General Crook Trail: Mud Tanks Draw

GENERAL CROOK TRAIL: MUD TANKS DRAW

Tanque Aloma on the General Crook Trail

Most of what remains of the historic General Crook Trail are eroding two tracks, toppled rock cairns, tree blazes, a few telegraph insulators, and roadside monuments. 

Forest Road 142H in Mud Tanks Draw

Originally constructed in the early 1870s, the trail stretched for 200 miles along the edge of the Mogollon Rim in Central Arizona between Fort Verde and Fort Apache.

White chevrons mark the General Crook Trail

The dirt track served as a military and civilian supply route for nearly 50 years before being replaced more efficient travel corridors. 

Evie the Aussie shepherd herds her hikers

In the 1970s, Boy Scouts located and signed bits of the route with chevron-shaped white metal markers and rock cairns, many of which are still in place today to guide hikers through the notoriously sketchy path.  Popular reclaimed passages of the old wagon road trace Rim Road (Forest Road 300) and State Route 260 in Coconino National Forest.

Storm clouds over Mud Tanks Draw

 

The third gate near Tanque Aloma

Roughly 22 miles east of Camp Verde, a portion of the General Crook Trail winds through a hilly, juniper-studded landscape situated between West Clear Creek and Fossil Springs Wilderness areas.  The pastoral backcountry is an alloy of dust and juniper welded into a knobby expanse.

Tanque Aloma on the General Crook Trail

Mountain vistas on General Crook Trail

The resin-scented air augments the raw, wind-sculpted landscape of ruffled hills, grassy rangeland, and shrubs disrupted only by whirlwinds and the occasional rogue coyote or herd of cattle.

First gate where General Crook Trail leaves FR142H

From a non-descript trailhead off State Route 260, the hike to the historic backroad segment begins with a short walk on Forest Road 142H.  The dirt two track twists through Mud Tanks Draw, an area of low ground between ridges where water runoff collects in a chain of pools, rivulets, and mucky ponds.  

Ideal lunch spot near Tanque Aloma

The shallow funnel ruptures the scrubby terrain with payloads of rain and snow melt that flows down from the rim above West Clear Creek eventually dumping into Fossil Creek.  The half-mile walk on FR142H ends at a twig-and-barbed-wire gate off to the right where there’s a 142H sign. 

Buffalo-bur in Tanque Aloma

The first set of General Crook chevrons are tacked to the gate.  This is the General Crook Trail crossroads. For this trip, the route continues straight ahead (not through the gate) following sporadic chevrons nailed to fence posts.

Evie on General Crook Trail, April 6, 2024

Although it’s not signed, this segment of the Crook Trail is also named Forest Road 9243P.  The road makes an easy ascent, dodging junipers, catclaw and a smattering of firs and Ponderosa pines.  

Highest point of the hike on General Crook Trail

A second gate marks the beginning of big mountain vistas that continue to expand as the trail works its way to a third gate at the base of a prominent mesa. 

Trail chevrons on the second gate

Just past the third gate, the muddy waters of Tanque Aloma can been to the right (north) and a short walk uphill to the hike’s high point gives a bird’s eye view of its place in the landscape.  While the road continues west to connect with FR9243N, this trip turns around at the top of the ridge and backtracks to the tank where a spur road leads to the water.  Tanque Aloma’s muddy banks are trampled with footprints of domestic cattle, deer, raccoons, coyotes and myriad little critters and birds.  It’s an important water source for wildlife in the semi-arid terrain.  

Turnaround point on the hike

Ringed with buffalo-bur and coniferous trees, the tank’s reflective qualities are a photographer’s dream.

Apron Tank at the trailhead

  A couple of gigantic junipers along the spur road make for shady lunch spots within view of ravens and hawks riding airwaves above the water.

Trailhead off State Route 260

LENGTH:  5.85 miles out-and-back as described here

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION:  5,819 – 6,137 feet

GETTING THERE: From Interstate 17 in Camp Verde, take the State Route 260 exit 287 and continue 22 miles east (toward Payson) to Forest Road 142H on the left just past milepost 241. Forest Road 142 H is not signed, but there’s a stop sign and cattle guide a few yards in.  For reference, Apron Tank, a shallow pool that sits on both sides of the road, is at FR142H.  There’s parking in a dirt turn out past the cattle guard.  (If you pass under power lines, you’ve gone a mile too far).