Turkey Creek Trail
(Happy Valley to Deer Head Spring Trail)

The view back across Happy Valley after about 45 minutes to an hour up the trail. The trail comes in on the ridge on the left.

The burned area in the middle elevations.

View to the north on the upper part of the trail.

Deer Head Spring, near the end of the trail.

This description assumes that you start hiking at the end of the 4WD road, 1.5 miles past the sign that marks the official start of the Turkey Creek Trail.

The first part of the trail runs along the top of a ridge through an area of rolling grasslands. Scattered throughout the grassland are occasional manzanitas, junipers, yuccas, and agaves. As you look around you can see miles across Happy Valley, and no signs of human habitation (if you don't count the cow patties). This first part of the trail gains elevation very slowly, so it is very easy going.

About 40 minutes up the trail you come to the fenced border of Saguaro National Park. There is a sign here telling you that pets, firearms, etc. are not allowed in the park. Also, note that to camp in Saguaro National Park you must have a permit and camp in the designated campgrounds.

About 10 minutes after the border of the park you come to a sign-in register next to the trail. Who knows why they put it so far back in, but this is just one of many mysterious National Park Service decisions.

Shortly after the register the trail starts to climb more steeply as the ridge that the trail has been following begins to merge into the main mass of the Rincons. This area has fire damage a few years old; dead bushes and shrubs surrounded by living grass. To prevent erosion of the trail after the fire the NPS has put in stone stair risers along the trail so that in many places you are literally climbing a staircase. While the stairs do a good job of holding the trail together, they are not much fun to hike on.

About an hour and a half in from the trailhead you get to some oak/juniper forest that has not been burned, and a little ways in this forested area is Mud Hole Spring, which is signed. The spring is not much to look at, but it did have a little water running in monsoon season of 1997. There is a sign here which says that Deer Head Spring is 1 mile ahead, but someone has crossed out the 1 and replaced it with a 2. While it may not be 2 miles to Deer Head Spring, it is certainly more than 1 mile.

Immediately after Mud Hole Spring the trail starts climbing very steeply through living oak forest, and after 15 minutes or so you see the first ponderosas in a small stand next to the trail at a spot where there is a nice view of a cliff rising up to the north across the valley.

After another 25 minutes the trail levels off a bit as it gets into pine forest, and it continues fairly level for a little ways before switchbacking up a bit to the sign for Deer Head Spring. I didn't see any open water at Deer Head Spring, but you could tell there is an extensive wet patch from all of the lush green grass growing there.

A short distance above Deer Head Spring is the trail junction where the Turkey Creek Trail ends in a T intersection with the Deer Head Spring Trail. There is a sign for the trail you just came in on, which reads:

Turkey Creek Trail
East Slope Trail 0.6 (north)
Spud Rock Spring Campground 0.7 (north)
Heartbreak Ridge Trail 0.8 (south)
Turkey Creek Trailhead 6.2 (east).

When you come into the junction you are facing west, so north is to your right and south is to your left. Notice that the sign does not identify the trail that you have just joined. This is typical for the Rincons. Thank goodness the National Park Service isn't in charge of putting signs on street corners, or no one would ever be able to figure out how to get to the mall.

The 6.2 miles is all the way back to the beginning of the 4WD road, so don't be too impressed with yourself for making good time unless that is where you started.

Turn right (north) on the Deer Head Spring Trail here.

Deer Head Spring Trail
(Turkey Creek Trail to Spud Rock Spring Campground)

One of the meadows with shoulder high ferns.

Stand of Aspen at Spud Rock Spring Campground

From the junction the trail goes gently uphill through mixed oak/pine forest, passing through a few clearings overgrown with very tall ferns. There is also one small stand of aspen.

At the far end of one of the clearings you come to a signed trail junction. The sign, which is oriented so that you are facing back the way you came when you read it, says:

Deer Head Spring Trail
Spud Rock Spring Campground 0.1 (east)
Turkey Creek Trail 0.6 (south)
Four Corners 0.8 (west)
Fire Loop Trail 3.3 (direction crossed out)

The Spud Rock Spring Campground is a short ways down the trail that takes off to the east (on your right as you come into the junction).

