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| Hiking | 6.44 Miles |
818 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.44 Miles | 2 Hrs 54 Mns | | 2.27 mph |
| 818 ft AEG | 4 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | | Hiking the entire Balancing Rock Trail #349, starting from the Cayuse Equestrian Trailhead and turning back at Trail #40, you will mostly hike among Ponderosa pines and Gambel, Emory and Arizona white oaks with a section of junipers and pinyon pines near the trailhead. At the start of November 2025, the Gambel oaks and many shrubs were bright yellow to reddish-brown (see photo) with the three-leaf sumacs occasionally red to the color of hammered copper (see photo) and some leaves on a pineywoods geranium turning red. Any time of year there are close-up views of Granite Mountain from the southeast side to due south, including the cliff face where peregrine falcons nest in the spring. On the return trip, watch for a view of the San Fancisco Peaks and Mogollon Rim (see photo). I've hiked Balancing Rock Trail several times looking for a balancing rock. One of the photos in this photoset is the best I've come to finding it. Perhaps the rock that appears ready to slide off was upright in the past. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Gambel oaks, canyon grapes and many shrubs were bright yellow with many Gambel oaks reddish-brown and three-leaf sumacs occasionally red to the color of hammered copper. Some leaves on a pineywoods geranium had turned red. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
common yarrow, goldenrod, shrubby buckwheat, narrowleaf goldeneye, sunflowers, New Mexico fleabane, Coulter's horseweed (seedheads), fall tansyasters, scarlet gilia, southwestern mock vervain, upright blue beardtongue, Arizona thistle, black mustard |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
We were all pretty ready to be down from there quickly. I couldn't believe the summit was already swarming with ladybugs-- seems early. Lily did really well-- though I wouldn't recommend taking dogs up to the true summit. She loves that kind of climbing but had to find a couple work-arounds on the way down (she never needed to be picked up lowered). Even though she's done more mileage and almost double that aeg in a day-- I would consider this the most challenging hike she's done. It was my first time doing the Little Granite Mtn Loop and that was really enjoyable 
