Pine Loop

PINE LOOP

Mazatzal Mountains from Lower Pineview Trail

When asked what passage of the Arizona National Scenic Trail is the “best” one, trail users are quick to state that it’s the one you’re currently on. 

Pine Loop uses AZT Highline Passage 26

For those who have trekked the entire 800+-mile non-motorized route that runs from the Mexico border to Utah, the oft repeated refrain precisely sums up the experience.

Highline/Arizona Trail

Traveling south to north, the trail’s 43 Passages move through wildly diverse terrains. 

Highline/Arizona Trail

Deserts, mountains, riparian corridors, canyons, chaparral, grasslands, valleys, alpine meadows and coniferous forests. So, it’s easy to understand why naming a favorite is an impossible ask.

Mogollon Rim from Lower Pineview Trail

 

But for hikers, bikers and equestrians looking to sample the trail without committing to days-long backcountry hauls, a special bias must be directed at the Highline Passage 26.

Lower Pineview Trail

As the last Passage in the Central Arizona zone, in Tonto National Forest, the 23.9-mile single track marks the transition from arid desert mountains to Arizona’s woodsy high country.

Community of Pine below the trail

It’s also one of the more approachable Passages with several trailheads, connecting trails and access points.  Treatable water is available at several springs and creeks along the way.

Arizona Trail/Pineview junction

A popular family-friendly day hike option that’s doable spring through fall is the Pine Loop. Starting at the Pine trailhead north of Payson, the loop uses the Arizona Trail/Highline, Pineview, Lower Pineview and Pine Canyon trails.

Pine Canyon Trail

The well-signed hike starts out on the Arizona Trail, which shares space with the rerouted Highline Trail. This lower elevation side of the Passage features an interesting hybrid vegetation zone where cacti, yucca and agaves make their last stands as the dominant plants among oaks, junipers and Ponderosa pines.

Pine Canyon Trail

  The loop follows the AZT/Highline Trail for one mile to the Pineview, Lower Pineview junction.  Nearby, a large information kiosk marks the spot.  This is where the loop departs the AZT and heads west on the Lower Pineview Trail. (For a longer option, go north on the Pineview Trail and follow the signs.

The Pine Loop is well signed

This adds roughly a half-mile and 200 feet of elevation to the loop). 

Pineview Trail

Lower Pineview serves up some great views of the Mazatzal Mountains to the south, the craggy cliffs leading up to the 700-foot escarpments of the Mogollon Rim and glimpses of the community of Pine.

Map of the loop

At the 1.5-mile point, the loop swerves left onto the Pineview Trail that hangs on rolling foothills studded with junipers and scrub oaks. After less than a half-mile, the loop picks up the Pine Canyon Trail heading south.  Now, the route is shaded in tall pines as it winds through gullies and drainages before ending back at the AZT/Highline Trail where the loop concludes with a backtrack to the trailhead.

Pine Trailhead 

While short in length and only mildly challenging, this scenic little loop gives a concise tour of a major shift point on the Arizona Trail and might also tempt those just sticking their toes into the world-class trail to explore deeper and maybe discover their own “best” parts. 

LENGTH: 2.9 mile loop

RATING: easy

ELEVATION: 5,362 - 5,692 feet (525 feet of accumulated elevation change)

GETTING THERE:

From Payson, drive 12.6 miles north on State Route 87 to the turnoff for the Pine Trailhead on the right. Roads are paved all the way.  There’s a restroom but no other facilities. Restaurants and services are available a short drive up SR87 in the community of Pine. 

INFO: Arizona Trail Association
https://aztrail.org/explore/passages/passage-26-highline/

+-mile

See Spring

SEE SPRING

Water rushes from a crevice at the head of See Spring

On the jagged cliffs below the Mogollon Rim, dozens of springs dispense water that filters through the porous limestone escarpments.

The hike begins with an easy crossing of Christopher Creek 

The springs range in flow from steady trickles that drain into green seeps to icy founts that gush from solid rock, carving gullies and fostering thick forests.  See Spring is one of the later. Its location half-a-mile off the See Canyon Trail along Christopher Creek in Tonto National Forest twenty miles east of Payson makes it a popular choice for a short day hike or add-on to the 2.5-mile mile artery route that climbs over 1700 feet to the top of the Rim.

