot heading out, but once I got into the woods, it cooled down quickly.
My initial plan was to follow the Bean Peaks loop, which initially started out incredible. The creek it follows is one of the lushest areas I've ever seen in Arizona. Simply incredible! At the point where it meets up with the logging trail though (~1.5mi), I mistakenly started following the road. I ended up heading up the hill and back down the other side, before realizing that I had been continuing on not only the wrong route, but also the wrong direction! After backtracking the mile or so to rejoin the proper route, I started following the trail on Route Scout.
This took me back to the creek I was following before, but there was definitely no trail to be found. I was essentially bushwhacking up the creek. After .4 miles of this, I decided to turn around and hike back out the same way. My phone was close to dead and I did not have a suitable map for off-trail hiking. Plus, I only had a few hours of daylight left. I'm looking forward to trying this again once I have more time and a good topo map as a backup.
I arrived back at the parking lot and started to take off my boots, but there were still two hours of daylight left and I saw a few other people parking in the lot. I was inspired to get back out on the trail and try something I had done before (since I was mapless) to increase my mileage and time on the trail. I ended up doing 372  373 375 376 and looping back to the parking lot.
All-in-all, while the issues with the Bean Peaks Loop were disappointing, it was a great hike! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
That can be a tough ticket to get, especially in Phoenix. This is a little more doable in Prescott. 
Starting from the White Spar TH, we got on the trail a little after 10am. I had never done Twist and Shout, but I thought it would meet my wife’s expectations. It did. There was a short uphill on Goldwater trail before turning off on Twist and Shout. The Twist and Shout was a fairly flat and relatively shaded trail (both important requirement for this hike) that meandered through the woods on its way to connect to the Apple Blossom trail. The campground was adjacent for the beginning of the hike, but there seemed to be little activity within. With the exception of two bikers we seemed to have the forest to ourselves. Wife enjoyed the hike. When we reached Apple Blossom, she gave a shout out! We would have twisted as well, but at our age we have got to be careful. 
We hiked back the way we came. We took our time and enjoyed.
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