After eleven miles of bouncing over extremely dusty forest roads, by the time we finally arrive at the Pumpkin Trailhead our four vehicles are covered in a thick layer of fine road dust and are now oddly identical in color: Forest Road Gray. Earlier on the road, Diane had mentioned some sort of an image on her back window. She also said that she was still learning about her brand new vehicle. So I thought perhaps she might have some sort of exotic heads-up image display on her back window that she wasn’t aware of yet.

I didn’t realize just what she was talking about until we all stopped to retrieve our gear from the back of her Nissan after reaching the trailhead.

As you can see in this picture, the “image” she was referring to bears a remarkable resemblance to a snow-covered forest scene. No wonder Diane was having trouble seeing through her back window. She couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

Today’s hike would make a very interesting comparison study in “Before” and “After” pictures. If we had taken this same group picture 8½ hours later when 17 exhausted and ragtag hikers finally limped back to the trailhead, one might begin to wonder if this was the same group of "A" hikers that started out earlier in the morning – fresh, confident, and eager to hit the trail running. But more on that observation later.

Under clear blue skies with a pleasant temperature of 74 degrees, seventeen hard-core Arizona Trailblazers strike out from the Pumpkin Trailhead, located in the Kendrick Mountain Wilderness about 30 miles northwest of Flagstaff. The time is exactly 10:20 AM. Our goal is the 10,418-foot summit of Kendrick Mountain. Today’s hike will turn out to be more of an exploratory adventure than many of us had anticipated. More on that later as well.

The Pumpkin Trailhead sits at 7,280 feet in elevation on the west side of Kendrick Peak, and we have to climb a total of 3,380 feet to reach the summit on the 10.2 mile long Pumpkin Loop Trail. This is the first time we have ever attempted this particular route. On numerous past hikes to the peak we have always gone up and back on the familiar Kendrick Mountain Trail. Going back to the days of the Motorola Hiking Club, we have hiked this same trail at least seven or eight times over the years, although only four previous hikes are documented on our website.

But the Pumpkin Loop Trail sounded both intriguing and more challenging when I first read about it, with the key word here being challenging. And from today’s turnout, we apparently have more serious hard-core "A" hikers in this club than we realize. It’s been suggested in the past that we would probably attract more hikers if we offered a wider variety of easier "C" hikes.

That may be true, but from the large number of hikers who frequently turn out for our more aggressive hikes like today’s Pumpkin Loop hike, obviously there are still a lot of hikers who prefer the more challenging "A" hikes as well. On our June, 2012, Mt. Humphreys hike we had a near-record turnout of 27 hikers for one of the toughest and most challenging hikes we offer. Twenty of those made it all the way to the top: 12,633 feet, Arizona’s highest summit. And many people prefer loop trails over standard in-and-out trails for a variety of reasons, one being a constant change of scenery.

The Pumpkin Loop consists of four separate trails, along with a small segment of the Kendrick Mountain Trail to the very top. From the trailhead, we will hike the Pumpkin Trail for 1.4 miles to its junction with the Connector Trail. We then follow the Connector Trail for 1.1 miles until it joins the Bull Basin Trail. At 3.0 miles in length, the Bull Basin Trail will be our toughest stretch of trail with the greatest amount of elevation gain, about 2,500 feet. This trail terminates at the Kendrick Mountain Trail, 0.3 miles from the summit. From the top it’s 4.5 miles back to the Pumpkin Trailhead on the Pumpkin Trail.

The Pumpkin Trail starts out relatively easy as we hike eastward, but it’s not long before we begin a steady climb through a ponderosa pine forest. We’re barely a quarter mile up the trail when we begin to see evidence of the devastating 2000 Pumpkin Fire all around us. One of my hiking guidebooks stated “You’ll be hiking through a mosaic of burned and unburned forest throughout this hike.” I was originally a bit skeptical of that statement, but the scene unfolding before us on the Pumpkin Trail quickly erases any lingering doubts. And these sobering pictures serve as stark reminders of the long-term scars left behind on Kendrick Mountain.

