First Piestewa of 2018

Weather: 72º, sunny

Time:  27 minutes

About this Hike:  The construction on Squaw Peak Drive (I'm still calling it that despite Mayor Stanton's efforts...) is done and the main road is repaved which is a nice reprieve from mud and messes.  Parking was still a beast today.  I was lucky to nab a spot on the residential streets.

Tis the season. Piestewa is going from winter crowds to late winter / spring crowds, tourists, and snow birds.  It was definitely far more crowded than I prefer today.  These types of hikes can be frustrating because you're constantly in other hiker's way and they let you know it. 

Regardless, the far-less-traveled Alternate Summit trail gives a little reprieve before you join the mass of humanity on the main trail.  After a day of feasting yesterday, it was good to get up to the mountain and hike off some calories.

Horton Creek to Horton Springs

Weather: 62º, sunny

About this Hike:  I did this trail back in May 2013 and wrote a blog post about it back then.  Glad to say nearly five years later not much has changed.

A relatively flat four mile hike rewards you with views of Horton Spring gushing from the side of a mountain.  Evidence of scrub oak and maple carpeted the ground in places.  The shadowy spots near the spring had a dusting of snow.  Surely this was a more wintery view than the lush forest I enjoyed in May 2013.  Still, there were many old-growth evergreens along this trail.  Not all of them are ponderosa, and I want to research what types of pines these are.  Compared to Prescott, the forest surrounding Payson is more lush and diverse.  I dare say I appreciate this much more now than I did back in 2013 as a relative AZ newbie (two years in AZ at that point).

I need to make sure nearly another fives year period doesn't pass before my next hiking trip in Payson.

Horton Creek

  

Barnhardt Trail

Weather: 65º, sunny

About this Hike:  I found this one using my recently-downloaded All Trails app.  The Barnhardt hike takes you to several seasonal waterfalls.

Last week we had (our first!) big winter storm that brought rain and snow about 5,000 feet.  It's a long weekend.  The waterfalls at Barnhardt might be flowing.  The stars were aligning it seemed.... I had to check this hike out.

Access to the Barnhardt trail is via a four-mile dirt road off AZ-87.  It is well signed from the highway.  The road condition is acceptable for a passenger car, although some portions are rocky and/or washboardy, so extra care needs to be used.

The geology is the real treat on Barnhardt.  I observed delicately zig-zagging veins of white quartz in the cliff sides.  The trail crosses multiple large rock slides composed of moss-covered purple stones.  It's like nature's landscaping rock quarry.

Barnhardt ascends gradually high above the canyon formed by Rye Creek.  The creek was flowing and the sound of water was evident even up on the ridge.  And it was the only sound.  Maybe it's just the winter season, but we heard no wildlife.  Not even any birds singing.  It was eerily quiet.

Approaching the top of the ridge, the gradual ascent becomes a little steeper.  We came to large, flat rock shelf where some other hikers were resting.  They advised us the waterfall was no more than a quarter mile ahead.  (I should interject—you pass a section of blackened cliff that I'm certain is a waterfall during heavy rain.  I'll call this the 'false waterfall' for purposes of this hike.)

We pressed on.  I expected to need to hunt for the waterfall a bit.  It actually bisects the trail and was flowing at a trickle.  It was the perfect amount of flow—enough to make some interesting pictures, but not so much that the trail was washed out.  In the utter quietness that surrounded, I noticed how the pitch and tone of the tricking water changed every few seconds.  It was fascinating.

As of today, there was a climbing rope tethered to the side in case you want to get up on top of the waterfall.  I'm not a trusting person by nature, and I sure didn't trust this rope.  I got plenty of great photos from ground level.

Pressing on further, the trail opens up into a manzanita forest.  And I mean a forest.  The surrounding peaks are covered in the red-barked shrub.  Snow was visible in the shadowed parts of the highest peaks.  The views around the Mazatzal Mountains are majestic.  To the east we observed what we believe (and sincerely hope) was the plume of a controlled burn.

From this high point just past the waterfall we headed back down.  Through each dry wash cold air billowed up like nature's air conditioning.  We also noted one lone pondeorsa pine among the forest of manzanita, white oak, and other various transitional scrub.  Overall a fantastic hike with fantastic views and a rewarding waterfall.

Zigzag Rock Veins