Gaddes Canyon #110 • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		Dec 01 2024
		bjonson • Triplogs 261

Hiking	6.26 Miles	1,427 AEG

Hiking	6.26 Miles	2 Hrs 25 Mns	2.63 mph
	1,427 ft AEG	2 Mns Break

no photosets

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_____________________

Jun 12 2024

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Mingus Oaks and Butterfly with Gaddes, AZ

Hiking		Jun 12 2024
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	18.31 Miles	3,366 AEG

Hiking	18.31 Miles	8 Hrs 37 Mns	2.58 mph
	3,366 ft AEG	1 Hour 32 Mns Break

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8 linked trail guides

View Point-North Mingus Loop

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The_Eagle

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I suggested three reasonable hikes and Bruce picked the coolest/easiest option. FR104 is the turn off 89A and is now paved for a mile or two. Driving up, the camps or retreats were loaded. We parked in the big lot just before the smaller #106 lot.

North Mingus Trail #105
We hiked the road up to the hang glider launch, the south end of #105. The drop is steep with great views if you look past your feet. I much prefer to ascend but know how much Bruce hates the ascent. He ran down and played with Spotted Towhees at the junction while I inched down without dying.

Bug Hollow Trail #548
From #105 we utilize the nice shaded use-trail to Bug Hollow. It's the steepest 0.5-mile stretch of the day but almost goes unnoticed with good tread through the forest. A slight descent put us in good spirits on Bug Hollow for 0.8 miles.

Upper Mescal Trail #550
0.75 miles up to an 0.4 mile use-trail that delivers us to the Mingus Picnic/Rest Area we occasionally use as a starting point. The use-trail is notable for yellow bark locust thickets. Which is a semi-friendly stage between the nightmare bush stage and the tall 6-10 inch diameter tree version. Leveling out to the rest area we listened to a few house wrens.

Butterfly Trail #536 - Mingus
Whereas Bug Hollow is typically a cool bugless pocket, this nicer-named drainage was warmer and gnatty due to a stagnant trace of a creek after the full dam.

Middle Trail #537
Middle children are often excluded, ignored, or even outright neglected because of their birth order. That makes perfect sense if you hike this trail, but it gets the job done. Bruce once found a Fitbit along this trail. He attempted to contact the owner without success so it's one of the many stories replayed throughout the hike.

Lunch
We enjoyed lunch on a cool concrete picnic table.

Coleman Trail #108
I don't hike as much as grandpa push-ups & speedos, so this segment was cursing my world. To make matters worse, somebody moved my damn tree and killed it.

Gaddes Canyon Two Trail #9037
Despite 87° I love this trail. The new twist to us was a long stretch of poison ivy. Nearly a dozen times I heard... you brushed against it. I increasingly tried to avoid it but the concern is mute compared to avoiding the biting noseeums that deliver 10x pain.

Gaddes Canyon #110
Bruce carries postage-stamp-sized alcohol wipes so we attempted to remove the antigen oil urushiol. Either that worked or my legs were slathered in enough cryptobiotic dirt, cuz nothing has surfaced or itched a day later now.

Synopsis
Mingus is fabulous in the Autumn and a nice option otherwise. JBM,

joe

butterfly

mode, emitted a steady release of therapeutic joy throughout the hike. Zero hikers encountered. We would have passed more hikers along Inner Basin but not sure I could have dealt with BBM crying up a storm about a beautiful six-mile road walk.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] New Mexico Locust Poison Ivy

Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Not much, it's almost summer.

	Butterfly Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	maybe a half quart a minute, anything more is an exaggeration.

Butterfly Tank

Dry

	Mescal Spring	Dry	Dry
	No such moisture was obsevered

	Mingus Lake	76-100% full	76-100% full
	As full as I recall and well-used, parking was full when we left.

_____________________

- joe

Jun 12 2024

The_Eagle

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,762

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Mingus Oaks and Butterfly with Gaddes, AZ

Hiking		Jun 12 2024
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,762

Hiking	18.69 Miles	3,302 AEG

Hiking	18.69 Miles	8 Hrs 37 Mns		2.61 mph
	3,302 ft AEG	1 Hour 27 Mns Break	10 LBS Pack

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10 linked trail guides

Mingus Inner Maze Loop

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joebartels

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Joe's week to pick and with the temps soaring, the choices were getting slimmer. Wally had a last-minute charging problem and bailed. After discounting Lion Peak, we settled on this loop that we've done many variations of over the years (usually in the fall for the colors). I like this figure 8 loop because the loops are divided almost in half. Parking the vehicle at the crossover spot allows you to carry half the water, leaving the remainder as well as your lunch in a cooler, with available picnic tables, restrooms, etc.

We opted to hit up the northern part of the loop first. Nice cool temps heading down the North Mingus Trail #105. The trail is loaded with oaks and maples which are beginning to encroach on the trail in many places. Good views to the north of Bill Williams, Sitgreaves, Kendrick, and the SF Peaks. To the west, the nearby Woodchute.

