gbadams' Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

login for filter options

Jun 19 2021

gbadams

Routes 9
Triplogs 7

male

Joined Apr 14 2002
Tempe, AZ

Herder Mountain Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 19 2021
		gbadams • Triplogs 7

Hiking	8.90 Miles	2,284 AEG

Hiking	8.90 Miles	5 Hrs 10 Mns	1.91 mph
	2,284 ft AEG	30 Mns Break

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

I presume that Herder Mountain got its name because of its function as a landmark on the old sheep trail from the San Tan Valley to Heber (google Heber-Reno Sheep Trail Driveway). Somehow, the sheep herds were led from Sycamore Creek just west of Sugarloaf to the Bushnell Tanks; they must have passed by Sheep Mesa and Herder Mountain along the way.

This is a loop passing over the summit of Herder Mountain, ascending from the east and descending to the south. I left 87 at the Mesquite Wash staging area and parked where FR160 first crosses Sycamore Creek; the starting elevation is about 2040 ft. This area is heavily used by OHV riders in the winter, so summer is a good time for a hiker to visit.

You could start this hike by simply following FR160 north along the creek bed over to lower Otero Canyon; instead, I left 160 to follow a motorbike-trail shortcut which rejoins 160 at the 2400-ft level. Taking the shortcut probably saves around a half a mile, but does skip what would have been a nice shady section on this hot summer afternoon. The condition of the shortcut trail is what you would expect for a motorbike trail through decomposed granite hills. Once back on the forest road, I more or less followed it west and upwards to the intersection of forest roads 160 and 1855; when passing this intersection, the return path for this hike is only about 500 ft to the south. I continued west on 160 for about another three-quarters of a mile and up to the 3000-ft level, where 160 makes a sharp right turn to the north; this is where I left 160 for the cross-country ascent.

From the sharp turn on 160, the summit of Herder Mountain is in clear view. There is a ridge descending eastward from near the summit and ending in a little hill just to the northwest of the sharp right turn. This ridgeline provides rather easy cross-country travel, not too much underbrush, no side hills with slippery decomposed granite slopes, and not too many rocks. I followed this ridgeline up to about 3300 ft, where the terrain peaks up sharply; because I did this hike later in the afternoon, and approached from the east, by this time I was pleasantly in the shade of the mountain, so I took a nice little 10 minute break.

After the break, a little bit of switchbacking, first south and then north, got me up to the ridgeline below the summit. Twenty minutes after my break, I was standing on the summit at just below 3700 ft. Great views and a nice breeze.

For the descent, I followed the Herder Mountain ridgeline southwest and then south. A few short sections were a bit steep for descending comfortably amid rocks and decomposed granite; I was glad to have my hiking poles. The ridgeline finally drops you into a wash at about 2700 ft. This wash is unnamed on the topo maps, but it contains a well-used jeep/quad trail which my GPS hunt map shows as FR3472.

I followed FR3472 about 0.7 miles downwash (southeast), where a motorbike trail exits to the north. This is just a short connector (500 ft or so) to another quad trail in an unnamed N-S wash; this quad trail is FR1877. After having gone 1000 ft or so to the north in this wash, I sat down for another shady 10-minute break.

From this point, one option is just to follow FR1877 north; it will eventually turn east and intersect with FR1855. Instead, after my break, I climbed the ridge to the east of the N-S wash where there is a motorbike trail along the ridge, providing another little shortcut. A quarter mile north on this ridgeline bike trail returns you to the quad trail 1877, now running east and west. A half mile east on 1877 gets you to the intersection with FR1855.

From the 1877-1855 FR intersection to the 1855-160 FR intersection is about half a mile, and there are several unsigned OHV-trail turnoffs. The one you want is only about 500 ft from the 1855-160 intersection. It is pretty easy to spot as the turnoff leads east and upwards to a pass at about 2720 ft. From that pass, this unsigned FR descends steeply (300 ft in 0.4 mi) into an unnamed wash which leads back to Sycamore Creek at a spot only about 0.5 mi downcreek from the parking area.

This last section of my hike was a wonderfully pleasant stroll. The sun had just gone down, but there was plenty of illumination supplemented by a bright half moon high in the southern sky; no headlamp required.

On this hot summer day, a little bit higher in elevation might have been preferable, but this was fine, with shady spots for rest stops and nice breezes on many of the ridgelines. And great views while descending southward from the Herder Mountain summit.

_____________________

Jul 02 2017

gbadams

Routes 9
Triplogs 7

male

Joined Apr 14 2002
Tempe, AZ

Comanche Point

Northwest, AZ

Comanche Point

Northwest, AZ

Hiking		Jul 02 2017
		gbadams • Triplogs 7

Hiking	6.00 Miles	1,200 AEG

Hiking	6.00 Miles
	1,200 ft AEG

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

I noticed that there was not a gps route posted for
Comanche Point, so I decided to post this out-and-back
from June 2017.

