Big Bug Mesa Trail #9434 - Prescott NF • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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

Partners

partners

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

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

Linked

linked

Partners

partners

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

Aug 04 2017

Peter_Medal

Guides 9
Routes 128
Photos 1,379
Triplogs 87

54 male

Joined Feb 19 2013
Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		Aug 04 2017
		Peter_Medal • Triplogs 87

Hiking	7.40 Miles	1,971 AEG

Hiking	7.40 Miles
	1,971 ft AEG	15 Mns Break	8 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Partners

none

no partners

This little Fitness Friday, pre-work hike should be named the Goodwin Fire Up Close and Personal. I have hiked this loop many times in the past and today was a shocker. 65 Degrees for my 545am launch.

Grapevine Canyon Road (which is just east of Milepost 274 on Highway 69) was washed out in places. 4WD and/or HPV necessary in a couple spots. Thats a new issue. I was to meet up with a guy from the Prescott Hiking Group, he was not comfortable crossing and I apparently was too occupied playing air guitar to AC/DC hauling pumpkin on the ride in to miss passing him.

The forest road (87A) from the parking lot trailhead is unrecognizeable in many places... washed out or filled in ashy sand bars. It was nice to see the scrub oaks and the holly already growing lots of saplings from their burnt trunks throughout the affected fire area. Manzanitas were toast with no re-growth, buts only been a month.

The former Bulletin Board for Trail #4 has been burned down. No remants of the board though, wondering if the PNF salvaged it before the fire came through.

The entire hike there was that putrid musty water on a camp fire smell.

After taking a break on top of Battleship Rock atop Big Bug Mesa I began my freestyle drop down into the canyon. With much of the area devasted from the fire, you could hear the sounds of the water falls, which I overshot about 1/2 mile west, the drainage had deep cuts from the flooding (I was chasing the waterfall sounds). Tyson chased a pack of deer and was gone like a bullet. I had startled a baby deer which he missed. We reconvened in the drainage.

With the fresh rains Grapevine Creek was running good. Entire swaths of Trail #4 were washed away with exposed roots of the previous vegetation OR was covered over with flows of sandy mud and rock. Mother nature was pretty fierce on changing the water flow of the Grapevine Creek drainage. Previously all the springs fed into the Grapevine Falls, now the water drains on both sides with deep cuts and erosion throughout the area. The flooding must have been fiece. Much of the area was unrecognizeable. I estimate 1/2 mile from TH going WEST of the Grapevine Riparian Protected Habitat was completely burned...as you meander west up towards the springs that it was only slightly affected. More noted on photo comments.

The pictures do no justice. Come on up and check out this former "Baby Fossil Creek"... Highway 69 turnoff at Interstate 17 is Milepost 262, Grapevine Canyon Road is just before Milepost 274, then just a 2 mile meander to the TH.

Gallon + per minute

Grapevine Waterfall

Medium flow

_____________________

"Before there was a trail..... there was no trail"

May 06 2017

clem5123

Triplogs 40

56 male

Joined Jul 29 2016
Dewey

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		May 06 2017
		clem5123 • Triplogs 40

Hiking	3.60 Miles	1,753 AEG

Hiking	3.60 Miles
	1,753 ft AEG		40 LBS Pack

no routes

no photosets

Linked

linked

Partners

none

no partners

Plan A was to take Big Bug Mesa 9434 from FR 67 south side of the Mesa up to the Mesa camp. Then take #304 down and back to the truck. At this time there are no markings on the trail head. From where we parked just across the road at some campsites there looks to be two options. To the left is a Jeep trail, straight ahead is what looks like a quad track through a creek bed. Between the two is a post with notches in it where signs used to be.Which way?
Thanks to a fellow at the campsite we took the Jeep trail putting us in the right direction. We missed where 9435 was supposed to be, so in reaching 9434 and 304 marked by a cairn I thought it was 9435 and stayed right.

