Hikin' Springs Trail

Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona (September 3, 2024) It’s been at least a year—maybe two—since I last hiked Springs Trail, a 3.6-mile loop along Thompson Creek. Without a doubt, it’s one of my favorite trails in the White Mountains trail system.

I set out early for the 30-minute drive from my home in Show Low to the trailhead off Sky Hi Road. It was a cool 50 degrees at the outset of my hike, about a quarter past 7. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky…and hardly a breeze. In other words, the weather was picture perfect!

Yep...that's my shadow!

Because the trail is a loop, I could hike in either direction—clockwise or counterclockwise—to return to the trailhead. I hiked counterclockwise this morning because the first mile or so in this direction is, IMHO, the most scenic section of Springs Trail…and I was anxious to get to it!

(Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think you’d agree with me if you hiked this trail.)

Springs Trail, which is well maintained by a group of volunteers, is rated ‘Easy’ by the U.S. Forest Service. It is mostly level, with an overall elevation change of only 100 feet, as it meanders below a canopy of branches—ponderosa pine, alligator juniper, and Gambel oak—for much of the way. This trail can be quite muddy during the spring and monsoon seasons, but it was dry this day as it hadn’t rained in a while.

As with all trails in the White Mountains trail system, Springs Trail is marked with white diamond trail markers, and the markers located every quarter of a mile have an alpha-numeric code—the alpha designates the name of the trail, and the number demarks the distance from trailhead. So, for example, S3, the marker on this tree, indicated I was three-quarters of a mile (three one-quarter miles) from the trailhead on Springs Trail.

I crossed Thompson Creek, which was just a trickle of water, twice as I hiked from the trailhead to a wetland where the creek overran its banks to form a small pond with tall grass growing at its edges. I startled a couple of squirrels on my first crossing; you wouldn’t believe how loud they chattered at me—a reprimand, I was certain, for having invaded their territory. 

THEY. MADE. ME. LAUGH!

​About 30 minutes into my hike, soon after I passed the pond, I spotted a lone cow grazing atop a grassy hill to my left. I walked off the trail and slowly made my way up the hill to get a closer look…and this pic. The orange tag on its ear is used to keep track of the rancher or farmer who owned this cow. 
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I didn’t know then that this cow was part of a free-range herd—a group of cattle that roamed freely for part of a day (or week, month, or season) to allow the animals to graze and forage in a natural environment. More on this in a bit.

Soon I passed the first person I saw on the trail. He was hiking with his dog, walking in the opposite direction from me. I chuckled when I looked at his dog—a brown and black shepherd collie mix—because it sported a doggie backpack, with pouches on either side of its body.

“Nice to have someone to help carry the load,” I said as I smiled at the man, who also wore a backpack.

“Yep,” he replied with a wink. “He has to carry his own supplies.” 

Springs Trail is narrow in places and wide open in others. One place it’s wide open was when it crossed a utility line right-of-way—an easement dotted with tall posts that supported overhead power lines.

Pretty? No, I thought, but I knew it was  important to the daily lives of many up here in the mountains.

There are several secondary and connector trails along Springs Trail. I reached one in another quarter mile or so: Old Hatchery Trail, which runs eight-tenths of a mile between the Arizona Game and Fish office on AZ 260 and Springs Trail. The last time I hiked Springs Trail, I started at the trailhead for Old Hatchery Trail, which made my round trip hike a bit more than five miles. 

By the way, most of the non-motorized trails in the White Mountain trail system—Springs Trail was one, and there were more than 200 miles of non-motorized trail in all—were opened to mountain bikers and equestrians, too. I didn’t see any tire treads in the dirt, but I saw ample proof of horses—from hooves to poop.

Springs Trail was mostly as I remembered it from my last hike…with one significant difference. There was a spot along the trail, maybe two-thirds of the way around, where hikers had stacked rocks to create a ‘cairn garden.’ 

That was then, and this was now: I don’t know if the act was intentional or malicious, but the garden was dismantled, the cairns now a jumble of rocks. 
 
Too bad, I thought, as I loved the impromptu art that once graced this trail.

No more than a quarter of a mile past the former rock garden, I spotted a herd of free-range cattle—a dozen or so cows. One mooed, and I swear it sounded like it said, “Don’t fence me in.” 

Most of the cows were on my left, and these were well into the trees. A couple of animals raised their heads and looked at me. 

Are you gonna cause trouble, they seemed to say with their eyes. Soon, though, they went back to grazing on the grasses.

Up ahead, though, I spotted a HUGE cow just off the trail on my right.


Is that a bull, I wondered, knowing I would have to pass it. I sure hope it’s friendly.

For the record, it was…or it realized I was puny in comparison and no threat to it.

​With a mile to go to the trailhead, as I stopped to admire a handful of wildflowers—white, yellow, purple, and pink—I heard the call of a bird. Wooka, wooka, wooka. Well, this was what I thought the call sounded like…and it was what I Googled to discover the bird I heard.

I was close.

The call was waka, waka, waka and the bird, I learned, was an acorn woodpecker. I looked and looked in the tall branches of the nearby trees but could not find the woodpecker. As you can see from this photo, which I found on the internet, the acorn woodpecker is beautiful, with mostly white and black feathers and a crown of red.

I heard another noise as I stood still, and I checked the trail behind me. It was another hiker, who stopped to chat when I said to him, “It’s a beautiful day for a hike.”

His name, I learned, was Tom, and he was a seasonal resident—here in the summer, Tucson in the winter. Like me, he loved to hike the White Mountain trails.

Tom looked to be about my age, and when I told him I was 71, he chuckled and said, “I’m 80.”

“You look young for your age,” I replied, and he did. He certainly looked healthy and fit.

We talked about this and that, and then I asked if he rode a bike, as he sported a tee with ‘Sturgis 2016” printed on the front.

“I do, but not as often as I’d like,” he answered. “I’ve been having some problems with dizziness, and, for the most part, it’s kept me off my bike.”

Tom and I walked on to the Springs Trail trailhead together, talking as we hiked. And that was where we parted ways, as he had started his hike at the trailhead for Old Hatchery Trail.

“Hope to see you again,” he said as he continued along Springs Trail.
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And that was my hike, from start to finish—a couple of hours in the great outdoors.