Many thanks to squatpuke for the accurate hike
description. I chose to park high up on the Cedar
Mountain road rather than four-wheeling down the steep,
rocky, switchbacks that lead to the intersection with
the old Cape Solitude jeep trail (which is now for foot
traffic only, as squatpuke has written); this choice
adds 1.9 miles each way, but you can probably walk the
rocky switchbacks almost as fast as you can drive them.

The old Cape Solitude jeep trail is mostly easy to
follow. For the first 1.2 miles of this trail, the
two-track goes gently downhill either in, or adjacent
to, the main feeder wash for Straight Canyon (which
eventually dumps into the Little Colorado). At the
1.2 mile mark, the wash becomes a rocky narrows; just
before the narrows, the two-track goes steeply uphill
on the eastern side of the wash. At this point, don't
bother to follow the road, just stay in the wash. Once
out of the narrows, the wash makes a sharp curve to the
east; the jeep trail now comes in steeply from the
south and crosses the wash from south to north; at this
point, leave the wash and follow the jeep trail north
and uphill. Another 1.1 miles will bring you to the
"split/junction currently marked with large cairn".
For much of this 1.1 miles, a one-track foot path
parallels the old jeep trail; I sometimes hiked on the
foot path, but overall I saw no advantage to that choice.

From the jeep-trail "split/junction", you are now
free to choose your favorite route to the low "saddle"
(I would probably call it a basin) which serves as the
starting point for the final climb up to Comanche Point.
As squatpuke writes, from the "split/junction" you can
follow the westerly jeep trail into the drainage which
leads down to the "saddle" area, but this route is a
bit out of the way. On my outward trip, I simply
wandered west and north from the junction, making
my way down the hillside into that drainage. On my
return trip, I climbed steeply out of the "saddle"
area up to the north-south ridge which parallels the
drainage on its eastern side. I think this return
route is actually the preferred one; I found the
north-south ridge to be easy and obvious cross-country
walking. Also, from the ridge you have a nice view of
your destination, which is not quite as obvious when
you are approaching in the drainage.

From the low "saddle" (at about 6335 feet, and, by a
few feet, the low point of this hike), all that remains
is to make the final entertaining climb up to the Point.
The climb is often steep, but no hands should be required
if the proper route is chosen. The cairn with "old antler
and spinal bones" was still at the Point as of this trip.

This was a gorgeous, cloudless day with great visibility.
The view is every bit as dramatic and beautiful as you
would expect. Many miles of the Colorado River and of the
Tanner trail are wonderfully laid out below just for your
leisurely inspection. All in all, a wonderful hike, far
away from even the June crowds, with an unforgettable
Canyon view.

_____________________

Jun 25 2016

gbadams

Routes 9
Triplogs 7

male

Joined Apr 14 2002
Tempe, AZ

Diamond - Indian Spring Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 25 2016
		gbadams • Triplogs 7

Hiking	10.86 Miles	2,631 AEG

Hiking	10.86 Miles	6 Hrs 4 Mns	2.12 mph
	2,631 ft AEG	57 Mns Break

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

This loop follows the old Diamond Trail (#76) westward around the north side of Diamond Mountain to Indian Spring, then more or less follows upper Indian Springs Canyon wash southward to FR 1333, then returns to the start by cutting cross-country from 1333, passing to the south of Diamond Mountain and just west of the Rincon Tanks area.

