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Weekend Warriors Arizona Hiking Guide
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If hiking a gently climbing trail with great views of Saguaro, Apache, and Roosevelt lakes appeals to you, then you'll like this hike. This hike is located near Fountain Hills, AZ. To get to the trailhead: from the Phoenix/Mesa area, take HWY-87 21 miles from Mesa untill you reach the Four Peaks Road (FR143) turnoff on the right. This road is graded dirt, OK for high clearance vehicles. Take the Four Peaks Road for 20 miles to the Mazatzal divide. Turn right onto FR648 and continue 1.5 miles to the Loan Pine Saddle and trailhead. Be Aware of: Lightning danger. Bear Country. 30 yr old Recommendation: The scenery was beautiful and it was a pleasant walk. Don't expect too much of a workout on this one. This hike is rated Easy. Elevation change: about 700 ft gain. Distance: The out and back described is 2.0 miles round trip. Time: It took us 2.0 hours of hiking. Time of year: All year (Tough to find the trail in winter) Solitude: Although I imagine Spring and Fall could bring more people, the drive to this trailhead creates good solitude. On this hike during the winter, we only saw two other hikers. This hike starts at the Lone Pine Saddle. The drive to it takes a while, so figure on 2.5 hours from the Phoenix area just to get to the trailhead. Because of this drive, not many people make it to this hike. There are a good number of ATV and Dirt Bike enthusiasts on FR 143, so be cautious. The Four Peaks wilderness is home to the largest population of black bears in AZ, so plan accordingly if you are going to camp in this area. From the parking area, take Brown's Trail (#133) gently rising up through Chaparrel and some isolated pine trees. Unfortunately, many of this area's pine trees were cooked in the 'Lone' fire of 1994. There are plenty of oak trees leading the rebirth of the forest here. The views from the pass are impressive, with great views of Roosevelt Lake to the North and Saguaro Lake to the South. You also get a good close up view of Brown's peak, the tallest of the Four Peaks. Too bad you can't get to the top... or can you? Is there a secret summit route to the top? Don't try this hike if there's a possibility of lightning. Four Peaks gets struck by lightning all the time.
[View of Brown's Peak from the saddle]
This write-up was done after a hike during the end of December, 2002. SECRET SUMMIT ROUTE FROM BROWN'S PASS This was the real reason we took this hike. Hiking buddy VAP had hiked to the top of Brown's peak in the 1980's. If you look at the picture above, there is a scramble route that reaches the top. Since we went in the winter after a storm, the route was iced up and we turned back. We returned in the summer and managed to get to the top. The trail gets difficult to follow in places, so use those route finding skills. DANGER WARNING: If you are not comfortable with scrambling and some class 5.3 climbing, don't try this. Remember, going up is much easier than going down. Don't go up anything you don't feel comfortable down climbing. The rock is very loose here as well. The secret summit route was taken during August 2003. |
