Weather: 70º, sunny
About this Hike: I created a GSP track for today's hike after studying a topographical map. It looked like there was potential for this to lead to a good Hellsgate Wilderness viewpoint.
I've done a lot of exploring of Hellsgate in the past few months. Most of my previous hikes had limited viewpoints and overlooks due to the topography (tapered drops / rock shelves versus sheer drops) and the vegetation. Today that changed.
I began my hike at the Hellsgate Trail 37 parking area. I followed what is actually FR-893 for a brief time, turning a hard left at the junction with FR-1625. A cattle gate blocks 1625, but after a little fumbling with the barbed wire hook, I walked on thru, being sure to close the gate behind me.
What I was hiking on was the backbone of King Ridge. I explored a side path that led down to aptly named King Ridge Tank. For the first half of the hike there hadn't been many cow pies. This began to change on the second half of the hike.
The terrain also changed a bit on the second half. Typical of the Hellsgate Wilderness, the actual trails are ATV roads. The first half was mostly packed dirt, but the second half became more of a rollercoaster. The trail would take a steep descent on large, slippery scree. Then it would level out in a flat area. The flat would have a big old juniper tree providing shade, and the soil would be a turgid mixture of hoof prints and cow pies. Then the cycle would repeat as the trail would climb steeply. The final portion of the hike was almost all descent.
FR-1625 ends on the narrowing backbone of King Ridge. It is here that I got some of the best views yet into Hellsgate Wilderness. It was a breathtaking 360º panorama. The Mogollon Rim and Promontory Butte were visible to the north. The distant mountains and ridges within Hellsgate were visible to the south. The point of the peninsula is formed by the convergence of Salt Lick Canyon and Tonto Creek. And speaking of Tonto Creek—there is an excellent viewpoint. It is something of a horseshoe bend in the creek, although the crux of it is hidden both by topography and a big pinon pine. Regardless, the turquoise waters of Tonto were flowing strong. In the calm and stillness atop King Ridge, I could even hear the roar of the creek. My binoculars revealed deep pools, being drained by small waterfalls.
I ate lunch and spent considerable time enjoying the views at the end of FR-1625. While a knocked over post marked the end of the road, a footpath continued on. I left my pack on a rocky knob that had been my lunch spot, grabbed my binoculars, and opted to explore. I hiked another 12-15 minutes along old cattle paths, dodging cow pies everywhere. My goal was to get to the very end of the peninsula to see if there were any other interesting viewpoints. There weren't. In fact, it looks like the peninsula drops down steeply into a green meadow. It was steeper than I was willing to explore. Someone's been there though, as the map shows Ripper Tank being in that meadow.
Across the narrow canyon formed by Tonto Creek, other flat, pale green meadows were visible. I believe these are accessible via Big Ridge Trail 177, although this is an area I've yet to explore. Through my binoculars I could also see a large white square of infrastructure on one of the meadows. I studied satellite imagery and believe this to be some sort of water catchment. It makes sense with all the cow tanks and cattle ranching in the area.
It was now past 2:30pm and I had a 5.5 mile hike back to the truck. I anticipated the scree would slow me down as it did on the inbound hike. Shortly after departing the overlook, I began to hear loud moos. I soon encountered a bull that was making his way down the path. I stepped off the path and down a hill. A cattle path seemed to parallel the main road, so I followed it until mister bull was long past me. I then hiked back up to FR-1625.
While more tiring on the body, hiking up the scree hills wasn't nearly as bad. The rocks hurt my feet some, but at least it wasn't as slippery as the hike down was. I arrived back to the truck around 4:30pm.
The views of the wilderness area and of Tonto Creek were exactly the Hellsgate experience I've been wanting to have these past few months.
