Rabbit Ears Double Loop

The original plan for this hike was to start at the Bell Rock Parking Area, hike about 0.2 miles on Bell Rock Path, take Big Park Loop to Courthouse Butte Loop and and then turn off of Courthouse Butte Loop at a wash and follow an ancient but unofficial trail that leads east along the south side of Munds Mountain to the Rabbit Ears formation. We would then take another unofficial trail along the backbone of a ridge to arrive back at the junction of Big Park Loop and Courthouse Butte Trails. From there, we intended to retrace our path back to the Bell Rock Parking Area.

Unfortunately, while I was busy drinking a hot tea that I had carried with me and fumbling with my GPS, we failed to turn right at the Big Park Loop Trail junction. When I finally noted that we had deviated significantly from the track we intended to follow, we decided that rather than turn back, we would just continue the way we were headed until we hit Courthouse Butte Loop Trail and then follow it to our turnoff to the Rabbit Ears Trail. That turned our intended tadpole-shaped hike into a double loop hike, actually a rough figure eight.

Shown below is the trailhead as the trail leaves the kiosk at the Bell Rock Vista Parking lot.

Trailhead at the kiosk located at Bell Rock Parking Area

The trail we were now on, actually still a part of the Big Park Loop but leading us in a clockwise direction as regards the Big Park Loop instead of our intended counterclockwise direction. Bell Rock could be seen to our left and Courthouse Butte was straight ahead.

We stopped at a convenient spot along the way for a group photograph.

Left to right: Bob Rauen, Ellen McGinnis, Daisy Williams, James McGinnis, Floyd Gardner, Anita Jackson, Joanne Hennings (kneeling), Connie Woolard, the author (kneeling) Jim Manning, Loren Pritzel, Lila Wright, Bill Woolard and Karl Sink – photograph bu Name Withheld using the author's camera

About 0.6 miles from the trailhead we came to the western intersection of Big Park Loop Trail and Courthouse Butte Loop Trail. From this point we followed Courthouse Butte Loop Trail almost directly east for around 0.6 miles to the eastern junction of Big Park Loop Trail with Courthouse Butte Loop Trail. In effect, that 0.6-mile section might more accurately be labeled both Big Park Loop and and Courthouse Butte Loop. As a matter of fact, the Forest Service itself is somewhat inconsistent in naming this particular section of trail. Although the signs posted on the trail itself refer to it as Courthouse Butte Loop Trail, an area trail map posted at another point along the trail refers to it as being part of Big Park Loop Trail.

Looking to our left as we hiked along this section of trail, we had awe-inspiring views of the sheer rock walls of Courthouse Butte.

Courthouse Butte as seen from Courthouse Butte Loop Trail

At the point where the eastern leg of Big Park Loop Trail intersects with it, Courthouse Butte Loop Trail turns north to follow a wash alongside the eastern edge of the butte. The following photograph shows Anita Jackson standing on the trail. Although one can easily hike up the solid rock bed of the wash itself, the actual trail climbs past the sign shown at right, turns left where Anita is standing, and then follows along the bank about five feet above bottom.

Anita Jackson standing on Courthouse Butte Loop Trail

Just under 0.1 miles up the trail from here, at a point marked by the tree shown (below left), the wash turned right and crossed the trail. We followed the wash at first but then, almost immediately, left the wash by the left bank at the spot pointed to by the hiker (below right).

Choosing to turn right in the wash and continuing for a few yards had put us firmly on Rabbit Ears Trail. Actually, the digital map (Arizona Topo Map) that I use in my GPS, available as shareware from GPSFileDepot¹, shows two trails (Rabbit Ears 1 and Rabbit Ears Alt) for part of the way to the formation. We followed the one termed Rabbit Ears Alt because it was the most-used and easier route. After leaving the wash, the trail climbed for a distance through a juniper forest before coming out at a large flat rock ledge. This afforded us our first good view of the Rabbit Ears formation, standing apart from the hulking cliffs that mark Munds Mountain.

Rabbit Ears visible in the upper right quadrant; flat rock ledge in foreground

We continued hiking across flat rock ledges interspersed with stands of juniper before entering a more heavily forested area with deep washes. We crossed one deep wash and then hiked up another, following the well-used and easily discerned trail all the way. On previous hikes in the area, it had often been necessary to choose carefully between different trails used by the mountain bikers who frequent the area. Now the bikers seem to have pretty much settled on the best routes, making following the trail considerably easier. We did, of course, find the occasional detour to a good viewpoint but these were easy to distinguish from the more well-traveled main trail.

About 1.4 miles from Courthouse Butte Loop Trail we were at the closest point on the trail to the Rabbit Ears formation. We were at a sunny spot where the trail the trail crossed a bare, rocky spot and the sun-warmed rocks provided ample room to sit or recline while we admired Rabbit Ears, about 0.3 miles away, in comfort. Shown below is a magnified view of the formation from a December 2010 hike with George Everman, Lila Wright and Jim Manning.

Rabbit Ears in 2010 photograph taken from o.3 miles away

When we were finished basking in the sun at the Rabbit Ears Viewpoint, we continued on along the trail for another 0.2 miles, winding our way around an outcropping and through a saddle in the boomerang-shaped ridge that lies between Munds Mountain, and Jacks Canyon to end at a trail named, according to my GPS, Dairy Springs. From this trail junction, one leg of Dairy Springs runs south along one wing of the boomerang to connect with Jack's Canyon Trail. The other track, which we took, leads west along the other boomerang wing to end at the east junction of Courthouse Butte Loop and Big Park Loop Trails, thus completing one section of the double loop which this hike forms.

As we made our way along the sometimes rocky but well-defined trail, passing through a mixture of juniper and manzanita, we had great views of some of the most well-known area landmarks.

Courthouse Butte is seen in the center; Castle Rock (standing alone) is shown to the left of Courthouse Butte and a bit of Bell Rock is visible between the two; Cathedral Rock is visible in the distance to the right of Courthouse Butte

As we neared the trail junction we stopped for lunch on a high ridge overlooking Courthouse Butte Loop Trail as it made its way along the east side of the butte. Although we had not encountered many other hikers on the 0.7 miles of Courthouse Butte Loop Trail we had hiked earlier that morning, it was now obvious that traffic had increased tremendously. We counted one group of at least 20 hikers along with several smaller groups and a few individual hikers while we were perched on the ridge.

By 1210 we were ready to close the second loop of our two-loop hike by hiking south leg of Big Park Loop Trail back to the parking lot. The distance back by the south leg was only 1.3 miles, very close to the distance it would have been to retrace our path of earlier that morning. Since it avoided the busy Courthouse Butte Loop Trail altogether, it was also likely to be less crowded. As it were, we were back at our cars by 1255.

As shown on the below map, I have divided the trail into several different sections which will, hopefully, make things a little easier. The lower part of Big Park Loop Trail is shown in blue, the section of Courthouse Butte Trail that completes Big Park Loop Trail is shown in copper, the 130-yard section of Courthouse Butte Trail that leads to Rabbit Ears Trail is colored cyan, Rabbit Ears Trail is red, the section of Dairy Springs Trail that completes Rabbit Ears Loop is shown in magenta and the short connector between the parking area and Big Park Loop Trail is colored green. As can be seen, our double loop hike actually consisted of a Big Park Loop and a Rabbit Ears Loop tied together.

Rabbit Ears and Dairy Springs Trails are not official National Forest trails.

We hiked a total of 5.4 miles. The maximum elevation was 4712 feet and the total ascent was 975 feet.

1Available at: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/1/