Bronco Trailhead, and Picket Post, Arizona

This is a continuation of my six week trip to Arizona: After leaving the Wickenburg area:

Picket Post, Arizona.

Next stop... Bronco Trailhead outside of Carefree, in the Tonto National Forest. You have to take Seven Springs Road to get there, which is doable, but be prepared for some hairpin turns. Once the road turns to gravel, it is pretty slow going, but one thing I noticed about Arizona, is that they grade the roads pretty frequently. In fact they graded this one while I was there, so my return trip was much smoother.

Bronco Trailhead.

Bronco Trailhead is a proper horse camp with corrals and everything! There are six steel corrals, one of which can be opened up and made into a double space. If you want an even bigger area there are a couple of small pastures made from sticks and barbed wire, one is falling down and not really useable, but the other one is still functional. There is a bathroom, a manure bin, and it is free. There is plenty of parking room for many rigs. Although the forest service website states there is stock water, that is not the case. There is a solar powered well, but it was not up and running. It's pretty obvious, not a lot of horse people camp there.

Bronco Trailhead has steel corrals.

This trailhead accesses the Cave Creek Trail System which is pretty large, there is a map online you can look at, to plan rides. Map link for trails.

I got on my horse and started riding as soon as I arrived. The Bronco Trail goes along a ridge for 4 miles before you drop down and reach a junction, and then you can pick which direction to go from there. I went right, on the Cottonwood Trail, and then eventually just turned around and retraced my steps, although it is possible to do 18 or 19 miles loops.

Looking back at the trailhead from the Bronco Trail.

On top of the ridge, on the Bronco Trail.

Cool looking hills in the Tonto National Forest.

Down in this valley is the first junction.

On my way back, along the Bronco Trail.

There was no cell service there at all, even on top of the ridges. I decided to just spend one night, and then move again the next day. 

At first I was thinking of going to Apache Junction, but I had a lot of different areas I wanted to ride, in fact I wasn't sure I would be able to fit them all into a six week time period. Also I have hiked in the Superstition Mt's before, so I decided to skip that area this time, and go straight to Picket Post.

Picket Post is BEAUTIFUL and it is located off of Highway 60 near Superior, AZ. You cannot camp at the actual trailhead, but there are plenty of dispersed camping spots along the road to the trailhead. I snagged a great spot about half a mile away, with amazing views of Picket Post Mountain. Thus far I had not actually seen any horse people camped at any of the places I had been, and this was no exception, even on the weekend, although lots of locals were driving in to do day rides.

A rainbow over my pony, at Picket Post.

The next day I did the loop through Arnett Canyon which goes all the way around Picket Post. This was one of my favorite rides of the whole trip. When I arrived at the trailhead, the first trail I saw had a sign saying "not recommended for horses". A very friendly volunteer host explained to me that there was a sketchy section on it, but if I was wanting to do the loop, to take another trail nearby. He gave me a long drawn out explanation of how to do the loop, it's not difficult, but I guess people have been know to wander off the wrong way at junctions.

At the beginning of the loop, I did it clockwise.

On the Picket Post loop.

On the Picket Post loop.

There was actually water in this canyon, green grass, and really beautiful scenery the entire way.

At one point I came across a group of horse riders having a lunch break, I saw some cairns marking the way up a hill around them, but they said the trail was actually right through where they were stopped. This involved climbing up and over a couple of rocky areas. One of the ladies said they just turn around and go back, instead of going over the rock, but it is passable. After that the loop continues by eventually joining up with the Arizona Trail, but instead of turning right and following it back to the trailhead, I went left, to add some more mileage, before finally turning around.

On the Picket Post loop.

Water in the canyon.

On the Picket Post Loop, my horse enjoyed some of the yummy green grass.

On the Arizona Trail.

The next day I decided to ride the Arizona Trail east, which goes under the highway, and do a large loop following the trail all the way to a cow corral with a water trough, then back along Happy Camp Canyon Rd. I ran into a few cows along the way, most cows are pretty nonchalant about riders going by, but not in this particular area. One cow seemed to be lonely and chased after me for awhile. Another one stood on a hill, and for an extremely long time, watched every inch of my progress with great interest. 

It was a weekend and there were quite a few people in jeeps and ATV's on my return trip. A few times I had to wait while a long convoy of them went by on the road, vehicle after vehicle after vehicle, they seem to travel in packs.

The Arizona Trail goes under the highway, there are two tunnels.

On the Arizona Trail.

This dead Saguaro cracked me up.

There are a lot of these kind of gates on the Arizona Trail.

Whitford Canyon, with a dry creekbed.

At the cow corral and water trough.

I stayed one more night, and in the morning I noticed a sheriff's vehicle drive by, then another one, and then not long after that a helicopter started flying over the area. The helicopter was obviously looking for someone, flying up to the top of Picket Post and also over the nearby canyons. I didn't know what was going on at the time, but later I looked online and two hikers had gotten lost and had to spend the night out there in the rain. There was a video made during the rescue.   Video about rescue.

Speaking of rain, as I was getting ready to head off to my next destination, I saw some storm clouds gathering. I had just gotten into the truck and was driving away when a full blown thunderstorm hit the area.

This was only the beginning, I knew I had a few cold days and nights ahead of me. There was a winter storm warning for the whole state, calling for snow and freezing temperatures, not what I had signed up for, but what can you do. I thought about changing course, but figured I was actually going to be in one of the better areas to wait it out, so off I went to Frazier Horse Camp by Roosevelt Lake.

To be continued....

GPS COORDINATES TO BRONCO TH

GPS COORDINATES TO PICKET POST