| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 11.20 Miles |
|
| | Hiking | 11.20 Miles | 10 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.07 mph |
| | | |
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | The third attempt was a charm at hiking the Rock Creek trail as shown on the Beartooth "plastic" map of the Superstitions.
- One trip from Miles TH--near the end we couldn't find the turn south up to FR 650 as shown on the map so we continued west to Swede Camp Spring.
- One trip from FR 650 bushwhacking without a trail down to Swede Camp Spring and then west in the creek bed to where the Rock Creek trail should be. We couldn't find any sign of the turn south to FR 650 even after spending more than half an hour searching near the "last" cairn and making several attempts up the hill.
- One trip from FR 650 starting at a point on the road due south and uphill of the "last" cairn in the creeekbed. At first there was no sign of a trail, but we finally found a good trail after bushwacking through heavy brush down toward the creek bed. We were able to stay on the trail the whole way back uphill. Most of this trail was wide and obvious with little brush. The upper end turned out to be at the east end of a grove of large trees. The trail stays pretty close to the highline of this knoll as you work your way down.
I uploaded a GPS track for Rock Creek with the correct route stitched together from the three attempts. We spent close to two hours building cairns so you should have better luck than we did. However, many of these cairns are small and are likely to get knocked over. I also uploaded a separate GPS track for the section to Swede Camp Spring.
There are sections of this hike that are brutal. Not just because of the catclaw, canyon live oak, and manzanita; although there's a lot of them. Not just because half the trip is in the creek bed (small and medium rocks no bouldering required). The worst part was all the fallen trees and branches. They were blocking both the bench trail portions and the creek bed portions. There's also a lot of low hanging branches to dodge on standing trees.
The scenic value of this hike isn't worth the effort. The only reason I see for doing it is in attempting to complete all the trails shown on the Beartooth map of the Superstitions.
This would make a good key-exchange hike with one group starting on FR 650 and one starting at Miles TH. If you're doing an up and down hike from Miles TH, consider going to Swede Camp Spring instead of the map route up to FR 650--especially if there's a little water in the creek. That section of the creek is pleasant and it's easy creekbed hiking.
If you park on FR 650 above Swede Camp spring, the descent starts out easy and then becomes a steep bushwhack to the creekbed. We didn't see any sign of a path--but there are a lot of game trails down to the stock tank.
Warnings
- This hike requires long sleeves and long pants. I wore hiking pants the first attempt and they didn't offer sufficient protection to the catclaw, Heavy jeans are best unless there's a threat of rain.
- Only a few people a year (or less) travel this trail. Find another glutton for punishment to go with you. It had been abandoned by the Forrest Service by the time Fritzski wrote up his trip in 2002
- There isn't parking at the upper Rock Creek trailhead. (See photo of how I got my Jeep off the road a hundred feet or so from the start of the trail.) - The middle part of this trail is more of a route than a trail. Even when you find a trail, it may not be worth taking due to the brush. (Such as the section immediately south of the waterfall.)
- Take rose-bush trimmers and a small saw. Several times we got stuck part way through a thicket and had to cut our way out.
- It can get cold at night out here. At 7 am it was in the low 50's on a day with a Phoenix high of 85. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