We've been using a steep 2-track, that turns into a pleasant non-official trail, short cutting to Bug Hollow #548. We wound our way over to our short road walk (now paved) to the Butterfly Trail. The water behind the dam was surprisingly full.

All this led to our vehicle, lunch, and a fluid refill.

The Trail #108 is my least favorite trail out here but necessary to complete the loop. It's rocky and hot, being exposed. It does afford some good views, but you must stop hiking to take them in. At this point, the JBM was in the yellow, fast approaching the red. I could hardly wait for the climb up Gaddes Canyon.

The Gaddes 2 and Gaddes Trails are pretty trails that climb 3.5 miles and 1300' back to our starting point. It's mostly under tree cover, helping with the heat approaching the mid-80s. The new problem this year seems to be the addition of quite a bit of PI. Not a moment too soon, we made it back to the car. Joe's meter had pegged and broken.

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Dam - Rock

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

	Butterfly Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Running and the water behind the dam was close to full

Mingus Lake

76-100% full

_____________________

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

May 07 2022

The_Eagle

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,762

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Yeager - Gaddes - Burnt - Ash - Kendall Loop, AZ

Hiking		May 07 2022
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,762

Hiking	16.01 Miles	3,131 AEG

Hiking	16.01 Miles	7 Hrs 28 Mns		2.42 mph
	3,131 ft AEG	51 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

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BiFrost

joebartels

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We needed something to escape the valley heat. Being at 6000-7000', it fit the bill for temps in the sweet spot.

Yeager Canyon #28 is a stead 1300' climb over 2.5 miles. The tread here, like most trails in Prescott, is impeccable. Nice views to PV also.

We did an off trail over to check out the barely moist, brown @Chums Spring. It's useless to most.

We continued off trail over to and down one of my favorites on this loop, Gaddes Canyon #110. Great tread and great views through the tall pines.

Burnt Canyon is off trail, but a pleasant off trail, with a light flow and pools. At the easternmost portion of this loop we jumped out of Burnt Canyon and steeply climbed up a use trail and down to the Ash Canyon Trail.

Ash Canyon Trail #539, is another pleasant walk until we went off trail up (sometimes steeply) to Kendall Peak. Great 360 views up top while we had lunch.

After a bit of a road walk, we finished off with the perfect grade of the Little Yeager Trail #533

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Canyon Tree Frog

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Chums Spring

	Ash Canyon Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Hard to tell, but the creek was flowing here.

	Chums Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	A muddy hole

Little Yaeger Canyon

Dry

_____________________

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

May 07 2022

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Yeager - Gaddes - Burnt - Ash - Kendall Loop, AZ

Hiking		May 07 2022
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	15.37 Miles	3,034 AEG

Hiking	15.37 Miles	7 Hrs 28 Mns	2.33 mph
	3,034 ft AEG	52 Mns Break

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BiFrost

The_Eagle

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Bruce and I have hiked a version of this three times previously. Kendall Peak, along the route, is among our favorite lunch break spots. We arrived at the apron parking along 89A at about 7:15 am. Karl squared away his pack setup, then we were on our way.

Yaeger Canyon Trail #28
A brilliant breeze made the ~1450 ft ascent in the upper 50° morning feel effortless. Continued on FR 413 a little over 0.3-mi. Off-trail 0.5-mi with roaming over to #110, documenting Halvorsen's moist slop o'mud along the way for science.

Gaddes Canyon #110
Easily found the trail and descended the gem grade tread through pine rich views to its terminus at FR413. Crossed the road and continued a stone's throw off-trail into Burnt Canyon.

Burnt Canyon
2.75 miles through the canyon is the slowest part of the day. Obstacles, skirting pools, and hopscotching granite with enough dead trees, pokey vegetation, and such to keep your concentration. Nothing to fear. Ideal temps with trophy breezes kept the high-pitched crying to record lows. When the going gets easy, it's almost time to jump ridge to Ash Creek.

Ash Creek
After an easy 0.3-mi crossover of a tiny ridge, we followed a tributary 0.25-mi to Ash Canyon proper.

Ash Canyon Trail #539
Enjoyed this good trail 1.4-mi up. It crosses the creek several times. As usual, spotted occasional small pools of water.

Kendall Peak
The ascent never plays out the same because you encounter walls of manzanita. Believe we've only chosen unwisely once. Got lucky today. No matter how you hit it, the 400ft eastern ascent packs a punch in the final strides. According to Karl, lunch was on Marshall Peak. Whatever you call it, it's fab!

0.4-mi down the NW side to FR132 and follow 1.3-mi to Yeegurr(not Jäeger).

Little Yaeger Trail #533
This trail hikes itself, taking you on a joyride back to square one.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Claret Cup Cactus Gambel Oak Wright's silktassel

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Gopher Snake

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Burnt Canyon

Wildflowers Observation Light
Claret Cup Cactus. Rocky Mountain Iris, lots of shoots, only recall one bloom

	Ash Canyon Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Clear pools in the vicinity.

	Chums Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Disturbing, not recommended.

	East Ash Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Clear pools in the vicinity.

