HIKE OF THE MONTH

Settlers Called It Hells Gate but Now It Serves as a Magnificent Spring Hike

I know for certain I've found the pioneer crossing, but Tonto Creek, swollen with spring runoff, appears unfordable. So I'm stuck on my side by high water, even though I can see where the trail emerges on the other bank.

It took only an hour and a half to make the 90-mile drive from Phoenix north to the Hellsgate Wilderness in the Tonto National Forest. From the readily accessible upper deep to see the bottom. This is where the settlers crossed. I would bet the Tonto Apaches knew about this place. Even in springtime, a horse could cross easily, and I suppose so could I, were I willing to brave swift, icy water past my knees.

On the other side, the trail climbs out through Smoky Hollow, and after three miles you come to a trailhead and a rough jeep road at Smoky Hollow Tank that leads eventually to Young. You could leave a vehicle at either end of the trail and hike to the other.

Gray granite shapes like canine teeth. It could just as easily be called Wolf's Mouth. From my camp, the gorge can be seen extending from beneath the sheer brow of the Mogollon Rim, the geologic delineator between central and northern Arizona, where water on top sheds north to the Colorado River and below, south toward the Salt River.

Both trailheads are easy to find. Not far past Little Green Valley, you can park in the pines. You start near Young in scrub brush, then reach the trail in juniper grasslands. Next time I'll follow that route.

In February, when wildflowers appear in the pine woods below the Mogollon Rim, the Tonto floods and pounds through the granite fangs of Hells Gate, arriving in pools with spume on its back.

This is the only ford around because the Tonto, whether at flood or summer ebb, plunges back into a steep, narrow gorge for another seven miles before reemerging in a privately owned valley at Gisela.

Climbing into the gorge to the ford took only 40 minutes from my campsite on Hells Gate Ridge, where last night I watched with wonder as the Seven Sisters in the cluster Pleiades glided with a magnificent starry entouragetrailhead, the entire six miles to the river proved an easy trek through pine and juniper. Only the last mile into the gorge, which becomes moderately steep, provided any real challenge. Why this eye-pleasing place is called Hells Gate, I cannot say. The name apparently was given by God-fearing settlers who commuted on the trail linking the settlements of Strawberry, Payson, and Young. I suppose in summer, the cobbled slopes between lush piney top and manzanita bottom a drop of 1,600 feet and waterless most of the year might seem like a slice of hell.

Not so this March day, when every rill flows along Hells Gate Trail No. 37. The snowmelt that gives voice to the Tonto rapids, though, fills the gorge until there's no easy place to cross. But where the trail comes sharply down to the creek, where I sit, there's a natural gravel bar, heaped up like a weir at the base of a pool too Hells Gate Gorge is cut in To reach Hells Gate Trail No. 37 from Phoenix, take State Route 87 to Payson; head east on State 260 for about 12 miles to Forest Service Road No. 405A past Little Green Valley; then proceed a quarter-mile to the signed trailhead and parking lot. Or drive to Young on State 288 then head west out of town on FR 129 for 7.5 miles to FR 133, a four-wheel-drive road, for eight miles to the trailhead.

WHEN YOU GO

The best months for Hells Gate Trail are November through March. Carry water with you. In dry months, only Tonto Creek will hold drinkable water; nonetheless, you should always carry water on any backcountry hike. For the latest weather, road, and trail conditions on the Little Green Valley side, contact the Tonto National Forest's Payson Ranger District, (520) 474-7900; on the Smoky Hollow side, the Pleasant Valley Ranger District in Young, (520) 462-4300.