Well into #304 I figured out that we are on 304 due to the terrain.

Plan B. 304 to the mesa, camp, Jeep trail 301 ( the fellow told us) connects to 9434, and back to the truck. Beautiful views, photo opportunities, and water in the creek at various places for the dog. Many great campsites on the mesa. It was just us, the way I prefer. Next morning. South on 301 jeep trail to find 9434.
After looking fairly hard, No 9434. Nothing marked. No old hidden trail that we could find. We could see it from the mesa's edge several hundred feet down. Every attempt at a "medium" bushwack ended shortly.

Plan C. Up to 304, down 304, back to the truck. Looking for 9435 on our way out, did not see it on the way out either.

The trails do not look like what PNF fseprd501333.pdf shows. The trails on this site resemble it closer, although it shows 9434 connecting with jeep 301.
After looking on google maps earth. It looks as though 9434 was at the cairn but does not connect with Jeep 301. It may have at some time ago that it did or does if you are willing to do serious bushwacking. The trail peters out near the end of jeep 301 below the mesa. I cannot tell how far down.

Coyote Spring

Dry

Pipeline Canyon

Light flow

Taft Canyon

Light flow

_____________________

Aug 20 2016

Nightstalker

Routes 189
Photos 7,236
Triplogs 1,740

57 male

Joined Apr 25 2011
Goodyear, AZ

Grapevine BB Mesa Loop, AZ

Hiking		Aug 20 2016
		Nightstalker • Triplogs 1,740

Hiking	9.20 Miles	1,903 AEG

Hiking	9.20 Miles	5 Hrs 26 Mns		2.18 mph
	1,903 ft AEG	1 Hour 13 Mns Break	15 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Partners

none

no partners

I first stumbled upon this trailhead in 2012 while riding through on FS87A and always wanted to return on foot to explore the area further. I've studied the few trip reports on the area from Joe, JJIII, and Peter_Medal and put my on loop together. I recruited my most tolerant hiking partners to accompany me into the great unknown. We drove in on 87A all the way to the trailhead in my Jeep. There's a couple of spots I would recommend high clearance and if you're adverse to Arizona pinstripes, you'll want to hike that 1.5 miles in to the trailhead. The Grapevine Springs trailhead was wet and full of mosquitoes so we didn't waste any time and proceeded straight to the well marked and easy to follow Grapevine Springs Canyon Trail #4. There was plenty of water flowing in the creek and a number of muddy areas flowing from the adjacent springs. We followed trail #4 all the way to the saddle. Just before reaching the saddle we ran across a lone hiker with his dog who provided some valuable trail information (which altered my plan). As instructed, after reaching the saddle and passing through the gate, we turned left and followed the cairned route to the north along the rim of the mesa. Apart from the cairns, there was no footpath beaten in to follow. We would eventually run into another gate and the end of an old jeep road. This gate also held a carbonite sign indicating trail #4! I wasn't expecting that! We continued on the jeep road west/southwest until intersecting a more well traveled jeep road and parking area. Turning left we followed a faint jeep road for a ways until it ended and then bushwacked south to FS103. We went east on FS103 until we saw the sign for Wolfcreek #304. I was expecting to see 9434 before getting to 304, but a short stint on #304 and an opportunity to cross the barbed wire fence we bushwacked our way over to the 9434 trail I had GPS'd. We played around on the big rock pile at the edge of the mesa before dropping off the side on 9434. Storms were rolling in and we made great time going down the easy to follow 9434 back to the parking area. Great loop! Everyone was pumped up and starving so we blasted into Mayer and stopped at Teskey's for some excellent burgers and fries. We got to see some turkeys on 304 and a nice big horny toad. We also heard some heavy trees dropping near the intersection of Grapevine and Big Bug Trail that I suspected may be a bear in the trees, but no visual confirmation.

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Lots of clover and mushrooms!

