Hikin' Country Club Trail

Pinetop, Arizona (August 27, 2024) Debra and I feel blessed to live in the White Mountains of Arizona, a mountainous region in eastern part of the state—a figurative stone’s throw from the western border of New Mexico. Here, the vibe is laid back and the air is clear, and we are surrounded by a dense forest that includes more than 200 miles of non-motorized trails that vary in length, degree of difficulty, and scenery. 

Across the seasons and over the years, I’ve hiked many of the trails—Timber Mesa, Panorama, Springs, Los Caballos, and Ghost of the Coyote, to name a few—and have always enjoyed the experience of being in the great outdoors! 

This morning, I hiked Country Club, a 3 1/4-mile loop trail in nearby Pinetop. It wasn’t my first time, and dollars to donuts, it won’t be my last. The U.S. Forest Service rated this trail ‘moderate’ for hiking—although most hikers, I think, would say the trail was ‘easy,’ as the overall elevation change is less than a few hundred feet and the trail itself is free of larger obstacles. 

One of the things I like about the White Mountain trails is that they are clearly marked with coded trail markers, which are mostly white diamonds. And every quarter mile there is a marker with a trail code and number on it—the latter is a count of the quarter miles from the trailhead. Here’s an example: C4, where the C stands for the name of the trail (Country Club) and the 4 marks the 4th quarter mile from the trailhead—so at this point on the trail, I would have walked one mile.

There were a couple of cars in the parking lot when I arrived, and a few more when I left. And on my hike, I think I saw most of the people who owned those cars—singles, couples, and friends, some with dogs and others without, eight to ten people in total.   

The weather was beautiful—it was in the upper 50s when I started out, a few degrees warmer when I finished. There were a few clouds here and there, but the sky, a deep blue, was mostly clear.

Because the trail is a loop—it begins and ends at the same parking lot—you can hike it clockwise or counterclockwise. This morning, I hiked it counterclockwise, as this put me into a dense forest of ponderosa pine, alligator juniper, and Gambel oak from the get-go. The latter is a deciduous tree named in honor of explorer and naturalist William Gambel.

Of the three, the alligator juniper is my favorite because its distinctive bark—dark gray-brown and cracked into small square plates—resembles the skin of an alligator.   

(Although I walked the trail counterclockwise, I will lead you, in this story, on a clockwise hike.)  

There’s a side trail about a mile from the trailhead, called the Huff ‘n Puff Trail. It’s a half mile out and back—a scenic trail that climbs Pat Mullen Mountain, and so it is more of challenge than Country Club Trail itself. The reward is the view at the top. I’ve hiked it before, so I bypassed the Huff ‘n Puff Trail today.

I reached a picturesque meadow—Whitcomb Pasture—about halfway through my hike. I read that cattle graze here from June through October, although I did not spot any this day. There was plenty of tall grass, though—enough for a sizable herd, I would imagine—fed by two nearby springs and recent rains. 

There was a slight breeze from the south, and this caused the grass to wave to me as I passed it by. I was half-tempted to wave back…but I was too self-conscious to do so.

As I neared the end of my hike, I came across a stand of small ponderosa pines and Gambel oaks. New growth, I thought.  Judging by the height of these trees, which stood among their more mature relatives, I believe they were four or five years old.    

I walked at a leisurely pace throughout my hike, and I finished about 90 minutes after I started.

I don’t know what it is about a walk in the woods, but I always feel happier and more energetic when I finish than when I started. And so, it was today!