Post by C.J. on Jun 3, 2008 21:52:14 GMT -5
Took a trip up there with my girlfriend today, the trail has changed. There's now 3 gates, and the path is kinda obscure, but we found it eventually.
Since I couldn't find directions on here I thought I'd add some.
driving directions: 87 north to the exit for Gisela (about 15 miles south of Payson) follow the road up into the hills, continue on the dirt road, take all left forks, park in the makeshift parking lot.
Trail directions: walk the ~2 miles from the parking lot to the trail which starts out by the Hitchin' Rail Ranch. follow the signs to the swimming hole. Once you get to the river, wade upriver (WEST) until you get to the sand banks by the makeshift fort (water survey thing?) on the northern side of the river. Take the sand banks to the south side of the river, and then walk along the rocks until the river narrows, and becomes shallow. Cross to the north side. You should be by the only big shady tree with a graffiti'd name halfway up it. Walk passed the tree in the northwest direction and find the trail, follow the trail to the cliffs.
Warning: There is a barbed wire fence to crawl under or over using the old trail we used to take a year or so ago. and random broken barbed wire partially buried in the ground along the old way too... (we learned the hard way.)
So only the first part of the trail is really changed. Enjoy!
Since I couldn't find directions on here I thought I'd add some.
driving directions: 87 north to the exit for Gisela (about 15 miles south of Payson) follow the road up into the hills, continue on the dirt road, take all left forks, park in the makeshift parking lot.
Trail directions: walk the ~2 miles from the parking lot to the trail which starts out by the Hitchin' Rail Ranch. follow the signs to the swimming hole. Once you get to the river, wade upriver (WEST) until you get to the sand banks by the makeshift fort (water survey thing?) on the northern side of the river. Take the sand banks to the south side of the river, and then walk along the rocks until the river narrows, and becomes shallow. Cross to the north side. You should be by the only big shady tree with a graffiti'd name halfway up it. Walk passed the tree in the northwest direction and find the trail, follow the trail to the cliffs.
Warning: There is a barbed wire fence to crawl under or over using the old trail we used to take a year or so ago. and random broken barbed wire partially buried in the ground along the old way too... (we learned the hard way.)
So only the first part of the trail is really changed. Enjoy!