This was a hike to Horse Mountain, the highpoint of the Hellsgate Wilderness, which is one of Arizona's 89 wilderness areas. The highpoint elevation is not marked on maps, and all you can say by looking at a topo map is that the highpoint is in the 6,440'-6,480' closed contour; for conservatism let's call it 6,440 feet.
It was a near perfect day for a hike. The trailhead temperature was 28 degrees at the start and 56 degrees at the finish; it was a sunny day; and winds were calm at the start and it got breezy in the afternoon.
The first thing that we did was change to water shoes to cross Tonto Creek -- the water was icy cold!
The first mile of the hike was steep, so there was no warmup on this hike.
For the most part trails were in good shape, and most of the trail hiking was on jeep roads. The roads were a little rocky on some steep sections, but for the most part they were good to walk on.
The last mile to the summit and the first mile back from the summit was off-trail, but the off-trail was through open country with no bushwhacking. We were able to follow cattle or game trails for much of the off-trail hiking, and we saw a deer not too far from the summit.
The summit was a wide flat area in a forest, and the highpoint was not at all obvious. My observation was that the highpoint was in the northern part of the 6,440'-6,480' closed contour. I wandered around a bit and called it good as far as hitting the highpoint. There were lots of trees at the summit, so there weren't any jaw dropping summit views to be had, but I still enjoyed being up there.
There was lots of up-and-down on the hike, and there was about 550 feet of elevation to gain on the way back.
Synopsis
In spite of the lack of summit views, this was an enjoyable hike in a remote and rugged area. This one was more about the journey than the destination
Did the full length of Hell's Gate 37 with a friend in January and have been waiting for the right day to go back and try this loop. Wintery day in mid-March seemed perfect. Started at the Hell's Gate TH at 7:30am and went counterclockwise.
Wanted to save the unfamiliar sections for the end. Easier to slog through country you're seeing for the first time. Many cows on Hell's Gate who have carved lots of alternative trails. Accidentally took one down to Grande Tank. Was down to Hell's Gate in a little over two hours. Hung out for a while and filtered some water before heading up.
It's easy to connect Hell's Gate and Big Ridge. Meadowy ridge with no bushwacking. Made it up to peak 5138 and the next few miles were my favorite of the day. Great weather for it with wintery clouds and a cold breeze blowing through. Fun ridge walk down to Big Ridge trail and along the road. Lots of cows for company. Saw a dozen deer and a coyote. Big Ridge Trail is an OHV track, and I met two hunters who drove to the bottom Salt Canyon in search of coyotes. Gave up the one I saw farther down the trail and carried on. They were the only people I saw on the day. Trail climbs and the views widen until around Horse Mountain where it enters a pine forest.
Down to Bear Flat Trail which I found nicest by the trailhead. OHV road and trail where it crosses through the wilderness area. It's in good shape but I got confused around Upper Bull Canyon Tank and briefly got sidetracked. No water in the canyon, but there's water I would't personally drink in every cattle tank along the way.
Tonto a strong flow by Bear Flat. Road might as well be paved between the trailheads. Beautiful five mile walk through the pines. Little bit of traffic on 405 but not much on 405A apart from the campers.
Started at Bear Flat and followed the 5/2/2015 track from @topohiker out to the end of BRT#177 at the top of Peak 5138. From there its easy to drop drop down the ridge to the southwest and arrive at the confluence of Tonto and Haigler Creeks. After a refreshing swim, slogged out on Hellsgate 37. Mtn bike shuttle back to the start.
After a few other planned trips got scrapped due to covid, I convinced a buddy of mine to do this recreation of Joel Hazelton, Chumley, MountainMatt, and JohnnyBackpack's trip to the middle section of Haigler Creek via Big Ridge trail and Salt Canyon.
Getting to Salt Canyon was a bit of a trip for sure, being careful to skirt around all of the private property signs. At first when looking at google earth I though that big ridge trail was driveable if you went through Gordon Creek, but the pictures don't do it justice. That road is rocky and steep. I wouldn't take anything but a tricked-out Jeep or an ATV on that thing.