To go southwest on the East Slope Trail take the trail to the west (left as you come into the junction) that has a wooden sign saying "Manning Camp 2 miles."

Take the trail that has the wooden sign that says "Manning Camp 2 mi." on it. This is the East Slope Trail.

East Slope Trail
(Spud Rock Spring Campground to Switchback Trail)

The trail start out climbing gently through underbrush, and then moves into open ponderosa forest. Very quickly you come to the Switchback trail which takes off to the right (west). This trail has a sign marking it:

Switchback Trail
Dear Head Spring Trail 0.2 (north/back the way you came)
Heartbreak Ridge Trail-N 0.3 (straight down Switchback Trail/west)
Spud Rock Spring Campground 0.3 (north/back the way you came)
Devils Bathtub Trail 0.6 (south)

The East Slope Trail continues straight ahead (south) here going towards Four Corners where it intersects the Devils Bathtub Trail and the Heartbreak Ridge Trail.

Turn right (west) on the Switchback Trail here.

Switchback Trail
(East Slope Trail to Heartbreak Ridge Trail-N)

From the trail junction with the East Slope Trail the trail climbs gently through ponderosa forest before you hit the switchbacks. The switchbacks climb up a steep slope which has some rock formations near the top. As you get higher there are good views to the east as you climb above the tops of the trees.

The trail ends at a signed trail junction with the Heartbreak Ridge Trail, which goes off to the left and right. You are facing west as you come into the junction, so north is right and south is left. The sign is oriented so that you are facing back the way you came when you look at it, and reads:

Switchback Trail
East Slope Trail 0.3 (east/back the way you came)
Devils Bathtub Trail 0.5 (south)
Spud Rock Spring Campground 0.6 (east/back the way you came)
Fire Loop Trail 0.7 (north)

Turn right (north) here on the Heartbreak Ridge Trail.

Heartbreak Ridge Trail
(Switchback Trail to Fire Loop Trail)

Typical forest along the Heartbreak Ridge Trail.

After the signed junction with the Switchback Trail the Heartbreak Ridge Trail climbs gently up a slope through Ponderosas, heading northwest. After about 5 or 10 minutes the trail levels out and contours along toward the west. Around here there are views of a large rock formation rising up above the trail about a half mile ahead.

The trail climbs again and passes a large rock formation, and pretty soon it reaches a junction with the Fire Loop Trail. At this junction the trail you are on turns into the Fire Loop Trail heading west, and the Fire Loop Trail also goes off to the right, or northeast. There is a sign for the Fire Loop Trail taking off to the right, which reads:

Fire Loop Trail
Heartbreak Ridge Trail (southeast/back the way you came)
Mica Meadow Trail .5 (northeast)
Manning Camp 0.7 (west)
Reef Rock 0.9 (northeast)
Spud Rock Camp Ground 1.3 (southeast/back the way you came)

Continue straight ahead (west). This trail is now the Fire Loop Trail.

Fire Loop Trail
(Heartbreak Ridge Trail to Mica Mountain Trail and Manning Camp)

The cabin at Manning Camp.

Rock formations along the trail.

View from the trail.

This segment starts out almost flat, moving through an area of exposed rock near the top of the Rincons. It quickly begins to descend, however, though ponderosa forest, until you get down to wide bottom of a drainage.

There is a nice meadow in the bottom, and just beyond the streambed a trail takes off to the right (northeast), and the Fire Loop Trail continues straight (west). There is a sign for this new trail which reads:

Mica Mountain Trail
Manning Camp 0.1(west)
Mica Meadow Trail 0.5 (northeast)
Heartbreak Ridge Trail 0.6 (back the way you came)
Mica Mountain 1.4 (northeast)

At this point you are almost in Manning Camp, which is a short distance straight down the Fire Loop Trail. At Manning Camp there is a cabin which is occasionally used by the National Park Service, as well as a restroom, water, and campsites. There is also a trail register and a number of interpretive signs at the main trail junction.

