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| Haunted Canyon Paradise Loop, AZ | |
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| | Haunted Canyon Paradise Loop, AZ | | | |
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Haunted Canyon Paradise Loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 17.54 Miles |
2,599 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.54 Miles | 9 Hrs 19 Mns | | 2.30 mph |
| 2,599 ft AEG | 1 Hour 42 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I'd had Haunted Canyon on my list for quite a while, and this seemed like a good time of year to finally check it out. We started from the eastern trailhead, and it was surprisingly chilly...nearly 70° when we left the valley, but just above 40° when we started hiking. The was a little water in Pinto Creek early on, but that first stretch following the dirt road along the creek wasn't my favorite area with all the pipes and fenced-in areas for valves and other mining structures. It got a lot more scenic once we were on the actual trail and started the climb up above Haunted Canyon.
There was quite a bit of catclaw along the trail, though it wasn't terribly overgrown and was mostly avoidable. Once the trail descended back into the creek bed, there was poison ivy everywhere. It was impossible to avoid touching it completely, so we had to just minimize contact with it and hope for the best...a few days later and no reactions, thankfully  . At least the a lot of the poison ivy was turning yellow before the other plants, so it tended to stand out.
I had a general sense where the Jose Periz homestead was located, but we had a lot of ground to cover, so we didn't take the time to look for it. I confirmed later that I had the right area in mind, so we'll have to visit it on a future trip. On the way to Toney Cabin, I saw Skull Cave in the canyon wall, so we went over for a closer look. There's one break in the cliff that offers a straightforward scramble up to the cave, and it's surprising how deep into the mountain it extends. As I entered the cave, something big flew deeper in ahead of me, likely a bat. I didn't go very far inside knowing there was stuff flying around back in there...no need to risk ending the day with a rabies shot . I've read that the cave extends back ~100 yards, but I was satisfied just exploring closer to the entrance. Whatever flew in later flew back out over my head as I ducked down. I didn't get a good look, but my partner had waited down below and said it looked like an owl...
There was a full basin at Toney Ranch Spring, but the pipe feeding the basin wasn't flowing. The next stop was Toney Cabin, and it was a really nice setting for a homestead. We explored the area and signed the register inside. I found it interesting that SALT has no trespassing signs outside, but one of the first entries in the register notebook inside, from 2015, was from an executive director at SALT encouraging people to donate money, and there were donation slips on the table nearby. So...don't trespass, but if you do trespass, please donate to SALT?
After leaving the cabin, we continued west on Haunted Canyon Trail. We'd considered a longer loop back, taking Bull Basin to FR 287A, but we weren't sure about the trail conditions and what the pace would be on Bull Basin, so we stayed on #203 but did add some distance by taking Paradise Trail back to the road. Near the intersection of #203/#271, Dirt Tank had quite a bit of water in it...a surprise since a lot of the springs to that point had been mostly dry. Paradise Trail was a little overgrown in some places, but never consistently bad, and not too many thorns or spines in the brush. Paradise Spring had a few small pools, and there was a clearing nearby with a tent set up, though we didn't see anyone at the campsite.
We completed the loop along FR 287A, where we saw a few ATVs/vehicles over the last few miles. I'm not a big fan of road hiking, but there was some nice scenery along this one aside from the Pinto Valley mine operations that came into view again as we appeached our starting point. We only saw a few campers and two other hikers all day, and it's an area I'd like to come back and explore a little more, with Periz cabin, some potential ruins/pottery sites, and other points of interest we didn't get to look for today. |
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