Salt Canyon was a bushwhacking jungle, including a serious ton of poison ivy that I must have gotten hit by on the way back without noticing because I was feeling it for two weeks after. The actual canyon itself wasn't bad, some minor boulder hopping with backpacks and some dryfall negotiating but nothing too bad.
Once we got down to Haigler Creek, which was nice and clear (much better than the last time I was there), we blew up our inflatables and floated our packs to the same campsite our predecessors stayed at, which was ideal! After dropping our backs and having some lunch, we made it all the way to Hellsgate, taking in some seriously beautiful but tiring landscapes. Can't get enough of that pink granite! It's not too far of a distance, but that really tired us out. The next morning we made our way out, and surprisingly neither of our packs got soaked using the rafts again.
Truly an amazing place and worth the effort, but it was definitely a hard-fought scenic route!
Dang, where's a guy gotta go to get a little solitude?
Started from the east end of BF #178, then headed down BR #177 towards Salt Canyon. I was scouting potential Haigler Creek exit points for a future descent of Haigler and loop back to the start, wanting to avoid the long shuttle when exiting via Hellsgate #37.
I found that the first drainage upstream of Salt Canyon was not too bad, so I headed back towards the Big Ridge trail. Coming through the trees was the instantly recognizable chumley, with joelhazelton, jonnybackpack and moutainmatt, on their way to try and get to Haigler via Salt Canyon! Hopefully their route is even better than mine. Amazing to cross paths with HAZ'ers that far from anywhere!
What more to say than it was a pleasure to spend the weekend in this basically untouched pristine wilderness. My expectations were blown away from what I originally had in mind of this place. Great company and incredible terrain made this one of my most memorable backpacking trips to date.
Joel and Chumley were the masterminds of this trip so I was just following along thier precisely planned route. We parked the truck once the road met private property boundary and made our brief and easy manzanita filled descent down to the nicely flowing Gordon Creek. We crossed the creek and walked along nice cattle trails that linked up to a road that led to the top of what I believe is The Big Ridge or at least a portion of its trail, I'm still not sure where that trail was exactly along the hike. Either way once atop that ridge we were greeted with magnificent sweeping views of the unique area. The jagged canyon walls came into view as we made our descent down the road down into Salt Canyon.
Before entering through our side canyon we took a quick water and snack break when suddenly we all heard what sounded like a large animal making its way through the brush when out of nowhere glimpse of a human came into play. Chumley and Joel took off to see who or what it was and what do you know it was a fellow Hazzer in the middle of absolute nowhere! After meeting the very kind Toddak we all laughed at the highly unlikely possibility it was to come across another person in a place like that. True Hazzers are a rare breed among the millions of other Arizonans.
The Salt Canyon drainage worked out perfectly as the only the only trouble we ran into were a few easy downclimbs in which one was blocked by a beautiful sleeping rattlesnake, so we just carefully made our way around it to the left while I believe Jon chucked his 60 lbs backpack over the edge instead. After a dry and hot drainage descent the cool waters of Haigler were such a treat as we all dipped in for a swim in just one of the many idyllic swimming pools we were going to encounter that weekend.
Before breaking camp we headed upstream to check out a few marked falls area and on our way we encountered scenic 80-100 yard swim through the narrow pink granite walls. That is when my mind registered just how immaculate the canyon was that we were in the presence of.
After our fair share of swimming around we headed downstream with our packs to our planned camp spot somwhere around Leo Canyon which was based upon satellite view and it's close proximity to the lucky charms. I used a canvas floaty to lay my heavy pack on whenever we encountered deep water or a swim and it worked perfectly not only for keeping my pack dry but to keep my balance while walking in the creek and of course as a flotation device. We ended up making camp sooner than expected due to coming across a gem of campsite for a canyon that rugged.
After emptying our packs and relaxing for a moment we all headed downstream to see what else was inside the canyon. Joel had commented earlier in the day about how the clouds in the distance looked like rain clouds and sure enough he was right! Somwhere around 2 hours later dark clouds loomed over our surrounding area while cracks of thunder enmitted as it slowly began to sprinkle and then turned into a pretty decent downpour for a few minutes. Chumley and I took refuge in what I dubbed the emarld cove which was this very unique large overhang with shallow water beneath it. It was probably not the best spot to be in a monsoon storm but considering there wasn't anything else around at the moment and luckily the only lightning strikes we saw were a considerable distance away we were just fine. I know Chums goal was to make it to Hellsgate which I was up for as well before the mini rainstorm happened so then I just went back upstream to set up for some tripod time at some of the more picturesque spots along the creek.