There’s a local hiker adage that claims when trekking See Canyon, all you see is the canyon. This is mostly true, but, oh, what a canyon it is to behold. 

New Mexico locust grow in dense thickets on the trail.

Dense woodlands shade the See Canyon Trail

Right out of the chute, the trail delivers a rich palette of sights and sounds plus enough challenge (or not) to satisfy a full gamut of hiking styles. You don’t have to walk very far before becoming immersed in the perennial flow of Christopher Creek and the lush woodlands that thrive in its moist environs. 

Christopher Creek is a main feature of the trek.

Boxelder trees love the moist environs near See Spring

The journey begins with a brief walk on the Highline Trail. From the trailhead, follow the footpath to where a pair of white diamond symbols tacked to trees indicate where the route makes an easy crossing of the creek. On the opposite bank, walk a few yards and veer left at the See Canyon Trail junction. The next half-mile traces the stream through a mix of meadows and forests of New Mexico locust, boxelders and Ponderosa pines. Beneath the leafy canopy, healthy tangles of canyon grape vines mingle with insidious clumps of poison ivy--leaves of three, let it be.

Canyon grapes flourish in moist areas on the trail.

It’s smart to wear long pants on this hike to avoid getting an itchy rash.

Mountain vistas are sparse, but water features are plentiful

The path crosses several rocky drainages as it gently gains elevation to reveal glimpses of Promontory Butte, a major Rim land feature.  At the 0.8-mile point, head right at the See Spring Trail junction where the half-mile spur path swerves away from the creek and begins a moderate climb.  

Bigtooth maples filter sunlight on See Spring Trail

The “all you see” adage really hits home here as thick stands of Bigtooth maples, Gamble oaks, Alligator junipers, Arizona walnut and soaring Douglas and white firs choke the trail into a shady, slim passage obscuring all but sky and vegetation.  A few sets of switchbacks mitigate the 400-foot ascent that lands hikers in an enchanting natural water park setting.

Tree cover on the See Spring Trail

Roughly 1.3 miles from the trailhead, the first signs of the See Spring conglomerate of waterworks appear as jumbled ravines funneling crystalline streams.  Follow the faint footpaths another 0.2-mile and you’ll arrive at the spring source where water pours from rock crevices all around.

Golden-beard penstemons add brilliant color to the trek.

The splashy rhythms of water rushing over mossy boulders and flattened ferns complemented by bird calls and rustling leaves combine for a calming culmination of short trek with much to see. 

Scampering lizards are constant companions on the trail

See Canyon-See Spring junction

You're never far from water on this Mogollon Rim classic

See Canyon Trail traces Christopher Creek

Icy water spills from See Spring

Poison ivy. Leaves of three, let it be.

LENGTH: 2.6 miles roundtrip (5 miles with See Canyon Trail)

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION:  6106 – 6725 feet (7860 feet with See Canyon Trail)

GETTING THERE:

From Payson, go 20.2 miles east on State Route 260 to the Christopher Creek Loop exit, turn left and continue 1 mile to Forest Road 284 (across from the Tall Pines Market), turn left and go 1.6 miles to the trailhead. Access road is good dirt/gravel suitable for all vehicles. There’s a restroom at the trailhead.

INFO:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/asnf/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=44779&actid=50

MILITARY SINKHOLE TRAIL

MILITARY SINKHOLE TRAIL

View from the Rim Lakes Vista Trail

About halfway up the Military Sinkhole Trail, I thought of Michael Corleone. In a memorable scene from the 1972 film The Godfather, protagonist Corleone rebuffed a ride as he approached his ancestral Sicilian village for the first time, deciding to savor the experience by walking to it instead. I get it.

Mixed conifer woodlands on Military Sinkhole

There’s a sort of reverence associated with trekking to special places. A slower, boots-on-the-ground pace syncs well with epic experiences. Like the village of Corleone, the Mogollon Rim is a place best crept up to on foot.

Arizona Thistle grow in Rim-top meadows

The Rim is a roughly 200-mile escarpment at the edge of the Colorado Plateau that runs east-west across central Arizona.  It’s easy enough to drive right up to its precipitous cliffs and take an edgy, 40+-mile motor tour along Rim Road 300, but to get a better sense of the scale and structure of this geological wonder, you need to climb it from base-to-ceiling.

