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| Hiking | 10.90 Miles |
2,169 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.90 Miles | 7 Hrs 34 Mns | | 2.15 mph |
| 2,169 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 30 Mns Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | The road all the way to the trailhead could be made with a normal car. There is an outhouse about 0.7 mi before the trailhead. Judging from the trail register, this is a fairly popular trail.
As I set out, the sun was just coming over the ridge to the east. It was clear, windy, and about 50°.
Today’s adventures included visiting some geocaches that are along this route, taking some pictures with some new macro lenses, making water reports, finding the Woodchute summit, and collecting notes on yet another Arizona wilderness area. I found almost no flowers along the way, hiking in mid-October, but some interesting seed pods.
About 45 minutes in, I climbed up the little peak that Joe Bartels referred to as a pimple. Definitely worth the short side trip. There’s a good way trail and a usable campsite on the south side of that little pimple. Could see both to Prescott and Jerome from there.
On my way up and down Woodchute Mountain, I met the same two hunters several times. They were out looking for quarry for their hunt next weekend. Also in this area there was a little bit of snow.
The first water encountered was Woodchute Tank, on the way up. All of the tanks I passed were at least half full. Some were mostly full. The water in every case was muddy, but looked filterable.
Once I got up on the mesa that is Woodchute Mountain, I took a side trip off the main trail, bushwhacking along routes that have been posted by many others on HAZ. Once I got to the high point, about 2 hours in, I poked around until I found the summit register: a large cairn housing a jar under a tin can. Nothing to see at the summit here except oak, alligator juniper, and ponderosa pine. No views. I took a route a little farther north back down, which heads more onto the mesa. As I headed east off of the summit towards the trail the forest opened up and it’s quite pretty. There are a few old stumps, probably from the pre-Jerome original forest. This would be a pretty place to camp but there is no water.
I retraced Trail 102 back down to the junction with Trail 104, the Rick Tank Cutoff Trail. At this point there are several trails: a trail down to the stock pond, the middle trail which is the Rick Tank Cutoff Trail, and Trail 102 both up and down. Trail 104 goes directly to Upper Woodchute Tank, and continues along the dam before heading down the hill, where it quickly trail drops into a ravine.
As the trail traverses and descends, it frequently vanishes into the fields of tall wildflowers. Many times I would set a waypoint at a cairn, and then charge into the field, looking for the next cairn or sign of a trail. It would be easy to lose the trail here, so having waypoints of the cairns would help in the backtrack process.
Near the bottom, the trail crosses a pretty canyon and there’s a nice sitting rock here. A good spot for a little lunch. I suspect there might be a waterfall here at times. It is a long climb down to this point, which means a long climb back up trail 103, the next leg of the journey. The Trail 104 soon exits the wilderness, then pops out on Trail 103, where you should turn left.
Trail 103 is a two-track that follows Martin Canyon. There are tire tracks in this road. It had been used recently. As I hiked along it, I wondered if I could drive it in my Cherokee. I soon found my answer.
As I passed Martin Canyon Tank, I had to stop to wait for a club of several 4x4s to make their way past going the other way. It was very slow going for them. The leader was out with a walkie talkie guiding each driver past this particularly difficult section. Here, I was sure my Cherokee would not have cut it. Quoting from the Prescott National Forest trail description:
“This is a rugged Jeep Trail and allows full size vehicles, but it has been our experience that only modified high clearance vehicles are able to negotiate this trail, standard factory high clearance 4x4s are not recommended.” Truth.
There was more muddy water in Turkey Tank. Stopped to pick up the geocache here and have a snack. At this point, Trail 103 ends and road 9710W begins.
The climb continues up road 9710W, turning left onto Road 106E, and then left again on Road 106D, passing Hickey Tanks, which are both full of muddy water. I wasn’t able to get to the geocache there, because it seemed to be behind the barbed wire fence.
Overall assessment: The single track portions of this trip are great, but this route is halfway on four-wheel-drive road. Not that great. Three stars at best. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
A few interesting seed pods, but not much color, yet. The oaks are still green. |
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Hickey Tanks |
76-100% full |
76-100% full |
| | | Plenty of muddy water here. |
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Turkey Tank |
51-75% full |
51-75% full |
| | | Muddy water in the tank. |
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Woodchute Tank |
76-100% full |
76-100% full |
| | | If you like muddy water, this would do. | | | |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
No sooner had I reached my turnaround point on top of Woodchute, than the heavens opened up. Fortunately this only lasted about five minutes, and then it drizzled on me for the remainder of the walk down. Coming back down the road from the upper trailhead, I was glad that I had left the car at the campground. That road gets pretty slippery in the rain. Back at camp, it turned out that they got blasted by a monsoon rainstorm for the better part of an hour 
I guess that cloud went around me.