_____________________

- joe

Mar 30 2022

Routes 154
Photos 1,505
Triplogs 266

31 male

Joined Jun 02 2019
Phoenix, AZ

Gaddes - Burnt Loop, AZ

Hiking		Mar 30 2022
		LJW • Triplogs 266

Hiking	23.60 Miles	4,350 AEG

Hiking	23.60 Miles	9 Hrs 44 Mns	2.87 mph
	4,350 ft AEG	1 Hour 30 Mns Break

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12 linked trail guides

Mingus Trail #105A

View Point Trail #106

Yaeger Cabin Trail #111

Powerline Trail #549

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Same idea as last summer with two basic goals: hike the length of Gaddes and Burnt Canyons and find a better route down from West Rim to Powerline. With the cold front coming and going the day before, it seemed like a good day for water in the creeks and clouds above and below View Point Trail. Ended up super good timing and maybe the best day I've spent on Mingus. Started at Mescal Tank with North Mingus.

North Mingus and View Point had been trimmed back since the summer, so rain and snow melt on the trailside brush was mostly a nonissue. A little muddy but nothing too bad. North Mingus a mix of forest and views. Clouds below to the north were even better once on View Point. Walked above, below, and inside them until topping out on Mingus.

Quarter inch of snow on top of Mingus Mountain that had mostly melted by sundown. Gaddes Canyon had a trickle in the snowy top of the trail and below the road on Black Canyon Trail. Once into Black and Burnt Canyons the flow picked up. Not too strong but more than a trickle. Clouds rolled overhead the whole way. Burnt canyon is mellow with a better and better forest heading up. The upper mile or two is picture perfect open ponderosa forest. The middle section had some smooth, rocky sections that are awesome with water flowing. The going is relatively easy the whole way, not much to maneuver around or bushwhack through.

Diverted from the end of Burnt Canyon up to the tank North of Kendall Peak. On the way noticed a pair of graves with a metal sign that read "Ram Dog" from which a grey collar hung. Walked the road with some corner cutting to Yaeger Cabin Trail. Passed the only person I saw all day on Yaeger Canyon and then commenced the mile or so roadwalk to Butterfly. Straight through the woods from Middle To West Rim and then over to the edge of the mountaintop.

I took a ridge NW off the very northern tip of the mountain. It was a way better track down than last time, and though a moderate bushwhack I was on Powerline in twenty minutes. On the way down enjoyed views of Humphreys and Sedona that shine in the last couple hours of the day. Straightforward trip back down. On the day saw the one person, two coyotes, a half dozen deer, and lion tracks near the upper Black Canyon TH and Mingus Lake.

Burnt Canyon

Light flow

Butterfly Tank

76-100% full

	Gaddes Canyon	Light flow	Light flow
	Pools/trickle higher up, below the road light flow

2 archives

Oct 22 2021

Yoder

Guides 8
Routes 70
Photos 3,208
Triplogs 273

59 male

Joined Oct 07 2017
Chandler, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		Oct 22 2021
		Yoder • Triplogs 273

Hiking	6.50 Miles	1,400 AEG

Hiking	6.50 Miles	20 Mns		19.50 mph
	1,400 ft AEG	2 Hrs 56 Mns Break	10 LBS Pack

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Thought we would check this hike out since it was recently featured in AZ highways and we hadn't done it.
Road gate to trailhead parking/Tower was locked (Due to COVID-19), so we parked over in the camping/recreation area (Fee $5). Probably could have parked a little before the gate to cut down a little on the walk, and avoid the fee. Views on the hike it self was not great, but there was a nice scenic overview close to where we parked (Images are Geo tagged, so check out the locations on the pop-up map). Also as you are going down the road, just before you drop down into the second canyon, at the cairn, instead of turning left at the cairn, if you continue to the end of the road a mere 0.2 miles is a nice overlook. Actually, if we were to ever do this hike again, we might not bother with dropping down into the second canyon, really nothing but forest and the occasional deer to see there.

Nice enough forest hike, but views are lacking as is typically of a forest hike, what do you expect?

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mule Deer

_____________________

J. Yoder

Oct 02 2021

toddak

Guides 13
Routes 38
Photos 1,651
Triplogs 577

60 male

Joined Nov 15 2005
Jackson, CA

Prescott, AZ

Prescott, AZ

Hiking		Oct 02 2021
		toddak • Triplogs 577

Hiking	19.00 Miles	3,500 AEG

Hiking	19.00 Miles	8 Hrs	2.38 mph
	3,500 ft AEG

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Did the excellent 10/17/20 @The_Eagle and @joebartels double-looper, starting at the summit picnic area just off 89A. Went clockwise on both loops. Lots of green, happy forest after the good monsoon. Several sections of road walking required, but worth it to link multiple fine but isolated trails.

