Every time I head south to Munds Park to run — truth be told, about once a year; twice, tops — I always have a pleasant jaunt and think the same thing:
I need to come here more often.
But I never do.
It’s my loss.
Really, it’s not that far a drive to Munds Park. Freeway-close, they say. But it rarely creates more than a blip on my trail-running radar, probably due to the scores of lovely trails closer to home — including one that’s 200 yards from my front door.
Today, I rectify that and give Munds Park its due. In fact, no, let’s spend the next two weeks of trail reviews in Munds Park, both starting from the spacious Iron Springs Trailhead.
The first installment today will take us on a loop (12 or 14 miles, your preference) on mostly single and double-track on the south-eastern edge of the vast Kelly Canyon Trail System. Next week: the shorter, but no less picturesque, Frog Tank Loop.
First, the Iron Springs Trailhead is not the only starting point in Munds Park, but it’s the one that connects with pretty much everything: forest roads, singletrack, OHV-centric paths, you name it. It’s a veritable choose-your-own-adventure.
I perused the nicely detailed Kelly Trail System map provided by the Munds Park Trail Stewards (more about them in next week’s story) and devised a loop that would be a nice longish run with only a little retracing of footsteps. I’d start heading east on the Rocky Road Trail, turn south on the Munds Canyon Trail (#240), then make a left at the Pinewood Trailhead and go on the serpentine Little Horse Trail for what looked to be a long time.
Then, I’d have a choice of going left on the smooth and popular Forest Road 700 to hook back up with the Rocky Road Trail to complete the loop, or remain on Little Horse as it curves around and gains elevation before linking up with Rocky Road.
The Kelly map, informative as it was, unfortunately did not have distances for the trails. My guess was the loop was probably about 10 miles. If, when I got to the intersection of Little Horse and FR 700, it looked like the loop was going to be longer, I’d take the 700 shortcut. (I didn’t bring water, thinking, heck, it’s just 10 miles and it’s early in the morning.)
That’s the problem with only traversing Munds Park trails once a year; you lose sense of scale and direction.
When you start off on a trail called Rocky Road, you expect it to be rock and boulder strewn. And it was. But not as bad as I imagined — just a bit technical but nothing to throw off your stride too much.
I was pleasantly surprised to come up on the junction with the Munds Canyon Trail after only one mile. Maybe the loop would be shorter than I expected and I could add mileage. The next segment was Munds Canyon. I was expecting a wide path, almost a forest road, because there was OHV attached to the sign. Turns out, nearly all the trails around here are open to motorizing vehicles, even much of the singletrack.
This trail was tucked into the woods and double-track that, because of encroaching flora, seemed at times like singletrack. It was a curvy, undulating trot with doable elevation gain. A couple of stream crossings added some spice, though by early May the water had mostly receded.
By the time I got to the Pinewood Trailhead and the start of Little Horse, I was at 3.8 miles. That’s when I saw the mileage signpost: “700: 2.8 mi. Rocky Road Trail: 7.4.” So, it seems this loop would be longer than I had anticipated. Sigh. No problem. I’d turn on FR 700 and all would be well.
Little Horse is a splendid trail on which to run. There aren’t many rocks and roots, the a carpet of pine needles from the Ponderosa pines that shaded the path made the going easy on the feet. THere’s only one detour, where a giant Ponderosa pine fell and has yet to be cleared. There are climbs, but nothing too strenuous. Same for the descents. The time ticked by and, after a while, I was wondering just when FR 700 would appear.
My watch read 7.5 miles when I hit the spot. The morning chill had worn off and the sun was beating down. Reader, I went for the shortcut.
Once on 700, you can tell why the pros do long runs on it. The trail was smooth and not very hilly, a nice respite from the singletrack of Little Horse and the rockiness of the earlier two trails. The map told me that the junction with the Rocky Road Trail return would come at the northern end of Horse Park, just before the tank. But I had no idea how long it would take to reach it.
The answer: 2.3 miles.
By the way, Horse Park is not a park, per se. It’s a verdant open valley that recently had been forest-thinned by officials. The stacked logs, mounds of branch debris and tracker-torn roads attested to that. The signage said 2.6 miles back to the Iron Springs Trailhead, so, if my math was correct, the loop would be 12 miles.
My thirst was making an appearance, but, heck, it was less than a 5K back to the car. There was a pretty significant hill to scale, but short in duration. The biggest problem in this final stretch was the trial itself. The heavy equipment had plowed over the obvious path for the first quater-mile, but eventually it returned to normal on the Rocky Road.
I probably would’ve been just fine continuing on Little Horse to Rocky Road for another two miles or so, but I did not regret my Robert Frost “road not taken” decision.
Next Week: Frog Tank Loop in Munds Park.
Rocky Road-Munds Canyon-Little Horse- FR 700-Rocky Road Loop, Munds Park
Distance: 12 miles (FR 700 shortcut); 14 miles (full)
Driving Directions: From Flagstaff, drive south on Interstate 17 and exit at the Pinewood (Munds Park) offramp. Go east on Pinewood and turn left onto Crestline Drive. Continue onto Oak, then make a right at Iron Springs Road. The trailhead is 0.2 of a mile after the cattle guard.
The Route: From the trailhead, take the Rocky Road Trail (south east end of the parking lot) to the Munds Canyon Trail (#240). Turn right and go over 2.5 miles to the Pinewood Trailhead. Turn left on the Little Horse Trail. At the junction with FR 700, you have the option of turning left on 700 or continuing east on Little Horse. Both trails eventually link with the Rocky Road Trail. Turn left (west) and return to the Iron Springs Trailhead.
Elevation Gain: 1,047 feet (going on FR 700 shortcut)
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