Shady forests define the Military Sinkhole Trail

One of the most convenient ways to do this is to hike up the Military Sinkhole Trail. 

One of many soulful sights on Rim Lakes Vista Trail.

Located 27 miles east of Payson on State Route 260, the historic route makes an aggressive, 850-foot ascent to scenic ledges on the top of the Rim. The multi-faceted route begins with a walk through deep, mixed-conifer woodlands of the Tonto National Forest. Shaded by enormous Douglas firs with their characteristic barbed cones, spruce and pines, the first mile is a cool and gentle climb.

There's little shade, but great views, on parts of the trail.

Top of the Drew Trail

Where the trail dips into drainages, canopies of Bigtooth maples cast filtered sunlight on moss-embellished boulders and mushrooms popping through carpets of pine needles and cracks in decaying logs. (Keep this one in mind for a fall foliage hike.) Beyond the maples, the forest thins out, emerging onto an exposed ridge to merge with an abandoned military road built by General George Crook in the 1870s.  Like many old roads in the area, this one plows uphill without the benefit of climb-calming switchbacks. 

Butterfly on Gregg's Ceanothus shrub.

It’s a rocky, quad-burning segment with little shade, but great views of the Mazatzal Mountains and green valleys mitigate the pain.

Defunct military road built by Gen. George Crook.

The ankle-twisting road gradually levels out as it enters a corridor of arching Gambel oaks and fields of bracken ferns.  At this point, vertical walls start to flank the trail, hinting at the enormity of thrills that follow. 

Bigtooth maples thrive in moist drainages.

With the hardest parts over and the jumbled cliffs of the Rim’s edge hovering above, the trail enters the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest for the final slog to the top.  At a signed junction just below Rim Road, Trail No. 179 continues straight ahead on a not-very-interesting path that connects with the General Crook Trail.

Limestone escarpments flank the final slog to the top.

 To reap the rewards you came for, head west (left) at the junction and follow Rim Lakes Vista Trail No. 622.

Keep this trail in mind for fall foliage hiking.

After a short traipse through a flowery meadow, breathtaking vistas and refreshing mountain breezes overwhelm the senses. 

Ferns grow waist-high in damp spots below the Rim.

The tough pilgramage culminates at scenic overlooks that frame wildland views. Here, hordes of camera-toting visitors stream from parked vehicles to stroll a few yards from the road for the same result.  However, regarding this experience; hiking is to driving as a clarinet is to a kazoo.  

Hooker's Evening Primrose blooms close by noon.

After savoring your hard-won eye candy, head back the way you came, or make an 11.7-mile loop by continuing 3.3 miles on Trail No. 622 to the Drew Trail No. 291.  Head 1.8 miles downhill to Highline Trail No. 31, turn left and hike 4.1 miles back to the trailhead.

A particularly fragrant section of the Military Sinkhole Tr.

A distinctively-barbed Douglas fir cone

LENGTH: 5 miles up-and-back or 11.7-mile loop.

RATING: moderately difficult

ELEVATION: 6750 – 7600 feet

GETTING THERE:

Two-Sixty Trailhead (SR260):

From Payson, go 27 miles east (right) State Route 260 to the “Two Sixty” trailhead turn off on the left. Follow the good gravel road for a quarter-mile to the trailhead parking area where there is a restroom and a corral.

Rim Lakes Vista Trailhead (Rim Road): For an optional top-down hike. From Payson, go 30 miles east (right) on State Route 260 Rim Road (Forest Road 300). Go 2 miles on FR300 to the trailhead on the left.

INFO:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/tonto/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=35605&actid=50

Highline Trail Hike Highlights VOAz Restoration Efforts

Highline Trail Hike Highlights VOAz Restoration Efforts

Dude Creek flows over the Highline Trail

Volunteers for Outdoor Arizona project manager Paul Paonessa has a name for the pre-rehabilitated condition of the Highline Trail #31: SOLPOST. The sobriquet, which was originally concocted by Woody Keen, former director of the Professional Trail Builders Association, is an acronym for “Scar On The Land Piece of S*#t Trail.” Those who have trekked certain sections of the path that runs below the Mogollon Rim north of Payson prior to 2017 will agree---that pretty much sums it up.