_____________________

Sep 25 2021

BiFrost

Guides 4
Routes 491
Photos 10,890
Triplogs 1,257

55 male

Joined Nov 20 2012
Phoenix, AZ

Mingus Butterfly, AZ

Hiking		Sep 25 2021
		BiFrost • Triplogs 1,257

Hiking	12.05 Miles	3,334 AEG

Hiking	12.05 Miles	5 Hrs 42 Mns	2.27 mph
	3,334 ft AEG	24 Mns Break

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View Point Trail #106

View Point-North Mingus Loop

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John9L

slowandsteady

All these years in AZ and never hiked on Mingus. John made the suggestion so Kathy and I joined the hike. We started from the Viewpoint trailhead on top taking the south loop first down to Gaddes Canyon. Then up Gaddes which was the nicest part of that loop. Also went by the Tower but it was closed off due to covid restrictions so we bypassed. Skies showed potential for rain but nothing developed until we reached the top again.

At the top the rain started to come down but after checking radar decided that if was probably short lived. We checked out the viewpoint and then headed down on the north loop. Great views along this section even with some on and off rain. Eventually things cleared as we finished hiking around to the uphill section back to the top. Short break where the trail hits the rim and then hiked by the hang glider launch spot on the way back to the trailhead.

_____________________

1 archive

Aug 07 2021

ShatteredArm

Guides 12
Routes 192
Photos 863
Triplogs 356

42 male

Joined Nov 30 2015
Phoenix, AZ

Mingus Gaddes, AZ

Run/Jog		Aug 07 2021
		ShatteredArm • Triplogs 356

Run/Jog	14.84 Miles	2,754 AEG

Run/Jog	14.84 Miles	4 Hrs 30 Mns	3.30 mph
	2,754 ft AEG

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Black Canyon Trail #114

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Didn't have a lot of ideas hanging around, but wanted to get 15-20 miles, not too far away, and not too hot, so I thought of Mingus Mountain. Drew up a route starting at FR413 where they had an aid station at Man Against Horse, up the mountain, then the loop up around the north of the mountain, and down to 413 via TR 108.

Got started a little after 8, and hiked most of the first uphill mile. Was already warmer than I would've liked, but not terrible. The flat, rocky top of Mingus was a bit cooler early on. Crossed over Gaddes Canyon, then got to the forest road up to the lookout. From there it was a short jog along the road to the drop off the mountain. However, it turns out the north half of Mingus Mountain is currently closed for a logging operation, so that was a no go. I didn't want to go down the hot exposed east side of the mountain just to go back up, so I decided to add distance later on in Gaddes Canyon.

Headed down the road to TR 108. It was very rocky and hard to make good time on, but eventually I got down to FR413. Had to hunt around a bit for the trail, since my FS topo map (FS topo maps are the worst) had the trail on the north side of the creek, when it's really 100 feet or so south of it.

I decided I'd go down Gaddes Canyon (below the road it runs into Black Canyon trail) until the trail leaves the creek. I think that was about 2 miles. This turned out to be the most enjoyable part of the route; there was water flowing out of the ground about a quarter mile down from the road, and the creek had decent flow the rest of the way. This helped ease my mind about whether I'd run out of water before I got back to the Jeep...

Below the spring the canyon was nice and lush. I even stopped at a few places to try and see if I could find any berries. Eventually got to the part where the trail exits into manzanita and other scrub, and decided I didn't want that. Started going down the actual creek for a bit, but it was slow going and, as much as I wanted to see where it starts a precipitous drop, I didn't feel like rock hopping.

Filled up at the spring on the way back (probably didn't even need to filter). Knew I was close to the road when I heard a really loud gunshot. Welcome to AZ. The upper part of Gaddes Canyon was not as interesting, but it wasn't bad, and the flow resumed (though much lighter) where the canyon turned north.

	Gaddes Canyon	Light flow	Light flow
	Dry at FR413. Consistent flow starting about a quarter mile downstream from the road. Also a trickle in the upper part of the canyon between Gaddes Canyon trail and where the canyon bends east.

_____________________

Jul 26 2021

Routes 154
Photos 1,505
Triplogs 266

31 male

Joined Jun 02 2019
Phoenix, AZ

Gaddes - Burnt Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jul 26 2021
		LJW • Triplogs 266

Hiking	22.29 Miles	4,090 AEG

Hiking	22.29 Miles	8 Hrs 14 Mns	2.98 mph
	4,090 ft AEG	45 Mns Break

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12 linked trail guides

Mingus Trail #105A

View Point Trail #106

Yaeger Cabin Trail #111

Powerline Trail #549

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Attempted to loop Gaddes Canyon with the entirety of Burnt Canyon since I'd never seen either running with water. Ended up cutting it short and skipped the roughest portions of Burnt Canyon. Probably started too far away, but I hadn't stretched my legs in a while, and I was curious to try descending off the mountain from West Rim to Powerline without a trail. Started from around Mescal Tank and went clockwise at 5am.

Soaking wet on North Mingus and View Point. Little overgrown on both, got started and stayed wet through Gaddes. Only a little mud round the east side of the mountain. Sweet sunrise views over a sea of clouds settled in the Verde Valley. Clouds were sliding up Mingus behind me by the time I topped out on View Point.

