5-27-09 Squaw Spring trail 196 in Pinals

Because I really don't enjoy the drive up the 651 road to Pinal Peak, I drove the much shorter route to Pioneer Pass with the intent to hike up the Squaw Spring trail #196 to Pinal Peak. It's a poor trade-off really, if time is any consideration, but the long, bumpy, and rutty 651 road just seems to take forever. I'd rather hike an extra couple miles powered by my own legs than waste a bunch of gas bouncing around on my hemorroids. (Ed. note: A week after writing this, the 651 road was bladed, thereby sparing the hemorroids but only decreasing the time by a fraction).

The Squaw Spring trail starts off steeply from the saddle of Pioneer Pass at the highest point of the 112 road before the road starts to descend down the other side of the mountain towards Pioneer Basin. Directly opposite of this trailhead on the east side is the East Mountain #214 trailhead which runs about 4 miles along the uppermost parts of East mountain. (
Ed note: As of 6-12-09, East mountain is on fire, the result of a lightning strike on May 30).

This was a spur of the moment hike and Bela and I didn't even reach the trailhead until 4:30 in the afternoon. There was just a slight breeze with marauding clouds that seemed like they could contain some rain, especially the one directly over our heads. I had rain gear and Bela wore her usual all-weather coat so we pushed on at a quick pace, hoping to finish the entire 4 mile round trip before the sun went down and before the crepuscular animals started to appear--I didn't want a repeat of our javelina experience from a few weeks ago.

The trail starts out in Ponderosa pine and within a quarter mile, it punches a hole through a thick tunnel of pure manzanita, Arctostaphylos pringlei (photo). This is the plant that covers entire mountain sides in the Pinals, all the way up to 7000 feet or so. Cowboys hate it, fire fighters fear it, and machetes are useless against it. Cowboys on horseback can take the long route around it but in case of fire, it can completely cut off the retreat of a fire crew. These are big, stout, ten to twelve feet high bushes with entangling woody branches that can be more than 3 or 4 inches in diameter. Plus, in the right conditions, they burn hot and fast. A relative of this plant is responsible for fanning the flames of many a southern California chaparral wildfire.

I had my trekking poles and I was digging them in pretty aggressively, hoping to break into the open at the top of Pinal Peak, take a quick peak at the communication towers, and then high tail it back to the bottom. I've done this hike several times before and it gains elevation quickly, from 6156 feet to 7800 feet in 2.1 miles. In fact, with the possible exception of the East Mountain trail, all of the trails in the Pinals are insanely steep, especially for the casual hiker who just doesn't want to work so hard to have fun. Personally, I enjoy the grunt of the uphill climb. I like to lean into a trail and maintain a nice moderate pace with plenty of time to stop and experience things of interest. I alway feel like a horse returning to the barn on the downhill, as if I'm telling myself, "The hike is over, if I missed anything going up then it's too late. Now let's get to the bottom as fast as humanly possible!" I feel as if gravity is pressing me involuntarily and changing my mindset unwillingly on the way down, whereas I'm more in control of my own destiny going up. I really don't like to be bullied by gravity.

Once clear of the jungle of manzanita, the vegetation turns lush and green, dominated by large Gambel oaks, minor emergents of pines, a smattering of New Mexico locusts (photo), and an unbroken ground cover of snowberry, Symphoricarpus sp. (photo). The snowberry stands waist high at best but literally covers the entire understory of the Gambel oaks, making it next to impossible to go off trail, even for my dog Bela, who generally doesn't like to take no for an answer. The machete would come in handy here-- for the snowberry, not the dog. Today, the snowberry is in full flower with long, pendulous white flowers that are unremarkable but worth remarking about anyway, mainly because they are flowering today and may not be tomorrow.

Just below Squaw Spring is the remains of a fast-moving , low-intensity fire that probably happened in the past year by the looks of the regrowing vegetation. The oaks are burned 10 or 12 feet up on the trunks but many of them are still alive at the tops. In general, the Gambel oaks along the trail are dense with branches that squeak eerily when a dead one rubs against a live one. It's the kind of sound that would keep my dog barking all night long if we had pitched a tent for the night.

Squaw Spring is about a third of a mile below the top and about 100 feet off the trail. It's fenced in but accessible, and reportedly safe to drink, but easy to miss in the shade of the oaks and the engulfing snowberries.

At 2.1 miles, the trail abruptly ends and emerges into a broad open area full of steel gray towers and large communication dishes of all shapes and sizes. It's not the most idylic mountain-top setting but the trail does deliver you near the tip top of the Pinals without having to endure the extra 20 minute drive (each way) on the 651 road. Allow about 4 hours for a leisurely round trip; if you have plane to catch, you can do it in 3 1/2.