A section of new alignment of the Highline Trail

The historic route was cut back in the late 1800s as a travel corridor to connect homesteads and communities around the towns of Payson and Pine. The 51-mile course began to lose value when the Civilian Conservation Corps built Forest Road 64 (Control Road) in the 1930s. This posh-by-comparison road provided an alternative to the randomly built, precariously situated dirt trail. No longer needed to run cattle and wagons, the trail was re-purposed into a sporting destination and was designated as the Highline National Recreation Trail in 1979.  

VOAz's Paul Paonessa on the new AZT bridge 

Since then, a combination of neglect, misuse, wildfires and erosion have taken a devastating toll on the trail’s condition---especially the roughly 3-mile segment that runs between the Washington Park Trailhead and Dude Creek.  Impacted by the deadly 1990 Dude Fire and 2017 Highline Fire, the section’s original layout exacerbated its demise.  Back in the day, trails were blazed as point-to-point routes with no regard for sustainability.  Crudely  hacked uphill ascents, and passages through arroyos and ravines lead to drainage problems, wash outs and overgrowth conditions.

Scar of the 1990 Dude Fire

In 2012, VOAz in partnership with the Tonto National Forest, began planning for an ambitious restoration project to stabilize and, in some cases, reroute the trail. Fueled by grants and thousands of hours of volunteer labor, the project has rescued the trail from obliteration and created a safer, more scenic trek. Paonessa points to the leadership and vision of Michael Baker, Executive Director of VOAz as the driving force behind the massive endeavor.
"He is the one who  fought for the funding, arranged all the resources,  found the various volunteers, contractors and myself ( #1 crash test dummy ) to devote the time and energy." 

Paonessa, a former City of Phoenix Park Ranger, describes the work as bringing the trail back in sync with the terrain.

Badly eroded section of trail that was re-routed

“We rerouted parts of the trail to follow the natural contours of the landscape. Sections of old trail that went through overgrown depressions or plowed straight up inclines were moved onto more sustainable surfaces with better views that also keep natural watersheds intact. All the “fall line” sections of trail (deep ruts with loose rock and downed timber) have been redone or replaced by 5% grade climbs. In other words, you can now hike it, not crawl through it. Also, this October, the Arizona Trail folks installed a pedestrian bridge over the East Verde River where the AZT departs the Highline and heads north.” 

Sustainable new alignments frame epic Rim County views

Another objective of the restoration project is to enhance user experience. “We look to incorporate interesting control points when working on trails.” Paonessa adds. “Things such as historic artifacts like old culverts, unique botanical specimens and geological features add to a trail’s character.”

One section of notable improvement is where the trail was relocated from a brush-addled thorn tunnel onto an open slick rock ledge that unwinds like taffy beneath limestone escarpments that frame views of the Mazatzal Mountains previously obscured by scrub.

Paonessa on a restored section of the Highline Trail

Just beyond this Sedona-esque passage, the route winds down to meet a breathtaking half-pipe water chute at Dude Creek. Core work on the trail has been progressing at about 2 miles per season (4 miles per year) and is likely to conclude in the near future.

Once complete, the Highline Trail will have gained extra length and renewed stature as one of Arizona’s premier hiking, biking and equestrian trails.

Bigtooth maples and Gamble oaks in shades of autumn

WASHINGTON PARK to DUDE CREEK DAY HIKE

LENGTH: 6-miles roundtrip to Dude Creek and back.

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION: 6250’ – 6100’

GETTING THERE:

Washington Park Trailhead:

From Payson, go 1.7 miles north on State Route 87 to Houston Mesa Road (Forest Road 199), turn right  and continue 10 miles the “T” intersection at Control Road (Forest Road 64) in the Whispering Pines community. Turn left, go 0.6-mile and take a right on Forest Road 32.  Go 3.2 miles to Forest Road 32A (sometimes signed as Belluzzi Blvd), turn right and continue 1 mile to the trailhead. Start at the Highline Trail sign, cross the bridge and head right.

Roads are maintained dirt suitable for carefully-driven passenger cars. 

Sign at the Washington Park trailhead

To learn how you can help with trail rehabilitation across the state:

Volunteers for Outdoor Arizona (VOAz)

http://www.voaz.org/