Length: 16 miles roundtrip

Difficulty: Moderate

Wilderness Area: Bear Wallow Wilderness

Journal: "Bare Wallow"

From Alpine, drive 27.25 miles south on US 191 to FR 25. Turn right and go west 3.1 miles to the signed trailhead.

Trail Description:

From the trailhead, the trail drops down 20 feet and crosses a road that also begins at the trailhead. There is a ribbon on a post and a cairn to find the trail on the other side of the road. The trail continues to descend moderately through thick spruce and white pine. The trail in this section is very rutted and hikers are starting to route their own trails alongside of the rut.

At 0.4 miles, the trail enters a small meadow and makes a sweeping left turn. The ruts are gone and the walking is easy. The trail now follows the drainage and crosses it several times during the next half mile. At 0.8 miles you reach a gate. Several creek crossings later, at 1.5 miles from the trailhead, you reach the North Fork of Bear Wallow Creek and the trail turns to the WSW. In this area, lovely ferns and wildflowers dot the landscape, and small meadows are visible every so often along the creek. The creek is perennial. There was considerable poison ivy along the trail but they were small plants and we had no problem avoiding any contact with them. The trail continues its decent and at 2.5 miles from the trailhead, you will reach the junction with the Reno Trail. Continuing on the Bear Wallow Trail, we encountered hordes of butterflies, and a incredibly small white hummingbird!

At 2.9 miles from the trailhead, we found a spring crossing the trail and at 3.1 miles we found another seep. At 3.5 miles from the trailhead we reached the junction with the Schell Canyon trail. This was our turnaround point but you can continue another 4.5 miles to the trail end at the San Carlos Indian Reservation.

Return the way you came, or make a loop trail with the Reno Trail and FR25.