| |
| Gibson to Deadman Ridge, AZ | |
|
| | Gibson to Deadman Ridge, AZ | | | |
|
|
Gibson to Deadman Ridge, AZ
| | |
|
| Hiking | 10.00 Miles |
3,078 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.00 Miles | 6 Hrs 39 Mns | | 1.91 mph |
| 3,078 ft AEG | 1 Hour 25 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | I returned to the Pinaleno Mountains for two days to hike two more trails I haven’t done yet and to answer the question, Does the Round the Mountain Trail still exist? The first days hike was on the Gibson Canyon Trail #308. I took the Marijilda Canyon road off of the Swift Highway to the trail head. This road is really rocky and a bit of clearance is recommended; luckily it isn’t far to the trail head, 3.5 miles. Crossing Marijilda creek wasn’t an issue. Recommend emptying the bladder behind some bush on the side of the road before attempting, after driving all the way from Tucson I only made it about 100 yards on this road before stopping (I know, too much information). At the end of the road is the signed trail head. My plan was to hike the Gibson up to the Round the Mountain Trail then hook a right and head up to Deadman Ridge. If I have the time and ambition, head down to where it connects up to the Deadman Canyon Trail #70.
Gibson trail is not maintained but fairly easy to follow, no issues getting off trail. The fact that it follows an old almost nonexistent road makes the trail easy to follow. It is a continuous uphill climb to the Round the Mountain Trail (RTM) junction at 2.1 miles in. The Gibson Trail Continues on up to the top of the Pinaleno Mountains but you have to head south on the RTM Trail for .3 miles where the trail continues on up. I will head north on the RTM and head up to Deadman Ridge. The trail becomes a bit faint from this junction north. I was able to stay on track only getting off trail a few times. The vegetation has not had its spring growth spurt yet so this made it easier. The trail gets easier to follow the closer to the ridge you get. Great views from the pass overlooking Deadman and Marijilda Canyons. Deadman peak is to the east along Deadman Ridge and Trap Peak to the north of Deadman Canyon. Mount Graham and Plain View Peak on the Pinaleno’s are visible for much of this hike. From the saddle I headed down the trail toward Deadman Creek. I continued down for about .5 miles and turned around. The trail along this section was easy to follow but very narrow. The vegetation on the north side slope was thick and if it wasn’t for the fact that it was winter might add a magnitude of difficulty to finding this trail. A bit of Ice along this section of trail also made sections of this trail difficult, luckily the sections were short and I was able to bypass them.
The answer to my question does the trail exist; it does between Gibson and Deadman ridge and looks like on down to Deadman Creek. It would be wise to do this trail in the winter before the vegetation gets too thick. It appears that most of the sustaining efforts of this trail are done by the animals as they use it as a means of getting from on canyon to the other, I saw no evidence of use by humans at least since the last rain/snow 3 weeks ago. Evidence of the Frye Fire of 2017 was visible along the trails but things have recovered nicely since the fire. There was water in Marijilda Creek but S Canyon off of Marijilda was dry this time, it had a trickle two weeks ago when I was here. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
