Dairy Springs Trail #48 • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Looped the mountain with a summit. The northwest slope is pretty dense but the woods is still better than the road options. There was a very nice trail cut connecting the end of 9421N to the AZT on the northeast corner of the mountain. The next couple of miles allowed me to check off parts of two segments of the AZT in my continuing quest to never complete any of them. It was a little warm for Echo and I was hoping to get him some water at Mayflower, but it was very dry.

As a backup we took the short detour to Dairy Springs and replenished from one of the campground spigots. We soaked our shirts for the climb ahead and that made things much more pleasant. We ticked off the 8500 ft high point and enjoyed a beverage with a very hazy view looking north. Roads are boring, so we took the parallel ridge down, keeping to this pristine woodland. We surprised a couple of turkeys and Echo managed to encourage one of them to take to the sky. A majestic bird in flight.

75 at the summit. Mostly around 84 on the loop lower down. The reading hit 90 in the sun once. Low of 51 overnight.

This is an enjoyable area to combine some trail miles with some offtrail explorations.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mayflower Spring

	Gravel Tank	51-75% full	51-75% full
	It's a tank in a lake!

	Mayflower Spring	Dry	Dry
	dusty

	Mud Spring Tank	1-25% full	1-25% full
	Keeping the local elk watered.

	Red Raspberry Tank	1-25% full	1-25% full
	Unappealing, probably even for wildlife!

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I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

Jun 27 2022

nonot

Guides 107
Routes 249
Photos 2,067
Triplogs 514

male

Joined Nov 18 2005
Phoenix, AZ

Flagstaff, AZ

Hiking		Jun 27 2022
		nonot • Triplogs 514

Hiking	7.40 Miles	1,340 AEG

Hiking	7.40 Miles
	1,340 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

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Fairly steep as most of the elevation gain is in the first 1.5 miles. Continued onto the radio towers.
Saw a couple of hikers on the way up, and one hiker and one biker on the way down. Great weather, and the rain held off until after I finished. Wildlife was hiding, I only saw a few squirrels.

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

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Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, ankle-twisting, HAZmaster crushing ROCKS!!
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, shin-stabbing, skin-shredding plants!
Hike Arizona it is full of striking, biting, stabbing, venomous wildlife!

1 archive

Jul 24 2018

DarthStiller

Guides 27
Routes 669
Photos 12,096
Triplogs 856

56 male

Joined Jul 05 2006
Mesa, AZ

Flagstaff, AZ

Hiking		Jul 24 2018
		DarthStiller • Triplogs 856

Hiking	6.90 Miles	1,595 AEG

Hiking	6.90 Miles	2 Hrs 45 Mns	2.51 mph
	1,595 ft AEG

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I left Flagstaff at about noon after attending the rest of my work conference. This gave me just enough time to do a quick hike on the way home and still get back by a decent hour. Mormon Mountain seemed like the best bet. I had this one semi-planned 6 years ago after I did Keet Seel, but the scheduling was too tight. This time it worked better.

I started hiking about 1pm and finished at 3:45pm. It was kind of confusing on the ride in as to where to go, so I parked at a pull out along the road since there were signs warning of a dead end and private cabins ahead. Turns out the trailhead was about a quarter mile further up, if even that.

the trail is well maintained and fairly easy to walk. some steep spots and loose rock that's more of an issue on the way down, but not bad. Not much in the way of views, however. Mostly a tunnel of ponderosa, which I don't mind as a contrast from the desert heat. It was kind of hot to start because of my late start, but soon the clouds rolled in with wind and thunder. The wind and shade was nice, the thunder not so much. but no close calls for storms or lightning.

The trail ends almost a half mile from the top, and you follow the road to where the radio towers are. I walked amongst them but didn't go to where the topo showed what looked like the highest point, maybe. The views were already below mediocre and the clouds rolling in looked pretty threatening, so I quickly headed back down.

On the way back, I hiked the Dairy Springs Loop. I skipped the Ledges Trail and headed back to the car and back home. Between that, the AZT and another trail near the Mormon Lake village, looks like there's more to do there as a quick hike on the way home again one day.

This hike wraps up my big summer hiking plans. I'll have to see what I might do in August, but at least for this coming weekend, it's time to take a rest. Already exceeded my 2016 total, so looking to set new personal records by year's end.

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Mar 01 2018

chumley

Guides 94
Routes 840
Photos 22,055
Triplogs 1,993

52 male

Joined Sep 18 2002
Tempe, AZ

Flagstaff, AZ

Snowshoeing		Mar 01 2018
		chumley • Triplogs 1,993

Snowshoeing	9.75 Miles	1,860 AEG

Snowshoeing	9.75 Miles	5 Hrs 17 Mns	1.95 mph
	1,860 ft AEG

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Ledges Trail #138

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I decided to take advantage of the recent storm and celebrate the first day of spring with a trip to higher elevations.

I was able to snowshoe right from my truck!

