Pine Strawberry Trail, Mountain Biking with Howlie

You start off with a climb

Directions: Take Highway 87 north from the Valley through Payson to Hardscrabble Road in Pine. Turn East on Hardscrabble Road and travel 1.8 miles to the trail. There is a sign at the trail and limited parking.

Dog Friendly: Yes but bring water. There was a spring but it was only a trickle.

The Pine Strawberry trail is a good out and back ride that takes you from Pine to Strawberry on some nice forest, single track. There are some good climbs and descents, with a few rocky patches but the whole ride is doable, depending on your fitness level. The elevation tops out at 6,028 ft and has a low point of 5,689 ft. The trail offers some great views of Pine, Strawberry and beyond.

This was also the first single track ride that Howlie did with me and it was ideal for him. Although there was plenty of evidence that the trail gets used, I only met one group of hikers. It was also about 18 degrees cooler than the Valley. Howlie is an experienced, obedient off leash trail dog, that doesn't react much to other trail users. Know your dog's temperament and fitness before taking them mountain biking or hiking.

Christmas, Arizona: The Holiday is Over

Directions: Christmas is located on a closed road which is about 7 miles North of Winkelman off of Highway 77. The road to Christmas is well gated, with a permanent wall built across the road.

Christmas is one of the spots you see on a map and wonder what it's like and how it got such an un-Arizonan name. Christmas is another mining ghost town, just like so many others that dot the American Southwest. The area was found in 1878 and claims were staked that later became invalidated because they were on the San Carlos Indian Reservation. It took a few years but the boundaries of the reservation were changed and news of the boundary change was received on Christmas Eve, the new claim was named Christmas. The town of Christmas was established in 1905. After some up and down economics, the town grew to over 1,000 by the 1930s and had a grocery store, hat shop, dairy, school and a church.

The mine changed owners several times throughout it's history, closed and reopened depending on the price of copper. It converted from an underground mine to an open pit mine in the 1960s. The Christmas mine finally closed for good in the 1980s. During it's lengthy existence nearly 55 million tons of copper were mined as well as some gold and silver.

Most of the building have bulldozed and all that remains in most places are the foundations. There are a couple of shacks and some tanks that may be part of a processing plant. The views are great.

I mountain biked my way through the town and up to the mine. It was over a 1,000 feet of climbing on wide but rocky road. I imagine there are other mining roads that have access to the upper workings that you can access with an UHV.

Cane Springs Canyon to the Red Bird Mine

Park at the Bath Tub!

Directions: Take Highway 87 North towards Payson to Forest Road 26, which is on the right, about a half mile past Milepost 229. Your only going to be on FR 26 for a short distance, when you reach a parking area with a concrete water tank. There's a gate in the barb wire fence, go through gate, stay to the right to avoid tons o' cat claws. There's a short steep trail to the canyon.

Dog Friendly: Yes. The only cacti are prickly pear and there was flowing water. I'm not sure if it runs year round. There were some places that we had to scramble over rocks.

Cane Spring Canyon is another great day hike option if you're looking for

Howlie Swimming

something close to the valley and away from the crowded and popular hiking spots. There wasn't much of a trail but you can make your way at the bottom of the canyon with only a couple of spots where you have scramble up and down rocks. All three of my dogs handle them easily but Howlie, the youngest, took some coaxing in the steepest places. There was plenty of water flowing in the canyon creating some pools deep enough for the dogs to swim and stay cool. I was surprised because a lot of the creeks we've hiked recently were dry.

Where's the Road?

After you hike through Cane Spring Canyon, you can explore Corral Creek or brave the old mine roads from the Red Bird Mine, in the foothills of Mount Ord. The Red Bird was a mercury mine, worked in the 1960s. The roads are over grown and collapsing in places but they do offer some great views that hiking in the canyon didn't provide. There wasn't much left of the mine beyond some rusty old metal. It's always inspiring to see how nature reclaims itself.