According to one of the signs Manning Camp was built in 1905 by General Levi Manning, Surveyor General of the Arizona Territory and later mayor of Tucson, as a summer home. He abandoned the cabin in 1907 when the area was declared a National Forest Reserve and his homestead rights were revoked.

At this junction the Cow Head Saddle Trail takes off to the north (right as you come into the junction) and the Manning Camp Trail takes off to the southeast (almost straight ahead as you come into the junction). Both of these trails are signed.

From Manning Camp take the Manning Camp Trail north, opposite the trail you came in on.

Manning Camp Trail
(Manning Camp to Devils Bathtub Trail)

Small valley near the beginning of the trail.

After leaving the cabin at Manning Camp, this trail segment passes by the campsites and then continues down the hill to the southwest.

A couple of minutes in a trail takes off to the left at an unsigned trail junction. Continue straight here. The trail descends relatively steeply down the slope through pine forest until it comes to a streambed after another 7 minutes or so. This streambed only has water in it during periods of high rainfall, like during the monsoon season.

After crossing the streambed the trail bears to the right and climbs a bit as it parallels the streambed while climbing up and away from it. This drainage has some rock formations lining it, and is very scenic. A short ways from the streambed crossing there is a rock overhang on the left which is big enough to get in out of the rain.

After climbing out of the drainage, the trail curves to the left and there are some views of Rincon Peak off to the south. The trail then descends down a slope through pine forest until it reaches a trail junction where a trail takes off to the left (southeast) and the trail you are on continues towards the southest. The sign for the trail taking off to the left is actually about 10 yards further down the trail, and says:

Devils Bathtub Trail
Manning Camp 1 (back the way you came)
Heartbreak Ridge Trail 1.2 (southeast)
Grass Shack Campground 3.5 (southwest)
Douglas Spring Trail-S 4.1 (southwest)

Turn left (southeast) on the Devils Bathtub Trail.

Devils Bathtub Trail
(Manning Camp Trail to Four Corners)

The upper part of the falls at Devils Bathtub, as seen from the trail.

The second set of falls below the trail.

From the junction with the Manning Camp Trail the Devils Bathtub Trail contours along a slope with some minor gains and losses in elevation. Initially the trail is through pine forest, but then it changes to oak/pine forest for a while.

About 15 minutes in from the junction, the trail reaches the Devils Bathtub, which is a pool at the bottom of a waterfall just to the right of the trail. The waterfall usually does not have more than a trickle, so don't expect too much. There are other waterfalls and pools further downstream from here, so it may be worth taking the time to explore a bit.

After leaving the Devils Bathtub the trail gets back into pine forest, and continues contouring along the slope without much elevation change. About 15 minutes after the Devils Bathtub the trail comes to the Four Corners trail junction. From here you can see Rincon Peak off to the south, and Happy Valley lookout a few miles down the ridge.

As you come into the junction you are facing east. North is to your left and south is to your right. The trail heading north and south is the Heartbreak Ridge Trail, and the trail you are on becomes the East Slope Trail on the opposite side of the junction. The sign for the trail you just came in on reads as follows:

Devils Bathtub Trail
Manning Camp Trail 1.2 (west)
Fire Loop Trail 1.2 (north)
Manning Camp 1.9 (north)
Manning Camp 2.2 (west)

The sign for the East Slope Trail which heads east out of the interesection, reads as follows:

East Slope TrailDear Head Spring Trail-S 0.5 (south)
Dear Head Spring Trail-N 0.8 (east)
Spud Rock Spring Campground 0.9 (east)
Miller Creek Trail 4 (south)

Take the trail opposite the one you came in on (east). This is the East Slope Trail

East Slope Trail
(Four Corners to Switchback Trail)

Continue straight on the East Slope Trail. Soon you will come to the intersection with the bottom of the Switchback Trail, where you were before. From here just retrace the route you took up: continue straight on the East Slope Trail, turn right when you get to the Spud Rock Spring Camp Ground junction, and then turn left on the Turkey Creek Trail.