The short stretch of Gaddes Canyon I did was the muddiest part of the day. Water running down the trail in parts. Got into Gaddes Canyon and onto Gaddes Two with the unfamiliar roar of water. Never paid attention to how many creek crossings there are before. There are many, and they were rather wide and difficult. Longest trip down Gaddes before and one of the most delightful.

Had planned on taking Black Canyon Trail down to Black Canyon and following Burnt Canyon back up. It was already looking pretty stormy on the Mingustop, and clouds were pushing their way up Black Canyon and over the ridge. Decided the views were better on the road despite the water in the canyon, plus I was worried how rough it would be in spots along the lower end of Burnt Canyon with the water running high. Wanted to avoid that frustration and was trying not to descend off the mountain in a late morning storm. So I cut the corner and took the road past upper Black Canyon and climbed down into Burnt Canyon from a campsite. It's definitely beautiful any time of year but with the brown stream of water flowing down in the wide draw through the open pines, and especially on a stormy day, it was real special. Easy travel from there up, successfully cut out the bushwhacking.

Roads and woods to Yaeger Cabin Trail. First time on that one and was impressed. Runs through the forest below the road. Nice connector. Best not on a weekend with Mingus' car traffic. Took that to Yaeger Canyon and up the road to Butterfly. Cut the thirty feet up from the road and followed it along the harvest boundary. Thinning going on east by the hang-gliding area. In retrospect, I think Butterfly, Middle, and West Rim are closed, as well as the hang-gliding area. Took Middle for a couple minutes then up through the woods to West Rim. West Rim is not marked for thinning. Nice to see the forest thinned, but's also nice to know at least one corner will be left alone.

Got to the edge of Mingus and it was all clouds and fog. Could not see a thing. Walked the edge until I thought I found a wide enough game trail to descend. It was steep, wet, muddy, disorienting, and totally rad. Bounced around the mountainside and was lucky not to cliff out. Trails here and there. Moderate bushwhack. Only 600 feet down, will try a ridge next time. Made it to Powerline/Bug Hollow and had an uneventful and wonderfully cloudy walk back to the car. Didn't see anyone all day besides some logging trucks. Many deer. 60s-70s. Lots and lots of mushrooms. Imagine the mountain will dry up quick.

Wildflowers Observation Light
Mostly on Gaddes Two

Medium flow

76-100% full

Heavy flow

76-100% full

3 archives

Jun 24 2021

DixieFlyer

Guides 99
Routes 1,486
Photos 16,077
Triplogs 1,376

male

Joined Jan 07 2017
Fountain Hills,

Verde Valley LO - Mingus LO - Hyde LO, AZ

Hiking		Jun 24 2021
		DixieFlyer • Triplogs 1,376

Hiking	12.50 Miles	2,992 AEG

Hiking	12.50 Miles
	2,992 ft AEG

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[ checklist ] Hyde Mountain Fire Lookout Mingus Mountain Fire Lookout

Hyde Mountain #6

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I decided to head into the Prescott NF on the last day that it is open before closing due to fire danger. I did 3 different hikes and bagged 3 fire lookouts that I had not done before: the Verde Valley Fire Lookout; the Mingus Fire Lookout; and the Hyde Mountain Fire Lookout.

Verde Valley LO
At an elevation of 3,980', this is the lowest of Arizona's 120 Fire Lookouts(past or present). Actually this lookout no longer exists and at the site you could not tell that a lookout was ever there -- the site has been graded and leveled. A road now goes just below the site of the former lookout -- the hike was 383' in length with 13 feet of elevation gain. It is obvious that they don't really want you up there, so I did not tarry -- it took me 108 seconds to do the hike, so this was my quickest hike ever.

Based on what I can gather, this lookout was in use as early as 1931, and a cabin was built in 1938 at this site between Jerome and Clarkdale. The land was donated by the Upper Verde Public Utilities Corporation.

Mingus Mountain LO
I had been by the Mingus LO several times but had never hiked up to it. It is a trivial hike to get there, but I decided to make a legitimate hike out of by doing a CW loop on the Coleman Trail, Gaddes Canyon Two Trail, and the Gaddess Canyon Trail. I started at the day use recreation area near the top of Mingus Mountain.

Mingus Mountain was first used as a daily patrol fire lookout in 1911. A tower was first built there in 1921. The current tower is still in use, although I not sure when it was constructed. The Mingus Lookout complex was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Hyde Mountain LO
The LO Cabin is at the Hyde Mountain Summit. I did an out-and-back hike on Hyde Mountain Trail #6. Not surprisingly, I did not see any other hikers. I did not see any wildlife, although there was a fair amount of bear scat in some sections of the trail. I like this area, and wouldn't mimd going back out there and do some more hiking in the area.

The windows in the cabin/house are boarded shut. I located the benchmark and both reference marks, which are on the east side of the cabin. There are great 360 degree views at the summit.

The lookout is a cabin/house instead of a tower. It was constructed in 1937 or 1938 and is no longer in use. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

I have now been to 34 fire lookouts in Arizona -- only 86 more to go. I doubt if I will get to them all, but I should be able to do 70-80 of the 120.

