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| Hiking | 10.20 Miles |
3,037 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.20 Miles | 8 Hrs | | 1.28 mph |
| 3,037 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I arrived a little after 9 am on a day where the forecasted high was only supposed to be 74 at the trailhead at around 4,000 feet. This was a pretty mild day for May in Southern AZ. Starting out I headed East crossing a wide sandy wash. I saw a cattle trail leading out of the wash. There were a few cairns and I noticed a barbed wire fence on the right after the trail curved left. This was apparently the unmarked Hidden Pasture trail and I would discover that this trail is pretty well cairned all the way to an area called Hidden Pasture. If there was an award for a trail with the most number of cairns, this trail may be a winner, but I will say there were a few confusing areas that could have used a few more cairns.
The start of the trail didn't have too many cairns and therefore I found myself getting off the trail at least 2-3 times during the first 1/2 mile. After that, there seemed to be more cairns and the trail was more obvious, but there were a few places where I needed to look carefully for the next cairn or two. There were some open areas where cows hung out in the past but I didn't see or hear any cows the entire day.
For the first 0.9 miles the trail climbs up a ridgeline. After about 2/3 mile I saw some nice views down into a deep canyon to the left. Eventually, the trail drops down into the canyon, but by that time, the canyon isn't so deep. The trail crosses the canyon a few times and follows on the left or right side. There are many areas with smooth eroded slabs of rock with room for water to accumulate. Unfortunately, there was very little rainfall this past winter and there were so many dry areas where it was obvious water once existed. I saw one area with some relatively deep looking water pools that the trail went around. See my GPS route labels for this area. The trail was pretty well maintained, but overgrown in only a few areas in my opinion. The were only a few sections of catclaw bush. A lot of it was below waist level and wearing jeans I just slowly squeezed through. In a thicker area, I picked up a branch and hacked away some of it, leaving a little more space to walk through. The entire hike, I only had 2-3 tiny cuts on my hand from the catclaw. I took my time because I didn't want to get sliced up and all things considered, I think I did well.
For the first 3 miles the total gain was only something like 700 feet, which is so little you hardly feel it. It will sometimes feel like a rollercoaster, going up then down, crossing small sub-canyons and you won't be able to CLEARLY see the summit until you have hiked roughly 3 miles. At around 3 miles in, the trail turns right and heads up a canyon. This canyon eventually leads all the way up to a high saddle. The North Star summit is only another 150 vertical feet higher than the high saddle. The saddle will be reached in about 4.1 miles.
After about 3.3 miles there is an unmarked junction where the cairned trail continues to Hidden Pasture. It is easy to pass this junction without even knowing it. You should be able to look up the steep canyon and see a cairn, maybe two. This is a good place to start heading up to the saddle. I didn't see any cairns aside for the first 1 or 2 along the way, but there were various animal trails. I aimed for the saddle and went straight toward it. When there were rock formations in front of me, I could go left or right
around them. I just stayed away from the dense looking brush in the bottom of the canyon which was to my right. Some of the canyon had these terrace like ledges with moss-like plants. The terraces were stable and that made climbing up easier.
At the saddle, I sat under a dead juniper tree and had my lunch. Checking the topo map, I believe I was only 750 from the summit. After lunch, I continued North, then East toward the summit. I stayed left of the main ridgeline because it was rather rocky. Eventually, I found myself at the summit. There was a rock pile with a jar for the registry. I found a total of about 10 registry entry pages. 2 pages were part of a newer registry and 8 were part of the old registry. Some of the older pages looked sun damaged. I took photos of all pages. The earliest entry I found was from some veteran hikers named Gordon MacLeod and Barbara Lilley from November of 1996. Their entry was written on the inside cover of a small notebook. The next entry I saw was from 2013. There were some pages that were obviously missing. Looking North, I could see Forest Hill, which I was at a few weeks earlier. Looking West and Northwest I could see Rincon peak and Mica peak. Looking East/Southeast, I could see the town of Benson. The views were very nice from the summit.
I headed back down the same way to the high saddle and weaved my way down the steep canyon until I saw some cairns. These cairns meant I was back on the Hidden Pasture trail, which headed either North of South from this junction. The North branch continues to Hidden Pasture which is about 1 mile away and the South branch heads back to the trailhead. I decided that I had time and some extra energy to check out the Hidden Pasture area. I followed the cairns all the way there and there were few tricky areas along the way where I got off trail. This is where having a route can be very helpful. Before getting to Hidden Pasture, the trail is higher up and looking down on the pasture. This is a great area to take a photo of the whole area and even Forest Hill mountain which is to the North. I explored the pasture a bit but didn't check to see if the trail went any further. If you decide to check out the pasture be sure to be aware of where the last cairn was and where you got off the trail. After exploring the pasture, I got back on the trail again and headed all the way back to the trail head. In some places I needed to search for the next cairn and got off the trail a few times. On the final 1/2 mile going down I felt like I found cairns better and didn't get off the trail.
All in all it was great hike with a little bit of everything. It would have been nicer if there was more water in the canyon. Well, maybe after monsoon season.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 10.2 miles
AEG: 3,037 feet
Strava moving time: 6 hrs 49 mins (including visit to Hidden Pasture area)
Strava elapsed time: 10 hrs 8 mins
Driving Directions:
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(high clearance recommended but any normal vehicle should be able to make it)
From Tucson or Phoenix, take I-10 toward Benson
Take exit 297 for J-Six Ranch Rd toward Mescal Rd
Turn left and drive 9.8 miles (Note: First 3.5 miles is paved, after that you can drive 25-30 MPH for the first few miles of the primitive road. After the first few miles, you will need to slow down to about 15 MPH as the road becomes more rugged).
Turn right into campground area and park somewhere off the road so that others can turn around if necessary |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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