After making it back to camp I began to stuff myself with food and beer since I probably packed way too much in my bag to begin with I was second back at camp, Jon third and Joel the mastermind himself was of course back well after dark which I'm still eager to see his photos since he is who I look up to in the photography world. The night was filled with many laughs, plenty of beers, a unique version of night painting and a surprise visit from a giant centipede. Perfect weather that night and we all slept well after quite the exciting day exploring this seldom traveled area.
We saw a bounty of bear scat and tracks throughout the canyon and on our way out we spotted some fresh new tracks not far from camp, maybe bears like craft beer too... Before heading out the drainage we took one last swim in the cool waters of Haigler before making what we built up to be a daunting trek out but then in reality ended up being relatively easy hike out. For me it was probably because half my pack weight was from the mass amounts of pre-cooked bacon and beer that was consumed the night prior.
We made it to the truck just in time as the last part of our hike kind of sucked from the rapid elevation gain and the heat beginning to pick up but nonetheless it was not bad at all it but it sure was a pleasant sight to see the Chum-mobile and grab a gallon of water to chug. Great weekend, with great people spent in a gem of a wilderness, enough said.
This has been in the works for over a year, but the timing for Haigler has to line up just right with temps, forecast, and runoff. After a chilly washout last year, we were finally able to align the stars this year.
We attempted a new approach via Salt Canyon, which looked reasonable on the map, but ended up being more treacherous than desired. Getting around the very-well-signed private property at the ranch was a beast of manzanita forest along with a very steep and loose slope. On the other side, the climb up the old road to Big Ridge 177 was steep, hot, and exposed. Getting back down to Salt was equally steep, hot, and exposed, and the thought of returning this way had us all dreading the trip back.
As we stopped for a snack near Salt Canyon, we spotted something large moving in the distance. Was it a bear? More likely a cow. Then one of us commented that there were people there. This of course, was impossible! Who the hell else would possibly be down here in such a remote and difficult place to get to? Joel or Jon said "it's probably toddak" and we all laughed at the joke. I got up and walked in the direction we had seen the movement, and before I could see anything I hear "Is that Chumley!?" I dropped an effbomb or two and proceeded to introduce myself to a guy who said he was the other Todd. We chatted for minute and headed back to the rest of the group and chuckled at the coincidence of it all. It was nice to finally meet the guy who has been to some of the coolest places this site has descriptions for!
After parting ways, we headed down Salt. The first half wasn't too bad, but the lower half narrows and gets overgrown. After fighting through brush and poison ivy (and finding a bypass around the rattlesnake that was basking on a shelf that was the ideal route on a short downclimb), we reached the creek just in time to cool off for a few minutes.
We explored both up and downstream from this entry section and eventually found a suitable location to set up camp. Once all our gear was stashed, the real creek fun could begin. I had planned to split from the others and make it all the way to Hells Gate, but we got caught up in one of those famous Arizona 0% chances of rain with an impressive thunderstorm that dropped a solid downpour and kept us on edge watching lightning and listening to booming thunder echo through the canyon while swimming and wading through narrow slots. By the time the weather cleared, I didn't have the time I needed to get downstream and return before dark, so I'll just have to make another trip down here (I'm absolutely dreading this miserable development )
Once the rain cleared we settled in for a fun evening at camp full of shenanigans and tomfoolery that can't possibly be described on such a distinguished website as HAZ.
Sunday involved more creek exploration, napping, swimming, jumping and a general good time all around. No rain today, and the sunny heat of the hike out took it's toll on all of us, especially on the off-trail climb around the ranch. Dinner at Alfonso's rounded out the trip. It's more expensive than Del Taco, but worth the extra dime.
Edit: I forgot to add the part where I was attacked underwater by a Haigler Piranha. Somehow I managed to get this on video:
Fan's never been to the Bear Flats area so we did a tour of the area. We started at the Tonto creek and crossed over at the bridge.
