GENE PERRET'S WIT STOP

of the month hike BEAR WALLOW TRAIL Near Alpine Draws Hikers, Deer, Elk and Other Wildlife

"YOU MIGHT SEE WOLVES," our campground host tells us the night before we hike the Bear Wallow Trail into the Bear Wallow Wilderness in far east-central Arizona. Wolves? "Yes, wolves," he says. "A guy over at Hannagan Meadow's been seeing them evenings out back of the lodge."

Late that night, we walk off into the woods so as not to disturb other campers, and howl tentatively into the dark. Silence. We howl again. Still no answer.

Sure enough, the next morning we find a placard tacked to the trailhead bulletin board reminding us that, having been recently reintroduced, wolves are once again wild in the 11,000acre Bear Wallow Wilderness. They're no threat, the placard says, but they're curious, so don't be surprised if you discover one spying on you from a safe distance. But it's black bears we're wary of, not wolves. This is the Bear Wallow Wilderness, after all, prime black bear habitat, and bears can be pretty unpredictable critters. Elk live there, too, and deer, mountain lions, foxes, bobcats wildlife galore so we'll keep our eyes open.

The trail drops off a ridge, descending through mixed conifers about 700 feet in roughly 1 mile to the North Fork of Bear Wallow Creek. From this point to its terminus at the boundary of the San Carlos Apache Reservation, the moderately difficult Bear Wallow Trail travels 6.5 miles and drops another 1,300 feet. If you want to go the distance, keep in mind that round-trip from the trailhead is nearly 16 miles. But a couple of shorter day-hike alternatives present themselves along the way.

Early in the morning, the melodic song of the hermit thrush resonates through the deep woods. Squirrels chatter high among pine boughs. We see piles of elk droppings here and there as the trail winds its way along BearWallow Creek, passing through grassy meadows where checkerspot butterflies flutter among sunflowers. A long drought has just ended and now, revived by recent rains, flowering plants abound dimpling the greenscape with accents of white, red, violet and yellow.

Soon we come to a trail heading to the right. This is the moderately difficult 1.9-mile Reno Trail, which travels east out of the canyon to Forest Service Road 25 near the Reno Lookout.

We continue hiking down the canyon on Bear Wallow Trail.

Schell Canyon Trail intersects about 1.5 miles farther along. It climbs out of the canyon going west toward the Rose Spring Trail. The total distance of the Schell Canyon and Rose Spring trails is 5.8 miles.

About a half-mile from the reservation boundary at the end of the Bear Wallow Trail, the strenuous 3-mile Gobbler Point Trail climbs east some 2,000 feet to scenic Gobbler Point along FR 25C.

The Bear Wallow, Reno and Gobbler Point trailheads all lie along 25 and 25C, so if you want to do a shuttle hike, leave a vehicle at either the Reno or Gobbler Point parking area.

On this day, we see neither wolves nor bears, but hiking out, we encounter a bull elk and two cows. When he catches our scent, the bull snorts and crashes off through the brush; the does follow in his wake. AH To enjoy this hike with the Friends of Arizona Highways on May 19-20, contact the organization at (602) 712-2004. The number of participants will be limited.