Length: 15 miles roundtrip

Difficulty: Moderate

Wilderness Area: Mazatzal Wilderness

Journal: "Mother's Day"

Trailhead is at junction of Arizona SR 87 and SR 188. From Fountain Hills, take AZ 87 north to mile marker 235.5. Trailhead is well marked on a well maintained dirt road.

Trail Description:

From the trailhead, trail #45 (Deer Creek), trail #46 (South Fork) and trail #47 (Gold Ridge) all start out on the same trail. After a 1/4 mile climb, trail 47 branches off to the left. Continue straight until you come to a gate. Pass through the gate and continue to the signed turnoff for the South Fork #46 Trail.

The South Fork trail follows along a low ridge before dropping down to the South Fork of Deer Creek. It then crosses and quickly climbs back out of the creek. After following along above the north bank of the creek the trail drops again and crosses back to the south side. Until this point the trail has had little shade. From this point, however, the shade is plentiful and the hiking easy.

When we hiked this trail in May of 2000, there was some small pools of water in the creek. In an area from 1.75 to 2.0 miles from the trailhead, there were several large stands of poison ivy. At 2.5 miles you will encounter the remnants of a stone cabin. We chose this point for our turn around.

The South Fork trail continues to follow the creek for several miles before climbing steeply to Pine Mountain Road (FR201). Return the way you came or a loop hike can be made with either Trail 45 or 47.