We took the Bear Flats trail to the Big Ridge trail. It was warmer than Fan likes, so she stopped at the salt Canyon. The creek was dry. I continued following the Big Ridge across the canyon and it ended at the Wilderness boundary. I followed a couple of game / rancher trails. I came across a neat water collection device. The views are great from this area. At one point your looking down at the Hell's Gate area. You can see the canyons that hold the Tonto and the Haigler creeks meet.
When I returned to Salt Canyon, Fan had found a big pool of water so we could top off our water supply .
As we got close to the TH, it started to sprinkle on us. The morning was coolish with overcast.
As we got to the sun exposed section of Big Ridge, the clouds lifted and it got toasty.
I return to the Bear Flats TH to finish off the connector trails. I got to the TH at 8:30 and it was cold. The Tonto creek was higher than the last time I was here, so I crossed the bridge instead of the creek to start the hike.
The trails I did were:
Bear Flats
Mescal Ridge
Mail Trail
Big Ridge
Bear Flats Within minutes I went from shaking cold to sweating buckets on the steep climb out of the creek. It looks there’s been recent trail maintenance or high activity. A lot of the high grass has been cleared away and some of the brush has been cut back.
Mescal Ridge The trail offer nice views of the surrounding area. The trail is easy to follow. The trail ends at a tank. At the tank, I found another old road/trail and followed that until it turned into a cattle path.
Mail Trail This was an impromptu trail for me. I read Stillers comments about a trail that’s not on any maps. The trail starts about 1.3 miles from the Bear Flats TH. There’s a wilderness boundary post. Others have seen a trail sign, but I didn't. I saw a long plank of wood on the ground that might have had writing on it at one time. There a distinct trail heading up the side of Christopher mountain. The trail follows a drainage and is steep (as if the climb out of the Tonto Creek wasn't!). Soon the trail left the drainage and started to switch back. I could see a saddle and I pushed for it. At the saddle I saw a lot of signs of cattle activity. The trail pushed forward going up the side of Christopher mountain. The higher I got, the more cattle / horse tracks I saw. Near the top there was cairns. The cairns would help on the way down due to the numerous cattle paths. Near the end, the forest was burned out. The trail ended at the Christopher mountain RD. I turned around and went back to the Bear Flats Trail. I might come back to explore around Christopher mountain. The Mail Trail is maintained. Almost all of the fallen trees have been cleared away.
Big Ridge Trail (aka the big climb out) The Big Ridge trail is about 6 miles long. For the first 2+ miles it stays around the 6,000 feet mark. Then it starts to drops. It doesn't drop gradually. It drops from shelf to shelf by hundreds of feet. You’ll drop about 200 feet, then it flats for a little bit, then repeat. The drops are very rocky with loose dirt. The scenery changes with each drop. The trail drops into the Salt Canyon where it ends. The maps show the trail ending in the canyon, but the road continues on another 2~3 miles to the wilderness boundary. I took lunch by the running stream. I wanted to continue on the road, but I knew I had a long climb out. The creek elevation was 4,350 and I had to climb up to 6,000. I may come back to finish off the road.
I had hoped to check out the Ellinwood ranch. I went down the road (to the ranch) to where it started its steep drop and turned round. It was getting dark, plus I didn't need any more extra climbing for the day.
It might be possible to connect the Mescal Ridge and Rig Ridge trail if you bushwhack and do some canyoneering. If someone figures out a safe route, I might be convinced to try it out.
It was typical Arizona Fall weather day. Cold in the morning extra warm around noon and extra cold after the sun dropped. This was the maiden voyage for my new Ospray backpack. My old pack shoulder straps were started to rip off. The Ospray worked out nice.
The adventure didn't end with the hike. I had a tire blowout 1 mile from the bee-line. It wasn't fun changing a tire in the dark when your freezing.
_____________________
"Everywhere is walking distance...If you have the time"
-Stephen Wright
This was my first time to the Hell’s Gate Wilderness. The trail-head was nice and cool. I crossed the Tonto creek and got on a spur trail that looped me to the old jeep road. Boy that road is steep! After the Mescal Ridge intersection, the Bear Flats turns into a single track until it leaves the Wilderness. Then it turns back into a ranching road.