Distance and elevation gain for the Mingus and Hyde hikes are below. Stats above are the sum of the two.
Mingus: 7.7 miles with 1,535 feet of elevation gain
Hyde: 4.8 miles with 1,457 feet of elevation gain

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Apache Plume Arizona Thistle Century Plant

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Benchmark Fire Lookout Structures Reference Mark

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

_____________________

Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there

2 archives

May 01 2021

John10s

Guides 25
Routes 376
Photos 5,897
Triplogs 346

40 male

Joined Mar 01 2018
Chandler, AZ

Mingus Butterfly Loop, AZ

Hiking		May 01 2021
		John10s • Triplogs 346

Hiking	16.23 Miles	2,810 AEG

Hiking	16.23 Miles	8 Hrs 9 Mns	2.54 mph
	2,810 ft AEG	1 Hour 46 Mns Break

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6 linked trail guides

[ checklist ] Humphreys Peak Mingus Mountain Fire Lookout

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TboneKathy

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With hotter temperatures in the valley, we headed north for some cooler weather and returned to Mingus Mountain for a longer loop-version of a hike we did in Gaddes Canyon last fall. We mapped out a figure-eight loop of ~19 miles and planned to take a detour over to Geronimo Cabin, which would add ~ one more mile. We started at Mingus Rec Area in the middle of the "eight" and started clockwise down Coleman Trail to FR 413 and connected with Gaddes Canyon Trail. We had some nice views looking east over Cottonwood from the overlook near the parking lot and at various points along the trail, but it was a hazy/smoky morning, and the colors were very muted looking toward Sedona.

Partway up Gaddes, we left the trail and cut up the side of the canyon toward Geronimo Cabin. We eventually connected with a drainage and started making our way back south with a plan to move west toward the cabin once we were at the right elevation. The route may have worked, but between increasingly thick brush and lots of bouldering, it was slowing our pace enough that we decided to save the cabin for another day from a faster approach so we could keep moving and get more mileage in on the loop. It would have been interesting to see the cabin, but we headed back to Gaddes, passed the lookout tower, and completed the southern loop, which was ~8 miles total.

For the upper portion of the figure-eight, we started counterclockwise from the rec area and passed the TV/radio towers and the hang-gliding launch area. There were a few nice overlooks along that stretch, including some views of Jerome and the San Francisco peaks, but the colors were still very washed out and faded in the haze even in the afternoon sun. We could also see smoke from a wildfire burning in the distance to the northeast.

We started down the switchbacks at North Mingus and could tell that we weren't going to have time to complete the full northern loop as we'd planned, and rather than get to the bottom of the canyon just to turn around and start back up and see the same scenery, we opted to turn back early and start clockwise along the loop to see Butterfly Spring. Back on top of Mingus, it was easy hiking through the forest, and the trunks of a lot of the trees were marked with bands of orange spray paint around eye level, presumably for future thinning. We saw some deer on the way to Butterfly Tank and Spring, which were both dry. There was one tank with some water (not named on any maps that I've seen) near Butterfly Spring. We turned around at the dam near FR 104, where a single tree stump on the ground was covered in neon graffiti.

We headed back to the starting point at the Rec Area and checked out the overlook one more time. We didn't finish the full-figure eight thanks to the time spent on the detour toward Geronimo Cabin, so the hike turned into one southern loop and two shorter out-and-back routes to the north. But we still got some decent mileage, the temperature was perfect, and the views were nice.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Greater Short-Horned Lizard Mule Deer

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Graffiti

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

Apr 18 2021

Routes 154
Photos 1,505
Triplogs 266

31 male

Joined Jun 02 2019
Phoenix, AZ

Kendall Peak Loop, AZ

Hiking		Apr 18 2021
		LJW • Triplogs 266

Hiking	19.25 Miles	3,671 AEG

Hiking	19.25 Miles	6 Hrs 33 Mns	3.18 mph
	3,671 ft AEG	30 Mns Break

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Black Canyon Trail #114

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One of my favorite hikes of last year, went round again this time without the lake, lookout, or cabin. Started near the upper Little Yeager TH and went clockwise around 7am. Road to Mingus Lake gate is now paved.

Wanted to get my least favorite sections out of the way first. Little Yeager is a smooth mountain biking trail. Have never passed any bikers on the trail, but I'd be curious to see some of the jumps in action. Took that to Yeager Canyon near 89a and headed back up Mingus.

Road walk past a thousand campers to Butterfly. Highlight stretch begins and goes on for miles. Next up was Middle Trail before turning onto West Rim. Took the first spur to the double track that leads out toward the hang gliding pad. At some point cut through the woods over to that area. Forest thinning hasn't started yet around there.

Roads to Gaddes and then Gaddes 2. Favorite trail of the hike, makes for a nice descent. Black Canyon trail then off trail to Ash Canyon. Was hoping for run off and found a trickle.