I parked on FR 1705 as near as possible to the eastern end of the old Diamond Trail (unmarked). Right away, I followed a recent cattle trail instead of finding the old Diamond track (which is on the eastern side of the little wash at the start), but the two tracks soon merged. The only forest service signage that remains on the old trail is just before encountering FR 1697 (see the waypoint on my GPS route for this hike). Head steeply uphill on 1697, looking occasionally to the right for the unmarked resumption of the Diamond single-track. Once this has been found, the old Diamond trail is easy to follow (but the underbrush does intrude -- you will get scratched up a bit if you wear shorts) until you get close to the saddle just to the north of Indian Spring peak. In this region, a fire (I think it was the 2012 Sunflower fire) has made trail finding difficult if you haven't been here before. I could find no remnants at all of the old trail on this saddle; it used to be easily visible going westward and downhill from this high saddle to the adjacent lower saddle which is just east of peak 4580. At that lower saddle, the old track splits to make a lasso loop around the north-south ridge of which peak 4580 is the northern end; at the western extremity of the loop, the trail passes througha corral, which I marked with a waypoint on my GPS route (though I didn't go there on this trip). The fire did not burn the underbrush to the north of peak 4580, so that northern branch of the trail is still visible, but today I wanted to so south to Indian Spring. The southern branch of the trail used to wind through some rather heavy underbrush, which is now all gone, and I could see no trace of the old trail, so I just wandered south, parallel to the wash, across the slowly revegetating hillside. As I got about halfway to Indian Spring I started to spot occasional remnants of the old trail, which got more clear and frequent as I approached the Spring. On this day, there was a nice clear shallow pool at the Spring from which one could have easily filtered water. Coming out of the Spring, the old trail was at first very evident, but then got rather faint, but possible to follow. About a quarter of a mile before the corral, I left Trail 76 and headed south, looking for an old cowboy trail that provides a horse route to the lower parts of Indian Springs Canyon. It was fairly easy to find the spot where the cowboy trail climbs out of the little wash that comes downhill from the corral; I marked this spot with a waypoint on the GPS route. The cowboy trail is mostly easy to follow though it does disappear in spots; underbrush is not an issue at all except right at the southern end, near the connection with FR 1333. This northern extremity of FR 1333 is just a motorbike trail, but it becomes a full quad trail as soon as it drops down into Indian Springs Canyon, where I stopped for another shady break. Now follow 1333 as it climbs steeply out of the Canyon, passing near to some nice white quartz peaks, past the dry tank which is variously known as Quartz Tank or Indian Springs Tank, and up to a pass which the elevation profile of my route shows as being at 3523 ft. From this pass, the objective is to cross the low basin which is south of Diamond Mountain and just west of Black Mesa and the Rincon Tanks area, returning to FR 1705 and completing the loop. Head down 1333 from the pass looking for an old unnumbered jeep trail which goes north from 1333, curling around to an unnamed spring. I didn't check out the spring, but it is nice to find the jeep trail, because there is a gate on that trail which allows you to get into the basin area without climbing a fence. From this gate, the hike is purely cross country until you get into the old jeep trails that come westward out of the Rincon Tanks area. At the lowest part of this passage (at about an elevation of 3080 ft.) I did find and follow what looked like an old horse trail; this was in between the first two wash crossings of this passage. Once I lost the old horse trail, it was just cross country until finding the old jeep trail system; though the cross country wasn't bad, a better option might be just to rock-hop up the easternmost wash. Once into the jeep trails, you can take your pick of various ways to get back onto FR 1705; I took one more little cross-country short cut between jeep trails, which wasn't bad at all.

All in all, a fun loop, not too long, and high enough in elevation to avoid the heat of the lower deserts on this beautiful June day.

_____________________

5 archives

Jun 08 2013

gbadams

Routes 9
Triplogs 7

male

Joined Apr 14 2002
Tempe, AZ

Dome Mountain North Ridge Loop, AZ

Hiking		Jun 08 2013
		gbadams • Triplogs 7

Hiking

Hiking	6 Hrs 30 Mns	0.00 mph

no photosets

Linked

linked

Dome Mountain Loop

Partners

none

no partners

I wanted to hike the ridge to the north of Dome Mountain. Having obtained the Bulldog Canyon pass from the Forest Service, I entered FR10 at the north end (Blue Point entrance) and parked where FR10 first intersects the passing power lines. Headed east on the power line jeep trail, then on an old quad trail, aiming for what looked like hikeable access to the ridge. A few cairns and an occasional faint footpath eventually led up to the ridge (marked Saddle 1 on the accompanying GPS route). The hike along the ridge south to Dome Mountain was mostly a pleasant cross country hike, but there were a few issues. Immediately south of Saddle 1, unhikeable rock formations forced a drop down on the eastern side of the ridge; underbrush was an issue climbing back up. And about halfway to Dome there is a section where the passages between the rocks appear to be well-guarded by underbrush (marked Rocks and Underbrush on the GPS route), but there is enough easily climbable smooth rock here to scramble up without trouble. Just before Dome, the rock formations again force a drop below the ridge on the eastern side, and after climbing back up I took a little detour to visit the three Game and Fish camo tanks on the western flank of Dome Mountain. The view from the summit of the north peak of Dome Mountain is wonderful -- a great view of the Goldfields, with the Flatiron, Weaver's, and Four Peaks all prominent in the distance. I came off of Dome on the eastern side, and found the faint and lightly-cairned trail that leads around to an unnumbered jeep trail (see the satellite photo, not shown on MyTopo) which continues south to upper Bulldog Canyon. East in Bulldog makes for a simple return to FR10, and then about 4 miles north on FR10 makes for an easy return to the vehicle.

