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| | | Thumb Butte 315 317 316, AZ | | | |
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Thumb Butte 315 317 316, AZ
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Oct 01 2005 |
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| Nan |
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| Hiking | 2.00 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 2.00 Miles | 1 Hour | | 2.00 mph |
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| Partners |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | I thought I'd check these trails out. since no-one had written them up yet and I had some hours to kill before the Prescott Folk Festival kicked off. I made a loop, starting on TR315, turning west where it ends at 317, and taking 316 back to the parking lot. The 2 miles is an estimate. This makes for a pleasant nature walk without much elevation gain but a wide variety of plant and animal life. All the trail intersections are well-marked.
TR315 starts from the east end of the parking lot, behind the Host's campsite, or you can take a flight of stairs and a little-worn track across to the trail. The trail ascends gradually, past the round aluminum (?) watertower that it's named for, followed by a great view of some expensive houses. Suburbia falls behind once you reach TR317 and turn east. The trail follows along a small ridge. This day I could see smoke gathering in the depression between the ridge and Thumb Butte. I startled a deer, which politely waited while I fished my camera out, posed nicely, then went sproinging off down the hill! The Host later said it was probably driven over by the fires to the west - source of the smoke that I saw. Coming back down TR316, the pine spars, victims of the bark beetle, were more in evidence. Woodpeckers and huge black crows were busily hammering them. TR316 drops you back in the parking lot across from one of the restrooms, a few hundred feet from where you started.
Footnote:The trail marked as TR316A on the map is 389 on the trail markers. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
running the trail widdershins. About halfway back the Dutchman trail it turned into a virtual rush hour of hikers heading the opposite direction - this would've been about noonish.
I found a shady spot for lunch near some of the orange tubular flowers (justicia?) that were everywhere, and enjoyed the company of flocks of butterflies. Heading back north the cairns were easier to sight for some reason, and I got back on the proper BC trail, which was pretty overgrown in places - I'm talking acacia trees!
, so I had grit in my shoes and half a dozen hot spots on my feet all the way down... not too pleasant.
