Howdy! Backpacker here who enjoys remote, wild areas, and am dipping his toe into trail maintenance in wilderness areas. One thing that always brings me joy at the end of a long day of bushwhacking through AZ flora is a decent campsite. Flat area for setting up a tent / pad, lil' campfire ring for d...

Rattlesnake Trail is overgrown between Holdout -> Powers Garden, but I don't remember too much spiky stuff. As a semi-experienced hiker of this area, my biggest surprise about this trail is that it "seems" pretty popular and well-traveled, yet is about as overgrown as some of the more remo...

@RedRoxx44 thanks! Yeah, I'm mentally preparing for some ambiguous trails between Hooker & Long Tom, gonna plan for some extra time, hoping to explore both the "main route" around that hill and then backtrack to go up Redfield drainage. Did you continue on Redfield, not climbing until...

@rwstorm thanks! Yeah, I can definitely hunt around and report back... in like 3-4 months, unless someone beats me to it.

@RedRoxx44 I'm planning on doing a loop in early '24 (as long as life doesn't get in the way of hiking) that would follow E Divide from Bassett -> Rattlesnake, then W Divide from Powers Cabin -> Jackson Cabin, then the old trail up the SW side of Bassett. Same loop that @etale did in 2020, with a f...

@jonathanpatt ah, thank you!

@RedRoxx44 - thanks for your input! I was thinking of PM'ing you lol, my hope is to check out some of the West Divide trail either this weekend or next. Gonna take South Field out of the Garden and follow West Divide down to Rattlesnake area (maybe cabin, maybe not) with a planned dry camp along th...

Howdy! This trail used to be called "Tent Lookout", and from some light research (http://ppolinks.com/forestservicemuseum/2020_36_3.pdf, page 13) there was a fire lookout in the area. I'm assuming that this lookout would have been a highpoint, so I'm guessing that it was along the West Div...

@runnr_az I was out there in April with a stock Jeep Renegade and three kids in the backseat. It was a rough drive and I wouldn’t try it again, especially with kids to worry about. I’ve also come in from the north trailhead (spring 2021) and, while its a long haul, the drive is way less stressful. ...

@ddgrunning I just got a Kokopelli Rogue-Lite and have used it a few times on the Salt. It's easy and relatively light, and with the little battery pump is very easy to inflate. Doesn't pack down small, but I'm not sure any of them do. I'm pretty comfortable for about 2 hours, even though I'm too t...

@xsproutx plenty of hammock spots in the Mazzies near the water sources, especially for those two spots. Horse Camp Seep has a lovely stand of pines that are perfection for hammocks. Chilson has some healthy junipers that you could tinker with. The Park, Red Hills seep area, and Bear Spring also ha...

@xsproutx it's worth the drive. I have a friend who did a portion (from Bryce Point to Whiteman) a few years back and I did the whole length this year, its awesome. Definitely an eye-candy adventure that has a very different experience depending on your direction, especially near Bryce Point. Throw...

Drove through a downpour on June 24 in the Quartzite area, then saw this fire plume from Planet Ranch Fire on June 25. Photo taken from Ehrenberg.

Maybe give Rincon a look? @andrewp did a nice 4 day loop recently, you could tweak their route. More shade on those trails. [ Triplog ]

First map of Backbone (now 17k acres) posted. Looks like its ripping through Fossil Creek and, so far, seems to be staying west of Deadman Mesa / Hardscrabble. Map includes some neat info about their plan of attack and focus points.

@SpiderLegs I've had a full-size inReach Explorer+ since... 2016 or something ridiculous. Mandatory piece of gear after a certain dayhike turned into an overnight turned into a rescue... details. Anyways, it's okay. I've had issues w/ reception. Seems like a a few trees is enough to block communica...

Jake's Corner just went to 'GO'.

After hearing about the over-crowding issues, I wonder if/when they'll close 88 back down to non-essential traffic. Regardless, I'm glad they're closing down these areas, and hope that the city/state parks in Phoenix follow suit.

@friendofThundergod Well shoot. Now I wanna try it with my crew.

@desertadapted It’s doable. Deer Creek may be the most overgrown of your trails. Did a similar, shorter loop a few years ago - [ Triplog ]