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| Backpack | 16.70 Miles |
4,508 AEG |
| | Backpack | 16.70 Miles | 1 Day 2 Hrs 50 Mns | | |
| 4,508 ft AEG | | 22 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | I had the opportunity to get away for an overnight, and I've been wanting to try the east side of the Chiricahuas for a long time. The stars aligned and off I went!
I had planned on being at the trailhead by 10 on Friday, but things didn't work out and I got out of town late. For some reason I didn't want to drive to Herb Martyr campground with a battery that was mostly dead (as in, slightly alive). So I stopped to get a new one on the way out of town.
I started hiking from Herb Martyr just before noon. My goal was to reach Aspen Saddle to camp, which is about the halfway point on the Snowshed/Greenhouse loop.
Herb Martyr Trail
This trail was in pretty good shape. The weekend I went was a major heatwave with the valleys reaching 105; it was probably in the low 80s when I started hiking. The middle section of Herb Martyr follows an exposed ridge and man was it toasty. I hiked like a lizard, zipping between shady spots. The latter half of the trail was a super steep climb, but it was treed and therefore more tolerable. It got a little overgrown close to the junction with Snowshed, and erosion has definitely been taking its toll on tread quality up there.
Snowshed Trail
At the trail junction with Snowshed, the sign for Herb Martyr was missing. Well, pieces of it were here and there, but nothing legible. The Snowshed sign, however, was in perfect condition.
Snowshed was in fabulous condition from the junction with Herb Martyr until after just after Pine Park. This amounted to about 1/8 mile of piney greatness. The remainder of the trail to the Crest alternated between exposed scree and a bushwhack through overgrown shrubbery of various persuasions, and not all friendly. Between loose rocks and dense overgrowth the trail was a little treacherous in places. Nonetheless the trail was followable, until the approach to Snowshed Saddle where it pretty much disappeared. Pink flagging tape at the saddle was helpful.
Snowshed needs love, a lot of love. But it's worthy, with pretty incredible views along its length that just get better as you go.
I definitely underestimated how the heat and the challenging trail would slow me down. I didn't make it to the Crest and Juniper Spring until about 6pm, which was sunset. I didn't have time to collect water, hike the 3/4 mile or so to Aspen Saddle, and pitch a tent before dark. I was also pretty tired, and Juniper Saddle was gorgeous. So I collected water at the spring and hiked to a flat spot on the ridge below, carpeted with wildflowers and featuring a stunning view of Rucker Canyon.
While setting up camp I realized that I thought I had packed my tent, poles, and ground sheet, but instead had packed my rain fly, poles, and ground sheet. No tent. Whoops. So I had to cowboy camp on a perfectly temperate, cloudless, moonless night staring at a blanket of stars. I regretted packing the poles and rain fly more than I regretted forgetting the tent!
I woke very well rested to a stunning panorama of Rucker Canyon, totally stoked that I didn't make it to Aspen Saddle.
Juniper Spring
See my water report.
Crest 270C
At first the trail was very, very faint but followable. It was almost gone south of Eagle Spring. Between Eagle Spring and Aspen saddle it was still faint but followable. From Aspen to Junction it was easy to follow but overgrown, with about four downed trees across it.
This stretch of the Crest is probably my favorite because of the views into Rucker Canyon. I look forward to the time when it gets the restoration work it deserves.
Eagle Spring
See my water report.
Crest 270A
It was a freakin’ superhighway! Lots of recent tread work really shines and even the overgrown parts are easy.
The area from Junction Saddle to Cima Park had burned really badly so it was basically a steeply sloped meadow of wildflowers and tree skeletons, some of them rather spooky. I've always thought of this stretch as the Halloween Trail.
Just south of Cima Park is a stand of aspens, which were turning at the time I passed through. It was really pretty.
Anita Park
The spur trail had a shiny new sign! The trail to Anita Park was overgrown but followable without trouble. I just went to check out Anita Park, which was tall grass and standing dead trees. I sat down on a log in the midst of an aspen stand, ate a snack, and cleared the stickers and seeds out of my shoes. This was a process I repeated many times on this trip.
I decided not to bother hunting for Anita Spring since there was so much overgrowth everywhere. Mental note: when hiking the Chiricahuas in late summer, wear gaiters and bring a machete.
Greenhouse Trail
I stopped at the cabin for lunch and to take advantage of the outhouse. The outhouse was being converted into an unsanctioned rodent hotel; there was a broom inside which I used for demolition purposes.
Greenhouse was in great shape in the forested section till you get to the creek, then things get dicey. Through the creek the trail was hard to follow at times, with lots of overgrowth and obstacles around creek crossings. Lots of water to collect though! And fall colors to enjoy!
Conditions improved as the trail left the creek only in the "easy to follow" department, but not in the "wildly overgrown" one. The tread was loose rock in the burn scars. Some of the overgrowth was pretty gnarly. It was consistently overgrown all the way to the road, but down in Greenhouse Canyon it was mostly grass. There was some deadfall, but only one large tree down near Greenhouse creek gave any trouble.
Winn Falls was not flowing much, it was more Winn Trickle. The views were pretty great nonetheless.
The last 1.5 was a road walk. At least it wasn’t overgrown.
This was what I would call a "real" Chiricahua experience. Neither Snowshed nor Greenhouse trails had seen much or any maintenance in recent years, and both have been pretty majorly affected by fire. I expected this to be a tough hike. While the hike was pretty challenging it was definitely worth doing. I hope these trails get some attention, as they are great trails to access the Crest from the Portal side. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Light
The aspens are starting to turn. There are some nice splashes of red and yellow throughout the area, but especially on the Crest near Cima Saddle and along the creek in Cima Canyon. Fairly sporadic along Snowshed trail as well. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Yard-high daisies everywhere, even down the middle of most of the trails! Bring a machete. |
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Eagle Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | Nice sign but trail down to it is faint and hard to discern if you don’t know where to go. Just hike down the slippery rocks toward the pine tree off to the right (facing the sign) and down the hill a bit. The spring is northwest of the tree.
Overflow is full but slimy with algae. Cover for the spring box is about 1/3 buried with rock and gravel. The spring is useable if you don’t mind clearing out slimy gook.
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Juniper Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | Overflow trough and tank not useful. A concrete dam is holding water a bit uphill. Water is seeping out around it, making the ground a little muddy. Water in reservoir is shallow but still deep enough to submerge a small water bottle. Filters great if you're careful to keep the cruddies out; useable spring.
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Winn Falls |
Pools to trickle |
Pools to trickle |
| | | Even if the flow is great, how this is a water source is beyond me. It is impossible to get to from the trail. Jetpack? There was a trickle of water dribbling down the cliff, so I'm not sure you could really call it a waterfall at this time. | | | |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
The sheer thought of having to walk who knows how far to get help (no cell coverage in the canyon) made me look around and hope for a miracle. As I started to leave the parking lot and turned right.. there was my car! We did not realize that there were two lots, one at a lower level and yet still in the same GPS proximity.
