Horton Creek-Derrick Loop

The Skyliners made two October 2012 hikes in the Horton Creek area. Both hikes are included in this report. The first, on the thirteenth, was reported by Lila Wright and collated by Ellis Price:

Nine Skyliners left Cottonwood at 0700 am, drove 93 miles to arrive at the trailhead at 0915 am. As we drove past Payson on Hwy. 260 we entered construction about a mile before our turnoff. We knew we were past our turnoff when we reached mp 269, so we turned around and could see our signs for Tonto Creek Recreational area and FR 289 on the way back. At this time of the year, the campground was closed but the trailhead parking lot was busy and quickly filling up.

From the parking lot, we walked back over the bridge spanning Tonto Creek and into the closed campground and trailhead. A very informative, color-coded sign was posted at the trailhead, showing the hiking trails in the Horton Springs area.

Color-coded sigh showing hiking trails – photograph by Lila Wright

Attached to one of the support posts for the sign on the previous page was a bear sign, reminding us that there had been an injury to a camper in the Payson area this summer. (photograph at right by Lila Wright).

Another sign gave us distances to the Highline trail and Horton Spring, our destination.

The first part of our hike was often through high grass that looked delicious for elk and deer. (photo)

High grass along the trail – photograph by Lila Wright

A great deal of the trail was over a badly eroded, rock strewn, old road bed. A tarantula crossed our rocky path (photograph at left by Lila Wright).

Once in a while, the trail veered away from Horton Creek but most of the time we could hear and often see the creek with its waterfalls and rapids.

Small waterfall on Horton Creek – photograph by Lila Wright

We had strict orders to look for and photograph a particular large, alligator juniper about half way to the spring. Going up the trail we thought we spotted it but discussed the fact that it did not seem bigger or more interesting than many others we had seen on other hikes in various places. Since we did not see any other large alligator junipers the rest of the way, we dutifully measured it on the way back down. It had a circumference of 4 1/2 arm spans. We also measured it with flagging tape and it was 16'10" when stretched out at home alongside a measuring tape. The hiking book we referred to said it was 19' so we either did not find the correct tree or missed a bump or two around the tree.

Old Alligator Juniper – photograph by Lila Wright

Our trail came to the Highline trail and we walked about 200 yards in an easterly direction on the Highline trail to our lunch spot right on the bank of Horton Creek. After lunch we posed for several group photos so hopefully the best is shown here. Our patient, unidentified photographer had lots of advice from us and another group of women hikers who were also enjoying the spot.

Left to right from rear: Lila Wright, Donna Davis and Donna Goodman 

(three abreast); Kwi Johnson and Miriam Sterling (two abreast); 

Betty Wolters, Daisy Williams and Dolly Yapp (single file, rear to front) 

– photograph by an unidentified hiker using Lila's camera

The actual spring gushed out of the boulders about 100 yards up a steep hill from our lunch spot.

Horton Spring – photograph by Lila Wright

The maple trees were just getting a tiny hint of autumn color and no other autumn colors showed except the brilliant red of the Virginia Creeper vine that twined up several trees along the lower portion of the trail. (see photograph by Lila Wright, below) Last night the temperatures were the lowest so far this fall and soon the fall colors will be beautiful on this hike. On our drive up, we noticed the San Francisco Peaks were covered with snow from the storm we had just the day before.

In 1990, the Dude fire destroyed many acres and Zane Grey's historical cabin about 3 miles west of this trail. Zane Grey often liked to hike the Horton trail to hunt elk and deer.

We ate an early dinner at "Tiny's Restaurant" in Payson and arrived back in Cottonwood a full 12 hours after we started. We were glad not to drive back through elk country in the twilight or dark.

Virginia creeper on trees and the very beginning of fall colors 

– photograph by Lila Wright

Becky Fowsky and Ellis Price, both having missed the 13 October hike, decided to schedule another hike in the same area. This time, however, instead of just hiking the length of the Horton Creek Trail and returning the same way, we would do the entire Horton-Derrick Loop. This would entail hiking up Horton Creek Trail, taking Highline Trail to connect with Derrick Trail and returning to Upper Tonto Creek Campground where the Horton Creek Trail started.

