• Easy water hike near Greer
    Posted by at July 5th
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    PONDEROSA LOOP
    Squirrel Spring Recreation Area
    Fed by three gurgling mountain streams and located adjacent to several campgrounds, Squirrel Spring Recreation Area is a popular, year-round playground with ample parking, picnic tables and restrooms. With over 14 miles of multi-use trails, this destination offers easy hiking among gigantic Ponderosa pines, bramble-choked creeks and glades. A good introduction to this trail system is the Ponderosa Trail #2.
    Like a walk through the mythical earthly paradise of Shangri-La, the path wanders through a grassy-green valley enveloped by rolling hillsides and abrupt, stony escarpments. The route is somewhat befuddling, so, here’s the plan: From behind the trailhead kiosk, walk a quarter-mile on the wide, old road to a large metal gate. Pass through the gate and continue uphill to a junction at roughly the 1.5 mile point. Stay on trail #2. The trickiest intersection comes at mile 1.7 where there’s a small “#2” sign posted on a tree on the left. Here’s where you’ll leave the wide road and use the blue diamond symbols as your guide to complete the loop.
    HIGHLIGHTS: easy hiking with lots of greenery and nearby campgrounds
    LENGTH: 3.5-mile loop
    RATING: easy
    ELEVATION: 8,300 – 8,700 feet
    DRIVING DISTANCE FROM PHOENIX: 237 miles
    GETTING THERE:
    From the stoplight in Eagar, go west on AZ260 for 9.6 miles to AZ373. Go south (left) on 373 and continue 2.2 miles to the Squirrel Spring Recreation Area on the right.

     


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    Post Author: Arizona Hiking


    Bio: Serial blogger, manic hiker and “mom” to a dozen adopted dogs, Mare Czinar has been exploring Arizona trails for more than 20 years. After being led astray (or just plain confused) by outdated hiking books and online resources (hence the tagline: We got lost, so you don’t have to), Czinar sought to create a fully vetted, frequently updated online hike travelogue with current driving and hiking directions to spare fellow hikers the mental and physical wear-and-tear of aimless wandering. In addition, blog entries are amended when road closures or wildfires restrict trail access. When not working, blogging, writing about the great outdoors or picking up dog poo, Czinar attempts to “stay found” while checking out new trails.


    Website: http://arizonahiking.blogspot.com/