Tadpole Ridge

Gila National Forest

Click for map.

According to the one guy with a geocache along it, "This trail is quite likely the premier trail in the Pinos Altos for high country views." Unlike for Signal Peak, the Forest Service has gone ahead and put a sign out so people know there is a trail as they drive by, even if it is only a hieroglyphic of two hikers and a trail number. Parking is a little forced, but there is quite a lot just up the road and off onto the road to the lookout on Signal Peak. There also looks to be a bit of a shortcut to a higher point on it a little further up the road. No warnings about burned stuff getting ready to lob its weakened self at unwary hikers, so that's nice. The trees do look charred. It might have been an oversight.

The start of Tadpole Ridge Trail #232. Sheep Corral Canyon (the other end) is 8.5 miles distant. Otherwise, you make your own destinations.

The trail first bit of trail isn't so hot. It winds in the trees near the highway, nearly touching it at one point, then climbs to a spot that was once a road junction where my suspected shortcut comes up. A great big cairn with a stick pointing out over the other former road makes me think it might be a well used shortcut. The trail turns to climb, leaving both roads for a new, winding path without quite so much water erosion as it starts to roughly follow the ridge line that is the general route.

Scott Peak, the one named thing along the way but not the high point, seems to be a bit of a rocky extrusion.

There is a rocky outcrop like a granite dome off to the left and then some cliffs that are probably Scott Peak. I wonder why someone bothered to name this bit that is not the high point. Since it is named, I've given a slight bit of thought to climbing it. Most of that thought is that it would be shorter from the other side, so I'll see what that holds first. If I don't like that, I can always come up from this side on the way back. Although this will be a long hike so that seems unlikely.

Signal Peak over one of the granite domes. The opening makes a little bit of view.

A particularly lovely but sparse lupin is out and blooming along the trail.

It looks like there has been a burn below the peak, but not over that much area. As it creeps around, the trail does not seem to hug the peak quite as closely as shown on my maps. There doesn't seem to be a use trail up it anywhere. The far side is still cliffy and the area is guarded by head high roses. At least I think they are roses. They have no leaves on to hide their vicious thorns behind. I think they were all over the other sides, too. The trail climbs further, looping north around a couple higher and unnamed peaks. There are some breaks in the trees to look out now and then. It nearly touches the saddles to get slight views to the south.

Far out is the Gila Wilderness. The mountains give me the impression of old, well eroded things.

A multitude of hills out to the southwest.

There seems to be a fence running along the south side. It is very incomplete, but distinctly has a gate down from one saddle and even a trail through it. The maps offer no hints and I have a full day, so that will just have to be missed. Maybe it drops down to T X Mountain.

Coming attractions. Looking along Tadpole Ridge.

I wonder if the trail will go more around the high point than indicated too. Of course I have to tag the high point if I'm passing by. The area along the ridge is wide and flat through here and just about anywhere is a potential camp site. The trail does stay to the top and someone seems to have been rolling rocks into it. One of them is quite large, but I can see where it used to be before it was sitting in the middle of the trail. As upward seems to finish, there should be a top. It is quite indistinct and no one has built a cairn or left a register to render their opinion on the matter. The tree covered summit is mostly without views, so tagging is all I do. Down in the next saddle is an actual camp site that looks like it might have been the one the fellow testing his new backpack used. Certainly enough fresh footprints all over it. Then it's more steeply down the north side and on to those undulations ahead.

The flowers of a vine seem to already have finished and are wilting.

These long, alternating leaves look like some I was wondering what might pop from a couple days ago. Very tiny white things.

Trail somewhere near the high point. The ridge is wide and flat through here, so deciding the highest spot is difficult.

Admiring the scar left by lightning on a ponderosa. That looks like it hurt several times. There are a few noticeable scars like this on the ridge.

The changing light makes the creases of the mountains to the north more visible.

A ridge stretches out to the south from Tadpole. Passing it changes the view on that side a bit and shows another burn scar. This one has had some time to recover, but not a lot of trees have come back.

A Four Mountain seems to have burned a bit.

The agave are getting into the mood to flower.

The hills to the west. There are definitely ranches up on the flat spots.

The north side of Tadpole Ridge also has some more open spots. Maybe that isn't a burn on A Four Mountain.

I keep on to a little pool of water marked on the map as "Tadpole Lake". It's not very big and more like a mud hole as I get there. It reminds me of the ponds formed by an earthen dam by a spring. If someone did that here, then they made sure to make it look like a bunch of tiny hills. I see no signs of tadpoles, but there are interesting impressions left in the mud around it.

Tadpole Lake is a bit of a mud hole, but the water is real.

Bear prints in the mud with the cow prints. There was fresh bear scat on the trail, too.

Bear prints are always fun to find. Poking around a little more, there are some through the pine needles in the forest, too. These are deep, poking through more than an inch worth of pine duff and a bit of the soil beneath. They are many steps from a single bear walking precisely the same way each of many times going from the water hole. Besides that, there is a large area of irises that are only leaves as yet. Just a bit too early. I thought about continuing on to the end, but have decided against coming back up the 1000 foot drop over 2 miles or the longer road hike back. So, it is time to return.

Most of the yucca are no further than deep purple buds, but a few have flowers at the bottom.

Tadpole Ridge does have a few spots where a panorama can be taken north (like this) or south.

Apparently I came through a gate on the way. I didn't notice it crumpled up to one side. None of the fence for it to latch into is there, so I guess it's not needed even though there are clearly cows about. Well, the fence is far from complete too.

Silver City is out there.

Almost there, but still too early.

There is supposed to be a trail heading off the ridge at a tiny saddle near the top, at least according to OpenStreetMap. I pause and look carefully around for it. Although there are blazes sometimes, there are certainly none around here. There is no trail going down, either. Maybe it is a the other I saw, very misplaced at a small saddle instead of the much larger one just east of it. In that case, that trail through the gate should go out over A Four Mountain.

Tadpole Ridge up ahead, Scott Peak is the second along, with Signal Peak behind on the right.

The unnamed peak west of Scott might have a use trail up it from the saddle on its west or it might have a sort of bathroom trail for the sometimes used camp site in the saddle. This site does not look nearly as popular as the on west of the high point. As expected, I do not quite feel like going up it or the other.

The more easterly bits of the wilderness are easier to see in the afternoon light.

I do feel like going on a short monument search for a pair of closing corners, though. One is a little way along the road the trail abandoned to start upwards and, besides being on the wrong side of it, is easy to find. The other is up the hill from the highway. Both were set in 1913. They were poking around here early. The shortcut along the other road is not very steep, but rocky and turning into a wash. The horses appear to be using it. It is easy to find across from the road signed for Meadow Creek where there is ample parking. I may as well have used that. Since I didn't, the trail along a dry creek back to my parking is a nice find since it means I don't have to take the highway for the half mile or so.




©2019 Valerie Norton
Written 13 May 2019