_____________________

Aug 19 2012

gbadams

Routes 9
Triplogs 7

male

Joined Apr 14 2002
Tempe, AZ

Hackberry Mesa Loop, AZ

Hiking		Aug 19 2012
		gbadams • Triplogs 7

Hiking	8.22 Miles

Hiking	8.22 Miles	4 Hrs 46 Mns	1.72 mph

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

From the Horse Trailer Parking Lot on First Water Road I took one of the several possible trails over to the Hackberry Spring area. From a little north of the spring area along First Water Creek a trail leads east towards Hackberry Mesa. This trail will connect with the Garden Valley trail in the saddle just west of the tip of Hackberry Mesa, but just before that saddle is reached, a spur trail exits to the east leading to a digging on the west side of the Mesa. The digging/mine is prominent and easy to spot as you climb up from First Water creek, so you can see where you will be heading. From the digging, a fainter trail leads up to the next ridge and another old digging. From here, the route is cross country up over the tip of the Mesa and down to the Cholla Tank. Just below the tip of the Mesa (about 20-25 feet), there is another digging/mine which was a surprise, as I hadn't spotted any sign of it from down below. Cross country from the Mesa tip to Cholla Tank was a pleasant slow stroll down the gentle eastern slope of Hackberry Mesa, with great views of Geronimo Head and the Needle. The weathered lava rock and the underbrush caused a little zigzagging, but were never a serious obstacle. Perhaps, after a wet winter, heavy grass and healthy brittlebush could be an issue. Once at the Tank, I took a quick side trip up to the low saddle just north of the tank, then returned via the Cholla Tank, 2nd Water, and Garden Valley trails (with a cross-country shortcut from the 2nd Water tank to the Garden Valley trail). On this warm day, having a snack while sitting in PaloVerde shade in a nice breeze atop Hackberry Mesa was a great pleasure.

_____________________

Aug 04 2012

gbadams

Routes 9
Triplogs 7

male

Joined Apr 14 2002
Tempe, AZ

Apache Leap

Globe, AZ

Apache Leap

Globe, AZ

Hiking		Aug 04 2012
		gbadams • Triplogs 7

Hiking	6.84 Miles

Hiking	6.84 Miles	5 Hrs 18 Mns	1.29 mph

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

Followed Preston's description to park and to get out to the Leap. Cairns began to appear after passing the drilling site in the wash on the way out to the Leap. Once at the Leap, the cairns lead south along the Leap for a while, but I could find none for about the last 1/2 mile before arriving at the northernmost tank (see the gps route Apache Leap Tanks Loop); at the last ridge before the tank (wet), cairns again appeared. After the northernmost tank, the remnants of an old old jeep trail, and the occasional appearance of a footpath, made the going easier. The middle tank was mostly mud, and the large southernmost tank had only a little water. The last visit to the precipice was just before the southernmost tank. From the southernmost tank, an old cowboy trail leads back to the forest road system. The trail is easy to follow, either as cairns or as a visible path, but the underbrush does occasionally close in, especially close to the north end and the intersection with the forest road, where a small cairn marks the start of the cowboy trail. The forest roads make for an easy return to the vehicle. The views of the Superior-Picketpost area from the Leap are of course spectacular, and there are many interesting rock formations.

_____________________

Jul 28 2012

gbadams

Routes 9
Triplogs 7

male

Joined Apr 14 2002
Tempe, AZ

South Maricopa Moutains-Big Horn TH, AZ

Hiking		Jul 28 2012
		gbadams • Triplogs 7

Hiking	8.00 Miles

Hiking	8.00 Miles	5 Hrs 30 Mns	1.45 mph

no routes

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

I entered at the Big Horn entrance, which is about 1.5-2.0 miles east of desert-boonie's described entrance for the description Big Horn BM 3183; there is a small structure on the south side of I8 which might help in trying to spot the entrance. You are allowed to drive 3.4 miles to the Big Horn Reservoir (dry); 4WD recommended for a couple of moderately sandy spots but 2WD should do if dry. I walked north along the jeep trail to the Gravel Pit area. The "pit" is little more than a couple of scrapes in the hillside, but the elaborate game and fish trick tank nearby was interesting. The old jeep trail branches at the Pit. I first followed the eastern branch, which drops into an unnamed wash, and then followed a ridge north of that wash to the little peak at 32.913093, -112.333244, from which there is a nice view of the Vekol Valley. Returning to the Pit area, I followed the western branch of the old jeep trail, which connects (at 32.91685, -112.379775) to the southern end of tom_h's GPS route (titled South Maricopa Mtns Loop and leaving from the northern TH for the South Maricopa Mountains Wilderness). I returned to the vehicle via the jeep trail. A lot of cloud shade but little rain made for a nice July day. No GPS on this day, but I estimate about 8 miles.

_____________________

WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.

username		X
password		X