Gallon + per minute

_____________________

Feb 19 2016

Peter_Medal

Guides 9
Routes 128
Photos 1,379
Triplogs 87

54 male

Joined Feb 19 2013
Prescott, AZ

Big Bug Mesa to Grapevine Falls, AZ

Hiking		Feb 19 2016
		Peter_Medal • Triplogs 87

Hiking	7.39 Miles	1,971 AEG

Hiking	7.39 Miles	5 Hrs 37 Mns		1.44 mph
	1,971 ft AEG	30 Mns Break	3 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Partners

none

no partners

HAZ - Event

From the TH; its 1.5 miles to the Grapevine Canyon TH (Trail #4). This unnamed jeep trail, we shall call Grapevine Creek Road should only be driven if you desire to have "AZ Pinstripes" on your rig. Ohh and High Profile Only. Its faster to trail run then drive in. The water was flowing all along Grapevine Creek. Loud actually. We could here the water from the road. From the Grapevine Canyon TH, embarked on Trail #4 for about 1/3 of a mile which then forked off "9434" on the left and "4" on the right. This would be our lasso loop junction, we will be returning down 4 from the Grapevine Falls.

Once on 9434, its a little tricky to find the east ridgeline summit trail to Big Bug Mesa, 9434 actually continues south.

Once on the ridgeline trail its a constant climb 1500' in elevation gain in 1.1 miles. Turn around often, views just keep getting better and better. Once above the forest tree line; the forest looks like an hour glass. Approaching summit you see the "Battleship Rock"... This was the fifth or sixth time I have summited up to Battleship and then usually banked west; northwest with a "freestyle drop" into Grapevine Canyon. There were lots of snow piles, particularly in shady "north face" areas. This trip, decided to make this excursion the "official" Big Bug Mesa 6906' summit bag with Grapevine Falls option. I continued West looking for the high point USGS 6906'. Traversed it for sure after the fact. After summitting, took off north and looked for a juicy entry into the canyon. A little down climbs here and there with lots of snow. Tried to maintain flanking the main drainage where the springs above the falls are. You can here the water flowing about 1/2 way down into the canyon drop. As always, water falls flowing, and water tasty, right from the tap. Forgot to bring some salad dressing for the wild water cress floating in the pools in and around the falls.

There is a path/trail on the north side of the Grapevine Creek which connects back on Trail #4. The heavy water flow was a real treat.

	Grapevine Springs	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	i filled a 1/2 quart in about a minute.

Grapevine Waterfall

Heavy flow

_____________________

"Before there was a trail..... there was no trail"

Jan 24 2014

Peter_Medal

Guides 9
Routes 128
Photos 1,379
Triplogs 87

54 male

Joined Feb 19 2013
Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		Jan 24 2014
		Peter_Medal • Triplogs 87

Hiking	4.83 Miles	1,771 AEG

Hiking	4.83 Miles
	1,771 ft AEG

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

Brutal... was testing out a new pack; had 45lbs on....but worth the bag.... Grapevine falls is a little slice of heaven on earth, near Mayer, AZ

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] White Watercress

_____________________

"Before there was a trail..... there was no trail"

1 archive

Sep 14 2013

The_Eagle

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

Linked

linked

Partners

partners

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

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

no routes

Linked

linked

Partners

partners

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 28 2013

JuanJaimeiii

Routes 596
Photos 9,604
Triplogs 2,400

58 male

Joined Jan 30 2011
Chandler, AZ

Grape Taft Bush Push, AZ

Hiking		Aug 28 2013
		JuanJaimeiii • Triplogs 2,400

Hiking	18.09 Miles	4,501 AEG

Hiking	18.09 Miles	10 Hrs 32 Mns	2.24 mph
	4,501 ft AEG	2 Hrs 28 Mns Break

no photosets

Linked

linked

Partners

partners

joebartels

Multiple flowing creeks, great weather, good company and a waterfall. All this relatively close to Phoenix. What else could you ask for? Well I could do without the "bush push". We had a fantastic hike that Joe put together in the Bradshaw’s.

