Length: 4 miles roundtrip

Difficulty: Moderate

Wilderness Area: Four Peaks Wilderness

Journal: "Four Peak's Sake"

From Shea and SR 87 drive 20 miles north on SR 87 to FR 143. Follow this high clearance road 19 miles. Turn right onto FR 648 and drive 1.3 miles to the Lone Pine Trailhead.

Trail Description:

From the trailhead you have two options: The Four Peaks Trail and the Browns Trail. Our loop involved the Four Peaks Trail, the Amethyst Trail and the Brown Trail.

After beginning in lush pine forest, the trail soon enters the Wilderness and the area burned by the Lone Pine Fire in 1991. This 60,000 acre fire was the largest in Tonto Forest history. The trail has been recently maintained and the going is easy. Because of the lack of trees, the view from the Four Peaks trail is good. We were able to see Lake Roosevelt, Tonto Creek and the Sierra Ancha's. The lack of trees also made this part of the trail very warm.

1.5 miles from the trailhead, you will reach the unsigned junction with the Amethyst trail. It appears that the lower end of Amethyst trail was recently rerouted. The first half mile of this trail is very wide and moderately steep. It seems that the maintenance crews came to a sudden stop .5 mile from the junction. We saw several tools laying where they left them. After this point the trail was blocked numerous times with downed trees and was overgrown. There were very little shade along the Amethyst trail, which ended at an unsigned T-intersection with the Brown trail. Turn right at the intersection.

Unlike the previous two legs, the Brown trail did not seem to be terribly effected by the Lone Pine fire. A moderate down grade and a good canopy of pine and juniper made this the most enjoyable of the three trails.