Up Kendall and then down and around the ridge back to the car. Only saw one hiker on Little Yeager and a group of mountain bikers on Gaddes. Absolutely beautiful weather. Gate to the lake isn't open yet.

7 archives

Oct 17 2020

The_Eagle

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,762

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Mingus Oaks and Butterfly with Gaddes, AZ

Hiking		Oct 17 2020
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,762

Hiking	19.03 Miles	3,592 AEG

Hiking	19.03 Miles	8 Hrs 31 Mns		2.50 mph
	3,592 ft AEG	55 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

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joebartels

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Out to Mingus for cooler temps and searching for color. The dusty dirt road leading to the top of Mingus is all packed down with fresh aggregate and staked. We find out later from some passing strange-r, that paving will start this week.

We made the obligatory stop at the hang glider spot for the views. The Horse Fire smoke was evident from here. In all my trips to Mingus, I still have yet to see any hang gliders.

Popping down from the top from Mingus on the 105 trail, we got to see some pockets of red maples. Not rim worthy, but very nice nonetheless. On the 2 track portion of the 105, we ran into Curly and Moe (aka @chumley and @John9l). After a short catch up, we continued on our merry way. We passed one of Curly's dirt cairns, shortly thereafter, pointing the way.

We started getting into more Oaks on the 548 and 550 trails, which are Joe's Fav.

After an .8 mile road walk, we were happy to be on the Butterfly Trail (No butterflies were harmed during this portion of the hike, or even seen). We hit the Middle trail I believe for the first time. This will be in future rotations.

After some lunch, we moved on to the southern portion of our figure eight. Gaddes #110 and especially Gaddes Two #9307 have been a favorite of ours for years. We are usually heading steeply up on these. For a change of pace, we headed down and hit the light pretty good on the oaks. Joe went all @Tibber on me taking more than 3 zillion photos of the oaks and walnut trees.

I was not looking forward to the climb up Colman towards the end of an 18+ mile hike, but with a few stops to get my HR down, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

One of the most memorable loops up on Mingus.

After delays because of accidents on 69 in front of Lucky's and then believe it or not, a 15 mile backup on I-17 from an accident somewhere around exit 242, I made it home dirty, tired and hungry and thirsty.

_____________________

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

2 archives

Oct 17 2020

chumley

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

52 male

Joined Sep 18 2002
Tempe, AZ

North Mingus Loop, AZ

Hiking		Oct 17 2020
		chumley • Triplogs 1,993

Hiking	12.21 Miles	2,550 AEG

Hiking	12.21 Miles	5 Hrs 15 Mns	2.47 mph
	2,550 ft AEG	18 Mns Break

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Mingus Inner Maze Loop

View Point-North Mingus Loop

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John9L

I wasn't up for a full figure 8 and 9L had done the south loop before, so I opted for the north side. We parked at the pass and started on Upper Mescal before heading downhill through the oaks on Bug Hollow. North Mingus took us through a couple of patches of autumn glory before we opted to climb up the ridge in the shade rather than ascending on the exposed view point trail.

Nobody flying today, but I found an old singletrack that heads from the parking area toward the campground. It's a nice alternative to the road. Heading west across a meadow, I encountered another well-manicured trail that hooked up with Gaddes and that took me up to the lookout tower, where we had a nice break. Heading down from the tower, there are quality use trails that lead to the lake and after crossing the road we opted to do a quick cross country jaunt to find the dead end of the Middle Trail before descending on Butterfly. We encountered several old trails with different colored tree markings in the middle earth section of the mountain. It seems like there could be much better maps of all the routes up here.

Besides at the parking spots and lake, only saw two older folks out on the trails. Since it wasn't a super aggressive plan for the day, we got a little later start, and still got home before I-17 got shut down. #winning

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Benchmark Memorial

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mingus Lake

_____________________

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

1 archive

Oct 17 2020

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Mingus Oaks and Butterfly with Gaddes, AZ

Hiking		Oct 17 2020
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	18.41 Miles	3,514 AEG

Hiking	18.41 Miles	8 Hrs 29 Mns	2.47 mph
	3,514 ft AEG	1 Hour 2 Mns Break

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The_Eagle

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I took my own advice from last year to utilize an established trail in this mini figure-eight loop. Then I gambled on switching the direction of travel. It's a rare treat going against the grain with such success. The light followed us nearly throughout the day. The foliage symphony crested on one of my favorite trails.

North Mingus Trail #105
We descended since Denny snubbed us. Two short maple pockets with fair color.

Bug Hollow Trail #548 & Upper Mescal Trail #550
Oaks were turning, but I enjoy these anytime. Horseshoe Bend hikers(cough) would call these yawners.

Middle Trail #537
We adjusted the planned route to include the half we never previously hiked. It's an old road in a forest of dense slender pines. Most of which appear to be tagged for thinning. I appreciate dominant pine stretches more in the summer but liked the change of scenery today.

Gaddes Canyon Two Trail #9037
I'm a huge fan of oaks and this trail. After years of dreaming about Gaddes' prime foliage potential, it was incredible. Probably as good as I'll ever experience.

