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| Hiking | 7.38 Miles |
814 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.38 Miles | 4 Hrs 1 Min | | 2.03 mph |
| 814 ft AEG | 23 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The original plan for this hike was to start at Porter Creek TH, take the ice cave trail to the ice cave, turn around, head back the same way until the Osprey trail Junction. At that point, we wanted to take the osprey trail until we were able to cross porter creek north of Scott Reservoir. Then the plan was to walk along the western shore of the reservoir until we were back at the ice cave trail, by the southern part of the reservoir. This mostly worked, but it wasn't ideal. The first item of interest to note is that the wooden foot bridge crossing porter creek north of Scott Reservoir has been taken out by a flood. You can see the bridge laying battered and broken on the south bank of the creek at the crossing location. Porter creek is 10 to 15 feet wide at that location and flowing with lots of water. The place where it seems you should cross is too deep. We went east a bit and managed to find some rocks to hop on to make a mostly dry crossing. We then continued along the osprey trail, but instead of going up on the ridge towards the osprey trail head, we headed back towards the reservoir, so we could continue our trek around the lake. We went up onto the mesa for a bit, away from the shore. Someone is camping in a tent back there, but we didn't see any people. We decided instead of being up high that we would try to walk along the shore right next to the water. We found a use path down. It is very scenic with great views of the reservoir. The ground itself was comprised of large basalt rocks which made for slow going. We decided to go back up on the Mesa in hopes of making some better time. While we started our hike in the bright sun and high humidity, the afternoon monsoon was coming with some beautiful thunder clouds in the sky. We were able to make better time on the meadow terrain on top of the mesa. The map shows there being a 4WD road, but there is nothing there. Just cows and a metal corral. We continued on south until we hit the Campground (where we saw a sign that said "road closed" in front of the nonexistent road we had supposedly been walking on!). From the Campground, we made our way back down to the southern shore of the Reservoir. We continued onto the raised earthen dam and back into the ice cave trail where we headed back to the car.
The first part of the hike was mostly uneventful. From the trailhead, the trail follows the powerlines in a lush green area with porter creek running muddy and slow. It's a very pretty area. The trail through the hike was quite muddy in places, as you would expect during the rainy monsoon season. The trail was easy to follow where there was a trail. There is no trail from the north tip to the south tip of the Reservoir on the west side. The rest of the trail is very clearly marked with the white mountain trail system white diamonds on the trees. Plus, most of the trail is heavily used by horses, so it is deep and rutted with hoof prints. The stable is right next to the trails, and the trails are heavily used by horseback riding trail rides. We saw 5 groups in the time when we were on the ice cave trail. We saw hoof prints on the osprey trail, but no actual horses while we were hiking. For this reason, I do not think I would do this trail again. The trail is a bit of a muddy mess and there were lots of horses.
From the southeastern tip of the Reservoir, the ice cave trail veers south and east away from the reservoir, eventually meeting up with the osprey trail which is clearly marked by a large wooden sign. From this Junction, the ice cave is about 0.5 miles away. Note that the old trail as marked in the map was alongside the ice cave. The new trail, however, bypasses the cave. If you stay on the marked trail, you will not see the cave. We did this initially and overshot the cave by 0.5 miles. We turned around and we were able to find the spur trail to the cave easily. When coming from the osprey trail juncture, take a left at the next Junction. The spur is actually "labeled" with branches arranged in the shape of arrows pointing to the ice cave. The cave itself is surrounded by an ill-fitting fence with a gate locked with a chain and lock. This won't keep anyone out though. There are two sections of fence with a good two feet of clearance underneath. I am sure people go in there, but you can see the collapsed part of the cave right at the beginning, from outside the gate. It was nice to feel the cool air coming out of the cave!
There were quite a few wildflowers of various colors along the rail and around the reservoir. Also worthy of note is the amount of ospreys we save flying. We saw them initially in the air on the first third or so of the osprey trail from the ice cave trail. We saw about 5 birds. We saw 5 more osprey flying quite close to the ground on the dam/raised embankment on the south side of the reservoir. Osprey are beautiful and impressive! They were one of the main highlights of the hike!
A nice hike despite our extra adventures! |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Lots of wildflowers! |
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Porter Creek |
Medium flow |
Medium flow |
| | | Considerable water and flow in the creek. Along the ice cave trail, the creek was muddy, brown, and sluggish. North of the reservoir, on the osprey trail, the creek is clear and flowing strong. | | _____________________
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
. The Ice Cave has a fence around it but the gate was open. The creek was running and there was a small spring by the turn around point. There was also a ditch by the trailhead that was dry when we started then full of water when we got back. It seemed to be like an irrigation ditch. 
Not sure were it comes from or goes to. Also a few views of Scott Reservoir and a treat to see the Osprey! Thanks to Tom&Rhonda for driving and cooking tacos for lunch! MmmmmmMmmmmm!
