Weather: 65ยบ, partly cloudy
About this Hike: The story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots (recently popularized in the film Only the Brave) runs very deep in the Prescott community. Anyone who's seen the film, or is familiar with recent Prescott history, knows that days before the hotshots met their tragic end they saved an ancient alligator juniper tree on the outskirts of town. This was in June 2013 when the Doce Fire was burning up the high-desert in the Prescott National Forest Wilderness.
Besides being featured in the movie, this 1800 year old (estimated) granddaddy of a tree has become a memorial to Prescott's fallen hotshot crew. Naturally, we wanted to experience this hike. Maybe this is intentional, but finding information on this hike via Google search is not easy. The best directions I could find come from an unexpected source—a Prescott-based dental office.
Even with these directions, finding this hike is not easy. There's a Google Maps pin dropped marking 'Hotshots Juniper Tree'. We based our hike plan on the Google Maps pin location. All was well at the start of the hike. We followed Iron Springs Road out of town and turned right on Contreras Rd. This is a dirt road, and while washboardy, it doesn't have massive ruts. Go up the road about one mile and there's a parking area on the right. Trailheads branch from there.
So here we were, two roads diverged in the wilderness. Some careful Google Earth plotting showed that Trail 620 would take us to the pin dropped for the juniper tree. After nearly 4 miles hiked our GPS showed we were at the pin. The trail makes a hairpin turn here and is bisected by a dry wash. The tree is up the wash according to Google Maps. In fact, there are plenty of big, old alligator junipers up this wash. The hotshots memorial tree is not there. I'm going to jump ahead of myself here. I take no liability if you try this, but surely GPS coordinates 34.628723, -112.597122 are more accurate. UPDATE 1/3/18 - someone has marked this with a pin denoting 'Hotshots Juniper Tree' in Google Maps. It wasn't me...
Exhausted but not defeated, we trekked back to the parking area. The dentist's somewhat confusing directions began to make more sense after some careful surveying. Word of advice: listen to the dentist. Besides Trail 620, Jeep Road 9261U also branches from this parking area. Follow 9261U along an old fence and reach another parking area. If you have a high-clearance vehicle you can actually use this parking area instead of the one along Contreras Rd. Pro tip: another Jeep road veers off immediately to your right. Ignore it. You'll need to climb the very steep hill directly in front of you.
At the top of the hill you'll reach a gate and a sign indicating the beginning of Upper Pasture Trail #38. This trail lives up to its name with signs warning about cows. Watch your steps, as cow evidence is everywhere. Follow 38 to the junction with Trail 39 and bear left onto 39. You'll know you're getting close when you see white quartz in the soil. Descend through a creek bed (tree roots form a natural step here) and look for a cairin on the left.
That's all there is to finding the hotsthots memorial tree. It's not a terribly long hike. However, we weren't the only hikers fooled by Google Maps' erroneous pin drop. Two other guys we ran into mentioned that they had done the same hike along 620 the previous day. And these two were the only other hikers we saw. It was nice to take in this ancient piece of history, and memorial to recent history, in relative solitude.
Finally as a sidenote, I will say that Trail 620 is an interesting hike unto itself. The well-groomed trail appears to be frequented by dirt bikers (it's too narrow for ATVs), and it leads you along some cool granite boulder formations. The dirt is loose in places, so step carefully.
About this Hike: The story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots (recently popularized in the film Only the Brave) runs very deep in the Prescott community. Anyone who's seen the film, or is familiar with recent Prescott history, knows that days before the hotshots met their tragic end they saved an ancient alligator juniper tree on the outskirts of town. This was in June 2013 when the Doce Fire was burning up the high-desert in the Prescott National Forest Wilderness.
Besides being featured in the movie, this 1800 year old (estimated) granddaddy of a tree has become a memorial to Prescott's fallen hotshot crew. Naturally, we wanted to experience this hike. Maybe this is intentional, but finding information on this hike via Google search is not easy. The best directions I could find come from an unexpected source—a Prescott-based dental office.
Even with these directions, finding this hike is not easy. There's a Google Maps pin dropped marking 'Hotshots Juniper Tree'. We based our hike plan on the Google Maps pin location. All was well at the start of the hike. We followed Iron Springs Road out of town and turned right on Contreras Rd. This is a dirt road, and while washboardy, it doesn't have massive ruts. Go up the road about one mile and there's a parking area on the right. Trailheads branch from there.
So here we were, two roads diverged in the wilderness. Some careful Google Earth plotting showed that Trail 620 would take us to the pin dropped for the juniper tree. After nearly 4 miles hiked our GPS showed we were at the pin. The trail makes a hairpin turn here and is bisected by a dry wash. The tree is up the wash according to Google Maps. In fact, there are plenty of big, old alligator junipers up this wash. The hotshots memorial tree is not there. I'm going to jump ahead of myself here. I take no liability if you try this, but surely GPS coordinates 34.628723, -112.597122 are more accurate. UPDATE 1/3/18 - someone has marked this with a pin denoting 'Hotshots Juniper Tree' in Google Maps. It wasn't me...
Exhausted but not defeated, we trekked back to the parking area. The dentist's somewhat confusing directions began to make more sense after some careful surveying. Word of advice: listen to the dentist. Besides Trail 620, Jeep Road 9261U also branches from this parking area. Follow 9261U along an old fence and reach another parking area. If you have a high-clearance vehicle you can actually use this parking area instead of the one along Contreras Rd. Pro tip: another Jeep road veers off immediately to your right. Ignore it. You'll need to climb the very steep hill directly in front of you.
At the top of the hill you'll reach a gate and a sign indicating the beginning of Upper Pasture Trail #38. This trail lives up to its name with signs warning about cows. Watch your steps, as cow evidence is everywhere. Follow 38 to the junction with Trail 39 and bear left onto 39. You'll know you're getting close when you see white quartz in the soil. Descend through a creek bed (tree roots form a natural step here) and look for a cairin on the left.
That's all there is to finding the hotsthots memorial tree. It's not a terribly long hike. However, we weren't the only hikers fooled by Google Maps' erroneous pin drop. Two other guys we ran into mentioned that they had done the same hike along 620 the previous day. And these two were the only other hikers we saw. It was nice to take in this ancient piece of history, and memorial to recent history, in relative solitude.
Finally as a sidenote, I will say that Trail 620 is an interesting hike unto itself. The well-groomed trail appears to be frequented by dirt bikers (it's too narrow for ATVs), and it leads you along some cool granite boulder formations. The dirt is loose in places, so step carefully.
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| See just how close the Doce Fire came to obliterating this 1800 yr. piece of history. |
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