Becky Fowsky, Gary Jacobson, Diane Luce and the author left Cottonwood at 0700 on 25 October 2012 and drove straight through to the parking area located just across Tonto Creek from the campground. Frank Fowsky went with us but spent the day investigating Payson rather than hiking. We asked him to find a good place for us to eat dinner after our hike, and he come back with a recommendation for Tiny's Restaurant, the same place the hikers ate on the thirteenth. Like them, we found it to be an excellent, inexpensive choice.

From the parking lot we repeated the hike up Horton Creek already reported above by Lila Wright, seeing basically the same sights along the way.

When we arrived at Horton Spring, however, we crossed the creek just below the spring, using a makeshift bridge that had been constructed by placing several poles together across the stream. The bridge was a little shaky, but we all made it across without getting our feet wet.

Based on the rough-drawn map posted at the Trailhead we had expected the hiking distance on Highline Trail to be relatively short. What we found was that, of the 5.1 miles from where we crossed the creek to the parking lot, 2.9 miles was on Highline and only 2.2 was on Derrick Trail (all distances as measured by my GPS).

The Highline Trail is a National Recreational Trail and has diamond-shaped markers affixed to trees along the way that make it easy to tell that you are still on it.

It was close to lunchtime when we crossed Horton Creek on our way back, and we were alert for a good place to stop. As luck would have it, we came upon the below-pictured meadow just a few minutes past 1200.

Meadow along Highline Trail – our lunch spot

The return hike turned out be much harder than the Horton Creek Trail had been. The Highline Trail, although a good trail, was quite steep at times as it made its way across the ridges running down from the Mogollon Rim just above us. An alleviating factor was that it ran mostly through heavily-forested terrain that provided shade on this still warm fall day. It also provided some good views through breaks in the tree cover along the way.

The below photograph, taken just below Promontory Point, shows the view looking back toward Payson. Barely visible behind the dead tree to the left is the four-lane section of Hwy 260 running down the mountain to the turnoff for Upper Tonto Creek Campground where we were parked.

Looking toward Payson from the Highline Trail below Promontory Point

Eventually, the trail dropped down and, leaving the ponderosa pines behind, entered an area of smaller trees, primarily junipers.

The trail also became less steep but a little rockier. Although we were now out in the open, the hottest part of the day had passed and it was, after all, an autumn day. We perspired a little but remained quite comfortable.

As we approached and then traveled alongside an old fence, the surface of the trail became less regular and we found ourselves being careful to avoid stepping on loose rock.

A moderately rocky section of the Highline Trail

When we reached the Derrick Trail (right) and turned down it toward our final destination, the trail became much rockier, every step being on loose rock. The trail ran straight down the slope and, although the slope was moderate, unimpeded runoff had washed away all the dirt in the trail, leaving just the loose rocks. It was very much like walking in a rocky streambed. This continued for the better part of a mile before the trail leveled out a bit and entered another stand of ponderosa pines. It was still rocky, but by using a little caution, we could find dirt to step on between the rocks.

We also saw signs of recent work to ditch water away from the trail and minimize erosion. A little later, I noted a flash of color among the trees and, upon investigating, discovered a small mobile, hydraulically-operated “ditch witch” type machine (left). It must greatly facilitate trail repairs.

Continuing on through the pines, we soon came to our destination. The Derrick Trailhead is located just a few yards from the Horton Creek Trailhead. From there we retraced our steps out of the campground and across the one-lane bridge to the parking lot on the other side of Tonto Creek.

The Horton Creek Trail to its end at the Highline Trail is just over three miles long. The distance on Highline to the Horton Creek crossing is 0.4 miles, the distance from the creek to the beginning of Derrick Trail is 2.9 miles and the distance on Derrick to the parking lot is 2.2 miles. All distances were measured from my GPS track. However, it should be noted that my GPS track indicated the total distance was 8.4 miles while Becky's instrument read 9.4 at the end of the hike.

The maximum elevation for this hike was 6953 feet and the total ascent was 2176 feet.

The GPS track for the entire Horton Creek-Derrick Loop in shown on the included map (below).