On May 24, 2000, after months of drought and extreme fire conditions across most of northern Arizona, a major thunderstorm rolled into the Kendrick Mountain area. A single bolt of lightning slashed out of the cloud cover and struck a ponderosa pine tree southwest of the mountain near Pumpkin Center. The tree burst into flames which quickly spread to surrounding trees. Before long, strong winds pushed the fire across the west side of the mountain, and by the end of the first day the fire had grown to nearly 3,000 acres.

As conditions continued to worsen, a raging wildfire gradually spread across the north face of Kendrick and eventually wrapped itself all the way around to the east and south sides of the mountain. Between May 24 and June 24 the Pumpkin Fire consumed a total of 14,760 acres of old-growth forest on both the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests, traveling from the 7,400-foot level all the way up the mountain to 10,000 feet. The Pumpkin Fire continued to burn within containment lines until late August when summer monsoon rains finally put it out.

Now, 14 years later, the mountain is still recovering and will be for decades to come.

Kendrick Mountain will not look like it did before the Pumpkin Fire any time within our lifetimes.

As with most large mountain wildfires, the long-term effects after the fire are the threats of flash floods, mud slides, and severe erosion as a result of the loss of critical ground cover. And the Pumpkin Fire is no exception.

Two large back-to-back thunderstorms in July, 2001, each pounded the mountain with up to four inches of rain during a one to two hour period, creating deep gullies down the mountainside, washing out sections of Forest Road 171, doing major damage around the Pumpkin Center area, and washing away or severely damaging a number of the known prehistoric archeological sites on the mountain, most associated with the Cohonina culture that inhabited this area between AD 700 and AD 1100.

After 1.4 miles and about 500 feet of elevation gain on the Pumpkin Trail, we finally link up with the short Connector Trail that levels off for quite a while and contours along the base of Kendrick Peak as we continue to make our way through a mosaic of burned and unburned areas on the mountain.

It’s always interesting how wildfires often move so erratically through the forest, totally leveling some areas and leaving nothing but scorched earth in their wake, while leaving other areas virtually untouched. Such unpredictability and erratic behavior are some of the most challenging and dangerous aspects of fighting wildfires that fire fighters and hot shot crews face every time they go up against a new wildfire.

The Connector Trail / Bull Basin Trail junction is a little confusing at first, but after a bit of discussion and consulting with the maps we finally make a short descent into Bull Basin. This is the most level stretch of Bull Basin Trail and we eventually find ourselves making a steady climb up the head of Bull Basin. The trail heads in an east/southeast direction and continues its relentless climb through a long series of switchbacks as it makes its way up the north and east sides of Kendrick Mountain.

Much of the elevation gain on the Pumpkin Loop is along the Bull Basin Trail, which climbs nearly 2,500 feet in three miles before finally linking up with the Kendrick Trail. The views become more expansive and spectacular and we catch cooling breezes as we steadily make our way up the mountain. But we also find ourselves facing increasing numbers of fallen trees across the trail which slows our progress. Little do we know this is only a precursor of things to come.

Typical of these longer hikes, we split into several groups within a half mile or less of the Pumpkin Trailhead. Part mountain man, part Billy goat, and master bushwhacker Bill has a small contingent of the more aggressive super hikers in the lead, while I have a group of slower-paced hikers in the rear. The remaining hikers fall somewhere in the middle between us. As long as we have enough TalkAbout radios among us to stay in communication that works out better anyway, especially in wilderness areas like the Kendrick Mountain Wilderness where groups of hikers are usually limited to ten or less.

Due to our late start at the trailhead, we don’t get as far as I had anticipated by noon. So eight of us in the rear column decide to break for lunch in a cool shady area of the forest with a large log for seating.

And so it is. [photo by Monika]

It’s certainly good to sit down and take a break, in addition to replenishing those calories we are burning off at a rapid clip, but we can’t afford to stop for too long. After lunch, Diane asks me which way we go from here, and I simply reply “up” which gets a good laugh from the group. At this point a little levity is needed to help lighten the mood.

Unfortunately, though, that’s the most accurate answer, since it’s all uphill from here to the peak.

We start off on the main trail, but somehow the eight of us soon find ourselves navigating through a maze of downfall, slowly picking our way through hundreds of fallen trees lying atop one another like a pile of giant match sticks. This is very tough going and very slow, so I’m thinking if we keep going at this rate we’ll be lucky to reach the peak by 5:00 PM or later. And then we still have another 4.5 miles of hiking an unfamiliar trail to get back to the trailhead.