The Bear Flats trail is like the old joke “I walked to school uphill both ways”. The Bear Flats trail has a bunch of rolling hills. You bounce around between 5,500 and 5,800 for most of the day. The neat thing is that there’s a lot of shade on this trail. You’re in a thick forest for most of the trail.
There’s numerous tanks everywhere. I went to the end of the trail at FR200. I took FR200 to Fisherman’s Point and went down to Haigler creek. I then headed to Haigler Canyon campground and had lunch by the creek.
I went back on Bear Flats trail and went down the Big Ridge Trail. Up to this point it was a mostly sunny day , but now the clouds rolled in. It started to rain, then it poured. Then there was two quick flashes, then 2 huge booms. I decided it was time to start heading back. The rain stopped about 45 minutes later. I went down Mescal Ridge trail for a bit as well. Usually I don’t hike on a new trail in the dark, but this one was pretty easy to follow with a flashlight.
The last drop into the Tonto was steep. I’m not sure if it’s harder coming up or down this section. It was an interesting hike. I’ll be back to finish off the Mescal Ridge & Big Ridge trails.
I did this hike with Wally and Robert. Brian (mt98dew) was on the trail early at 6am because he had to be in bed by 7pm due to work commitments. Our hike was from the Bear Flat TH, we took the Bear Flat Trail to the Big Ridge Trail. We turned around about 10:45am so I could be back home in time to watch Breaking Bad at 6pm. During our entire hike, we never ran into Brian. I'm thinking he must have take the Mescal Ridge Trail and turned around while we were up further along the Bear Flat Trail.
For the most part, these trails are old forest roads used for cattle and pretty easy to follow. The scenery isn't really anything spectacular, but it's nicer than being in the desert this time of year. Although the trails are easy to follow, they aren't really all that easy to hike in sections. The beginning from the Bear Flat TH is very steep and also has loose dirt and rock. The last section of the Bear Flat before the junction with Big Ridge is a long slog of a climb, again with a lot of loose rock.
At the junction, we saw a hunter on a quad runner. He had set up a hunting blind and game camera at the corral and tank about halfway from the TH to the junction. He said due to knee issues, he isn't able to hike like we do while hunting.
Before the corral and tank and after the Mescal Ridge Trail junction, we found a junction with another trail that I haven't seen on any maps. There was a wooden sign at that junction that said "Chris Mt". The map I have says there is a Christopher Mountain north of the Bear Flat Trail, so this trail likely takes you up there and maybe to FR117.
We took the Big Ridge Trail about 2 miles in and turned around. Where we turned around was a long section that descended and was covered with rip rap, making for some semi-miserable hiking.
By the end of the hike, we were all pretty spent. The trail conditions seemed to take a little more out of us. This was Robert's second big hike with us and he did better this time, not having any issues other than one spill. He's been doing more marathons and ultramarathons and was even able to do some trail running on this trail in some sections and got about and extra mile or so more than me and Wally did.
The descent back to the TH on the Bear Flat Trail was miserable. The loose dirt and rock were harder to walk down at the end of the day than it was at the start. Our sore legs and knees didn't help much. I had to really focus on every next step to prevent from wiping out, and still slid in a few spots. the Christopher Mountain hike from Bear Flat TH looks like a good hike to do one day, but I'm not looking forward to the start of the Bear Flat Trail for a while.
_____________________
average hiking speed 2.27 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.
Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
I was second back at camp, Jon third and Joel the mastermind himself was of course back well after dark which I'm still eager to see his photos since he is who I look up to in the photography world. The night was filled with many laughs, plenty of beers, a unique version of night painting and a surprise visit from a giant centipede. Perfect weather that night and we all slept well after quite the exciting day exploring this seldom traveled area.
and proceeded to introduce myself to a guy who said he was the other Todd. 
We chatted for minute and headed back to the rest of the group and chuckled at the coincidence of it all. It was nice to finally meet the guy who has been to some of the coolest places this site has descriptions for!
By the time the weather cleared, I didn't have the time I needed to get downstream and return before dark, so I'll just have to make another trip down here (I'm absolutely dreading this miserable development 
Somehow I managed to get this on video:
.
