HIKE OF THE MONTH

hike of the month In the Prescott Area, the Clark Spring Trail Offers a Stroll Through Great Scenery

Do you want a long hike? Medium hike? Just a leisurely stroll with great scenery all around? Granite Mountain outside Prescott is the place.

The air's warm and humid the morning I pull into the Metate Day Use Area near Granite Mountain, and I don't know what I want. My first thought is to hike to Clark Spring, a three-mile out-andback trek. But the map spread on my pickup's hood details a 6.5-mile loop in the Granite Mountain Recreation area, including the beautiful Clark Spring Trail.

What'll it be? The weather voices an opinion. Dark clouds build on the southern horizon, and the faint grumbling of thunder reaches my ears. I'll hike to the Clark Spring trailhead then check the progress of the incoming storm. If it looks safe, I'll proceed to the junction and take another reading. It's not getting wet I'm worried about I've got rain gear stowed in my pack-it's lightning. With Shouldering my pack, I set out. But, stupidly, I misread my map, go off in the wrong direction, and take 45 minutes to find the trailhead. Now the thunderheads with huge anvils billowing from their tops are drawing closer. A tassel-eared squirrel scolds from the bough of a ponderosa pine. "Yeah, yeah," I answer. "I'll be careful."

The trail climbs into Gambel oak woodland. Shelf fungus sprouts from some tree trunks; others sport leaf-tip growths resembling tiny crabapples. Put there by gall wasps, they are called oak apple galls. Just as I pass a stone house With barred windows, the trail starts ascending a ridge. As I enter open terrain, the thunderheads appear stalled. No threat yet.

To my right, Granite Mountain comes into view. Very old granite fractured into large blocks shaped by water and wind, Granite Mountain is a familiar Prescott landmark and a prime destination for technical rock-climbers.

Climbing across another ridge, I drop into a pleasant dry riparian zone. This is Clark Spring. The map shows a concrete tank just a jog upstream, so I cross Clark Spring and go on. Young cottonwoods and Arizona walnuts grow in the wash channel, and enormous alligator junipers border the trail in the uplands away from the wash. Arizona grape drooping with ripening fruit twines the strands of a barbed-wire corral.

Climbing steadily, I come to a gate that marks the junction of the Clark Spring and Little Granite Mountain trails. To my right, it's 2.9 miles to Blair Pass and the area's main route, the Granite Mountain Trail, then 1.8 miles to the parking area. Returning the way I came, it's just two miles. The storm is closer now; thunder rumbles insistently, and zigzag lightning skewers a not-so-distant cloud. Discretion rules. I head back down the Clark Spring Trail.

A smart choice, as it turns out. Just as I reach the parking lot, the sky opens to empty torrents of rain.

In all this naked rock around, the Granite Mountain area is no place to get caught in an electricalstorm.

WHEN YOU GO

To reach the Clark Spring trailhead from Prescott, drive five miles west on Iron Springs Road to Granite Basin Lake Road (FR 374). Turn right and drive four miles to Granite Basin Lake. Continue a short distance to the trailhead at the Metate Day Use Area.

To hike Clark Spring Trail, start on Granite Mountain Trail No. 261. Hike .3 of a mile to Balancing Rock Trail No. 249. Turn left and hike .2 of a mile to Clark Spring Trail No. 40. Turn left and hike 1.5 miles to the junction with Little Granite Mountain Trail No. 37. Uphill for the next 2.9 miles, Trail 37 dead-ends at Blair Pass, junctioning with Granite Mountain Trail No. 261. Turn right and follow 261 downhill for 1.8 miles back to the Metate Trailhead.

For more information on the Granite Mountain Recreation Area, contact the Prescott National Forest's Bradshaw Ranger District, (520) 445-7253.