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| Backpack | 6.50 Miles |
3,711 AEG |
| | Backpack | 6.50 Miles | 8 Days | | |
| 3,711 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Wild Arizona's Wild Stew Field Crew, in partnership with the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance, Coronado National Forest and Chiricahua Regional Council, as well as the volunteer Chiricahua Wilderness Trail Crew and other local volunteers, has completed a restoration of an approximately 2 mile section of the South Fork Trail through the steep side canyon that is locally known as the "Chute", between the departure of the trail from the South Fork of Cave Creek and the bottom of the basin below Burnt Stump Spring and Sentinel Peak.
This section of trail was heavily damaged in 2014's Hurricane Odile with over 1/3 of the tread completely obliterated and another 1/3 heavily damaged. Various efforts over the years have restored the lower 4 miles of trail, but until recently little to no restoration work had begun in the chute.
In September 2021, volunteers with the Chiricahua Wilderness Trail Crew joined efforts with Wild Arizona's Wild Stew Field Crew to begin preparing the corridor through existing trail and a series of reroutes, then in November the Wild Stew Field Crew spent two 8-day hitches building the reroutes and repairing damaged trail in between.
As it currently stands, the trail is in good condition to within approximately 0.2 mi below the junction with the Burnt Stump Trail, and is only partially cleared the remaining distance with flagging marking the route to the junction. Neither Burnt Stump nor South Fork is currently in good condition above those points, so through-hikes or loops remain a challenge, but even as-is the trail makes for a lovely 12 mile out-and-back through beautiful riparian canyons with brilliant red cliffs and spires. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Substantial
Late in the season up higher but still brilliant colors on maples in the first few miles of the canyon |
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