Exploring the Peaceful Pinaleños
by Matthew J. Nelson
The Pinaleño Mountains are a true sky island, rising from the desert floor to Mt. Graham’s sacred summit at 10,720 feet. This mountain range is home to red squirrels, black bears and an abundance of other interesting flora and fauna. These incredibly diverse forests of fir, pine, aspen and spruce are a living botanical history that many believe contain evidence of what Southwestern ecosystems were like during the last Ice Age.
It’s one of the best places to escape Tucson’s summertime heat, and high up you’ll find the Ash Creek Trail. Within this verdant ribbon of subalpine splendor is a steep canyon choked with berries, wildflowers and pools of water teeming with trout.
The Ash Creek Trail follows the creek intermittently, and after a few miles of downhill hiking through dense forest, you’ll arrive at a vista that will take your breath away. For the first time since entering Ash Creek Canyon the forest canopy gives way to open sky. Climb on top of some rocks to the right of the trail and you can see all the way down Ash Creek to the town of Thatcher and beyond. A gorgeous waterfall glistens the east, where Ash Creek plummets hundreds of feet down a granite wall.
This vista in an excellent turnaround spot, as the trail gets even steeper beyond here. For those with the time and quads to continue on, Oak Flat can be found four miles into the canyon, and the old Mt. Graham Sawmill Site another mile beyond that. Just remember that you’ve still got the tough part ahead of you – hiking back out.
Sacred shrines created on Mt. Graham in the year 900 A.D. can be traced to the Zuni people of New Mexico, and the San Carlos Apache consider Dzil nchaa si an (Mount Graham) absolutely essential to their continued practice of physical and spiritual healing. Whatever your cultural or spiritual affiliation, one visit to the Pinaleños is all it takes to realize that this place is indeed sacred.
Making Your Escape
From Tucson, drive east on I-10 for about an hour. A few miles past the town of Willcox, exit the freeway at Highway 191 (toward Safford). Turn left and drive north on Highway 191 for 25 miles. Look for Highway 366 (Swift Trail) as you enter the community of Artesia. Turn left and drive west up the steep mountain grade. The pavement takes you 22 miles into the mountains, then turns to a well-maintained dirt road near milepost 136. Ash Creek Trail is at milepost 143 across from the Columbine Ranger Station.
Special Events
A few times a year, the Pinaleños host a few special events, including the Mt. Graham Sacred Run (a running event that begins on the Fort Apache Reservation and finishes on top of the sacred peak) and the Mt. Graham Hill Climb (a bicycle race that goes from the federal prison at the base of the mountain all the way up the paved Swift Trail).
For more information, contact the Safford Ranger Station at (928) 428-4150;www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest/recreation/trails/ash_cr.shtml
Matthew J. Nelson is a local outdoor educator, guide and conservationist.
Category: RECREATION