Coleman Trail #108
We usually descend this to get it over with, with less effort. Rocky up top and blazing sun exposure on the slope are the gripes. Even ascending, this was more enjoyable than usual. Time to let go of the old grudge when the slope was a brushy nuisance.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Walnut Gambel Oak

Autumn Foliage Observation Substantial
Extreme oaks in areas if instamaple opioids haven't hazed your perception of Autumn.

_____________________

- joe

Sep 11 2020

Routes 154
Photos 1,505
Triplogs 266

31 male

Joined Jun 02 2019
Phoenix, AZ

Geronimo Cabin - Kendall Peak, AZ

Hiking		Sep 11 2020
		LJW • Triplogs 266

Hiking	21.49 Miles	4,242 AEG

Hiking	21.49 Miles	7 Hrs 51 Mns	3.03 mph
	4,242 ft AEG	45 Mns Break

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Black Canyon Trail #114

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Back to Mingus for what ended up being one of my favorite hikes of the year. Re-trod some of my favorite old ground on the north side of the loop and borrowed the southern half from HAZ. Originally drew up and hiked a similar loop a month ago, but if I'm remembering right I have @joebartels @The_Eagle and @chumley to thank for the route from Black Canyon to Kendall Peak.

Started at the #533 trailhead (pulloff) off 89a around 6am and went clockwise. Shady until onto Mingus proper on Yaeger Canyon. Alien sunrise through the atmospheric smoke. Orange to rose gold to plain white. Beat back the strength of the sun, and it was cool all day, although it made for weird lighting for snapping pictures.

Road walk to Butterfly. Cut up from the road and walked the stretch of Butterfly that runs adjacent to it. Took that to Middle trail. Two of my favorites on Mingus, but the dense pine forest is marked for clearing. Probably for the best. Walked the woods to the hangliding pad and had a look out through the haze.

More roads to Mingus Lake. Quick break, then through the woods up to the lookout. There was a ranger there walking toward the gate. Said good morning from behind, and he seemed quite unhappy to see me. Turns out the LO area is closed off for the duration of the pandemic. Ended up a real cordial conversation and a nice on-the-feet-break. John and I talked Mingus and firefighting and agreed not to forget what day it was and then went our separate ways.

Gaddes Canyon, up and over the ridge into the Geronimo drainage. Lots of trails to work with getting down. Trail from the drainage all the way to the cabin, and judging by the stonework, spring box, and metal trash, it might be one of Pena's himself. Good amount of catclaw. Cabin is really neat. There's some boots in the cabin that, whether or not they're legit, are in about two dozen shredded pieces.

Back up then down Gaddes Two. Another Mingus favorite. Rest of the loop is pretty much through open ponderosa pine forest that is almost impossible not to love. Black Canyon and Burnt Canyon route goes off trail. Open canyon floor and decent game/use trails make for really easy going travel. Feels far away, apart from the planes and sounds of distant motors. Lots of bear scat and some water in Burnt Canyon. Nice time of year for it with the canyon so lush and green.

Ash Canyon more delightful forest. Up to Kendall Peak which is more of the same only you're going up. To whomever lost their green HikeArizona hat on Kendall Peak's eastern ridge, I found it if you want it back. Views from the top not bad. Prescott ranges. Disturbed a couple hunters who were hanging around near the summit. Whoops. Down the ridge to the road and over another ridge to cut corners and get in on even more pine forest. From there, uneventful but beautiful road walk to Little Yaeger, which is probably best on a mountain bike.

Only saw the three people on the day. Similar trail use on a weekend, but the road traffic goes up. Temperatures never hit 80. Nice way to hold over until fall.

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

Dry

Pools to trickle

51-75% full

Dry

Dry

51-75% full

1 archive

Jul 18 2020

hikerdw

Routes 268
Photos 2,969
Triplogs 541

66 male

Joined Aug 16 2009
Mesa,AZ

South Mingus, AZ

Hiking		Jul 18 2020
		hikerdw • Triplogs 541

Hiking	12.32 Miles	2,404 AEG

Hiking	12.32 Miles	5 Hrs 16 Mns	2.80 mph
	2,404 ft AEG	52 Mns Break

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Seeing @joebartels and @The_Eagle recent triplogs for the area figured this would be a good hike and that it was. Only saw one other hiker the entire day. Temps were great in the morning, really nice at the higher elevations, and tolerable on the descent back to the trailhead. Saw 5 deer, one very close which we followed for a bit. A mix of terrain, groomed trails, old abandoned trails, off-trail, and forest roads made for ideal conditions. Had a nice lunch break on Kendall Peak. Fantastic day hiking South Mingus.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Tarantula

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Miscellaneous Survey Marker

_____________________

Expect to self rescue

Jun 06 2020

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Yeager - Gaddes - Burnt - Ash - Kendall Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 06 2020
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	15.59 Miles	3,071 AEG

Hiking	15.59 Miles	7 Hrs 53 Mns	2.24 mph
	3,071 ft AEG	56 Mns Break

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