The south facing slope is a bit thin lower down, but once above the switchback the orientation got better and by 8000 feet there was a good winter snowpack. In general it ranged from 14"-20", but there were spots at the top where it was over 35".

I need to find places to snowshoe where I'm not the one breaking the trail. It's exhausting! When I topped out on the road, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a track vehicle had been by, presumably for maintenance on the tower farm at the summit. It was so nice to have a packed down trail to follow for a change!

I hit up the highest point, with great views of all the peaks to the north, before heading back down. The exposed spots had started to melt, and I opted to drop the snowshoes at about 7800 feet. A few patches had gone bare, and I was able to use my uphill steps to maneuver through the remaining deep snow sections.

Near the bottom, I checked out the Dairy Springs Loop and then headed over on the Ledges Trail for a view of Mormon Lake. All in all, a pretty good day!

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Unknown VV Triangle Marker

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I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

Jul 09 2016

tibber

Guides 21
Routes 1,182
Photos 36,858
Triplogs 1,570

69 female

Joined Feb 26 2004
Phoenix, AZ

Anderson Mesa - AZT #30

Anderson Mesa - AZT #30

Flagstaff, AZ

Hiking		Jul 09 2016
		tibber • Triplogs 1,570

Hiking	11.16 Miles	760 AEG

Hiking	11.16 Miles	6 Hrs 11 Mns	2.64 mph
	760 ft AEG	1 Hour 57 Mns Break

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Mormon Lake - AZT #29

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	desertgirl	Paintninaz
	Sredfield

Dairy Springs to Mormon Canyon Tank. Was supposed to be a backpack of AZT 28 but other plans got in the way so this was Plan B. We shuttled to Mormon Canyon Tank to leave Tonto Jr on 129A and took Shawn's truck to Dairy Springs Campground TH where we started.

After about 3/4 mile of a slight climb you get from the TH parking to the AZT 30 and for us we turned right (NW) to head on down the trail. We walked thru lots of forest and thru lots of gates and Shawn sawed through 12 logs (some requiring two cuts). The girls assisted and did some sawing and helped to move the logs off the trail. I brot out the umbrella to provide the person sawing (mostly Shawn of course) some shade. Shawn thot this was a little much but we insisted ;) .

The trail seems to be in very nice shape and not much in the way of elevation change. Following and some times walking on the railroad grade is pretty cool. There are still many old wooden tree ties and many spikes still tucked into them. You can see where the bridges were. The rock-piled grade was quite impressive.

Part of the trail past the Horse Lake TH actually has gravel on it as you climb up to the Mesa. The road walk to the Tank is pretty too because of the wide open views. It was a very nice day as the breezes kept up for most of our hike. We took two 10 minute breaks after lunch for the last 5 1/2 miles. We saw two bikers at the beginning of our trek, another hiker about 1/4 of the way and two horse back riders where we had stopped for lunch. Now all we have left is from Mormon Canyon Tank to Marshall Lake and we'll finish off Passage 30.

On our way back to pick up Shawn's truck, we stopped at Horse Lake TH along 82E (which is not at Horse Lake) to do our 22 push-ups (support https://www.22kill.com) and recruited Tracy for the cause (we made Shawn film it). Ambika joined me the night before. We finished off our day with an early dinner at Mormon Canyon Lodge.

The video lighting will probably not be the best thru the forest as the pictures were a bit of a struggle to edit out the white out areas (HATE that!).
Arizona Trail Passage 30 – from Dairy Springs northbound, a lot of sawing going on [ youtube video ]
Part 2: [ youtube video ] to the rock railroad grade
Part 3: [ youtube video ]
Part 4: [ youtube video ] from the meadow to the tank

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Trail Maintenance

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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled.

4 archives

Sep 13 2008

Vashti

Guides 17
Routes 297
Photos 1,808
Triplogs 276

female

Joined Mar 11 2002
Gilbert, AZ

Flagstaff, AZ

Hiking		Sep 13 2008
		Vashti • Triplogs 276

Hiking	0.50 Miles	150 AEG

Hiking	0.50 Miles	45 Mns	0.67 mph
	150 ft AEG

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Attended a ranger-led talk on this trail. We learned about the area, including information on Mormon Lake, bark beetles, and the local wildlife such as black bears, mountain lions, abert squirrels, etc. The talk made the hike last about 45 minutes due to all the stops, otherwise this short loop would take no time at all. It is not a very exciting trail, but it does connect to the Dairy Springs Campground, which makes for easy access if you are looking for something quick to do. The other interesting things the ranger pointed out on the trail included a large hawk's nest up high in a tree and a beetle trail which looked like a large can with fly paper on all sides of it (with pheromones excreting on the inside).

Again, not an exciting trail, but something good to do with the kids after you set up your tent in the campground. The trailhead is at the end of the campground and is signed.

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

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Feb 23 2007

shine88

Triplogs 27

female

Joined Dec 19 2006
Tucson, AZ