[yew]

The drive from Kingman, Arizona to Payson the day before the hike was longer than expected with bad, wintry weather at times. It was a good day to be driving and covering road mileage and not hiking. The weather wasn't so bad down in the desert east of the Arrastra Mountains and near Bagdad. The drive east from near Nothing (there's actually alot near this "town") to Bagdad and Hillside passes through some interesting desert country.

McCloud Mountains near Bagdad, AZ

Much of it is AZ State Trust Land. I don't know the access or recreation policy.

Arizona state trust land

It was cold and snowy in the high country chapparal southwest of Prescott but not in the ponderosa pine forest closer to town.

snow at about 5500 feet southwest of Prescott, AZ in mid April

This was stressful driving in a crappy economy rental car. The towns of Prescott, Prescott Valley and Dewey had a lot of traffic, stoplights and chain stores. You drive out of the woods, desert and rangeland to the west and BAM! there it is. It was also cold and snowy in the Tonto Rim ponderosa pine high country from Verde Valley to Pine.

snow in ponderosa pines in mid April near Strawberry Valley, AZ

That night Payson had a 33 degrees low with a few lingering snow showers in the area. Wonderful mid April Arizona weather. Weather next day, the day of the hike was almost perfect. The road to the Barnhardt Trailhead is fine when dry but a bit slick with drying mud. I hiked up the Barhardt Trail packing overnight gear. The lower Barnhardt Trail is very scenic and had a number of wildflowers.

Mazatzal Wilderness sign

Barnhardt Trail in Mazatzal

flowers in Mazatzal Wilderness, Arizona

cactus flowers

lupines in Mazatzal Wilderness

There's a good camp a few miles in, then a small waterfall coming from a slot in the mountain above. Barhardt Creek's chasm raged far below. Then the trail enters a high basin and the burn from the 2004 wildfire.

looking south from the upper end of the Barnhardt Trail in Mazatzal Wilderness

Mazatzal Mountain snow in mid April

The scenery up here was not as picturesque as Barnhardt Canyon. The burn's charred snags and new manzanita brush takes much away from the scenery. There were a number of blowdowns to climb up or around. It wasn't any better south on the Mazatzal Divide Trail a.k.a. Passage #23 of The Arizona Trail. The trail was faint, brushy with many branchy blowdowns in spots.

blowdowns from 2004 wildfire on Arizona Trail on Mazatzal Divide

burn with blowdowns from 2004 in Mazatzal Wilderness, Arizona

chaparral growing back on Arizona Trail in Mazatzal Divide

I contemplated turning around, fearing it was worse ahead. But, I'm glad I stuck it out. At a saddle, Mazatzal Peak comes into view and the trail passes underneath, all very nice even in the burn.

Mazatzal Peak from the Arizona Trail

desert hills on the west side of the Mazatzal from the Arizona Trail

The loop leaves the Mazatzal Divide Trail/AZT at a pass above Y Bar Basin. Camping at Y Bar Basin seemed like a good idea. There'd probably be water there, especially with snow the day before and a little still left on shaded, north aspects about 6500+ feet elevation. But, Y Bar Basin was severely charred, black and burnt with barely any vegetative regrowth, just a few clumps of grass and manazanita. Not a single green tree in sight to hang the hammock from.

severely burnt Y Bar Basin in the Mazatzal

Mazatzal Peak from Y Bar Basin

Before the burn there was pinyon pine, alligator juniper, ponderosa pine and even Douglas-fir. What a shame it's all gone. There must be bad consequences for some wildlife since the burn is so large and homogenous. But, what can anybody do? Supression is just postponing the inveitable. Unlike Northwest or Rocky Mountain burns, I didn't see any pine regeneration. Seed sources are far away from most of the burn. It'll probably take a lot longer for trees to grow back since it's so dry. In the meanwhile, it'll be chapparal. I kept hiking on hoping there's a patch of unburnt forest on the #44 Trail. There was a patch of unburnt forest north/east of the gap near Cactus Ridge but no water.

looking south from Trail #44 in Mazatzal

looking south from Trail #44 in Mazatzal

flowers in the Mazatzal Wilderness

At this point, I was within 4 miles of the car so I kept on hiking. There was no more water and the burn continued to the Wilderness boundary, although it was patchy and less severe down in the lower pinyon-juniper zone with no burn the last 2 miles before the trailhead. The whole loop was 17+ miles which took 8 hours. There were a lot of songbirds and wildflowers but surprisingly no deer. It seems like deer would like the burn and brush. There was 1 rabbit on the AZT/Divide. On the drive out, a roadrunner ran across the road. It was not being pursued by a a coyote on a rocket with roller skates (You see that up north in the red canyonlands of southern Utah) Next day it was off to the Highline Trail near Pine which is also Passage # 27 of the Arizona Trail (AZT) .

[Curtissimo]

great time to be down southwest! just a cliff claven type fact from the mexico man: mazatl is the nahuatl (aztec) word for deer. My guess is Mazatzal is some kind of Anasazi procunciation derived from that common origin. other Aztec words which made it to english: chocolatl (yummy) coyotl (grrr) xicotomatl (gave the italians red sauce for their pizza) spanish uses literally hundreds of nahuatl originated words, although the majority of those are in mexico and central america north of costa rica. there are a few in french and italian as well.

[yew]

That's right on the name of this area. Hmmm, interesting! http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&WID=347 says "In the language of the Aztecs mazatzal means "an area inhabited by deer," but just how the word reached Arizona, or what significance it holds, remains somewhat of a mystery." http://www.paysonrimcountry.com/MountainRecreation/NaturalLandmarks/MazatzalWilderness/tabid/234/Default.aspx has more information on the name too.

[Dean]

Nice TR & great pics. Mazatzal is on my to do list and most likely it'll be next year. This year it's Mica, Rincon, and some others. Fellow NWHiker Eric will be part of our Mica/Rincon hike. Only a week away now Eric.

[yew]

FYI, if I remember correctly, the USFS receptionist at the Payson ranger station said the 2004 wildfire stayed south of the LF Ranch inholding/FR 406 on the north end of the Wilderness Area. A recreational real estate resort is being built on private land at Simonton Flat (old ranch) so it's not possible to drive to the City Creek trailhead because the USFS/public does not have an easement to drive across the private land inholding. The AZT/Mazatzal Divide Trail north of the Barnhardt Trail didn't appear as severely burnt as to the south.

[Eric]