The day started out with sunny clear skies and ended with some overcast and a few thunder clouds in the distance. I don't believe it ever got over 85 degrees. As we were hiking we came to a super cool water fall that had a liking to a mini Reavis Falls. Then we continued on and made our way to Taft Spring. This was flowing nicely and provided a lush riparian reprieve. Then came the "bush push". There was simply no trail to be found to reach our next section so we had to fight our way thru the "Chaparral" as Joe calls it. I believe we made it thru in roughly 2 hours. Distance was about a half a mile.

Torn and tattered we were on top of a ridge and could see a road and what appeared to be our continuing trail down below. We pressed on and sure enough in no time we were back to smooth sailing.

Traveling through another canyon offered shade and even a clipped trail. In time we completed our loop and memories of the painful bush push faded away against all that we had just enjoyed.

Thanks for driving and putting this one together Joe! I enjoyed it.

Taft Spring

Gallon per minute

_____________________

Aug 28 2013

joebartels

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

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Grape Taft Bush Push, AZ

Hiking		Aug 28 2013
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	17.48 Miles	4,501 AEG

Hiking	17.48 Miles	10 Hrs 29 Mns		1.75 mph
	4,501 ft AEG	30 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Crystal Springs Trail #9435

Partners

partners

JuanJaimeiii

We came in peace, got razzled and left satisfied.

The interesting road to the trailhead and remote location keeps this gem in check. Humidity tipped the scales. I explained to jj to enjoy our first leg through Grapevine Canyon as the rest of the hike would pale in comparison.

Heading off-trail up Big Bug Mesa we stumbled upon a dripping waterfall. It has a rock lined trail ending at the falls. We likely missed the continuation and it may indeed be the Grapevine Trail #4?

Moving on the terrain is beautifully shaded by dense oaks or pines. Topping out on the mesa we picked up a cow patty mud mixed road. This is part of #9434 according to NF GIS dataset. It starts back down near the Grapevine Trailhead and is only marked by a carsonite post. I'm calling it Big Bug Mesa Trail, it deserves a name. Our game plan was to take it down the southern edge of the mesa to a trail that heads west to Taft Spring.

It petered out in bushes at the edge. Ten minutes later heading down we came across a great trail. I'm guessing we didn't find where it drops off Big Bug Mesa.

The trail heading over to Taft Spring is an old road bed. Really old as in probably hasn't seen much traffic since the Model T. jj did a good job of keep us on the grade until it tucked back into the lush Taft Spring oasis.

From Taft Spring we bombed out finding the trail as depicted on topo. Hints of trail were routinely swallowed by thickets. In hindsight, looking at satellite imagery, the creek was the ticket. Since we didn't know that we studied a tiny map I printed and opted to jump the ridge over to Crystal Springs.

Chaparral was thick and the steep terrain added to the difficulty. It took us 1.5 hours to move 0.4 miles. The sun broiled our backs and dwindled our water supplies. Luckily no catclaw.

Despite the mini tragedy the balance of the hike was a winner. We arrived at upper Pipeline Canyon and found our trail. We looked over the map and changed the hike to meet our time and water supply. Crystal Springs down to Wolf Creek might be one of the nicest creeks near Phoenix.

Little Wolf Creek Trail #304 is a nice trail with wide distant views. Returning on #9434 (that is according to NF GIS dataset, #9432 on topo ) was pleasantly brush free. It is steep.

Crossed paths with an Arizona Mountain Kingsnake and the skin of a rattler along the way. Big Bug Mesa might be named after the monster sized beetles scurrying around in the waning hours.

The Bradshaws continue to intrigue...

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Grape

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Grapevine Waterfall

Wildflowers Observation Light

Crystal Spring

Gallon per minute