I wonder how many others beside me have flashlights or headlamps with them. We may need them if we can’t make it back before darkness descends on the mountain, and that can happen pretty quickly on a forested mountain slope. I’ve been in that situation more than once.

I try once again to contact Bill and Dave in the lead to ask them about trail conditions up ahead. Dave informs me they are running into lots of downfall all over the trail as well and it’s very slow going for everyone. So we assume the trail is simply buried somewhere under the downfall and as long as we continue moving uphill we’ll eventually get out of this mess onto more open ground and be able to move a little faster. Thankfully Wayne eventually determines, via his GPS track, that we are off course and roughly 300 to 500 yards to the east of the main trail. But where exactly is it? We can’t see anything from here but trees and more trees, both standing and lying all over the ground. And how in the world did we manage to drift that far off the main trail?

Wayne volunteers to work his way through the maze in that direction in an effort to locate the trail and will radio us as soon as he finds it. About 20 minutes later Wayne informs us that he is finally back on the trail, and the rest of us carefully pick our way through the downfall maze to catch up with him. By the time we reach Wayne and the trail we have lost at least 30-40 minutes, but at least we’re finally on the right track once again. Thanks, Wayne, you are a true blue Trailblazer. Now the going will be much easier – or so we think. Incredibly, we continue to encounter tree after tree after tree fallen across and blocking the trail, forcing us to navigate over, under, or around and continuing to slow our progress. In all my years of hiking hundreds of miles of forest trails throughout Arizona, I have never seen anything quite like this before, nor has most of our group.

We slowly continue to gain elevation and work our way closer to Kendrick Peak, but it becomes increasingly tiresome getting over all the trees across the trail. What I would give for a few good chain saws at this point! And where is a large family of beavers when you really need them? Somewhere along this stretch of trail we hear Bill’s voice over the radio announcing that he and Andreh have made it to the top. Apparently both of these guys are part mountain goat.

Then Dave instructs us to watch for a large clearing and a big piece of burned bark with a perfect 4" diameter hole in the middle (see picture). We should turn right here to pick up the trail again. In addition to being full of downfall, the Bull Basin Trail is very faint and hard to follow in a number of places. You either need a GPS track or have to be very good at dead reckoning and direction finding to successfully navigate your way along this trail.

We eventually make the clearing and find the large piece of burned bark Dave earlier referred to. Jim and several others are waiting for us to make sure we don’t miss the turn. We take a short break here and then continue onward and upward through a very pleasant and shady aspen grove. This stretch of trail is relatively clear of downed trees, so we make good progress here.

Bill’s voice comes over the radio once again, informing us that he and six others are heading back down on the Pumpkin Trail shortly after 4:00 PM. The rest of us continue on and eventually come to a large meadow with a cabin just east of Kendrick Peak. This marks the end of the Bull Basin Trail and the junction with the Kendrick Trail. From here you can either continue on to the lookout tower, or head back down on the Kendrick Trail.

The small one room cabin was built in 1912 as living quarters for the fire lookouts in the original Kendrick Lookout Tower.

The new tower has its own living quarters, so the old cabin was abandoned after the new tower was built and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

During the Pumpkin Fire, fire crews completely wrapped the entire cabin with a layer of fire resistant material to protect it from the flames (see picture). Because of their efforts, the historic cabin still stands today.

We take a break in the meadow next to the cabin and discuss our options. Several women in the group have never been to the lookout tower and in fact have never hiked Kendrick Mountain before and decide to continue on, with Rudy as their escort since he has hiked Kendrick. The rest of us decide to head back down on the Kendrick Trail to save time since it’s so late in the day and we’ve all seen the tower before anyway. The four going to the top will inform Bill and his group of our decision so they can make arrangements to pick us up at the Kendrick Trailhead, which is only about three miles from the Pumpkin Trailhead. We keep in touch with them over the radios to monitor their progress on the Pumpkin Trail.

Eventually we are all back together once again at the Kendrick Trailhead to discuss dinner options. The vote is for Arizona Snowbowl Restaurant, located at the junction of the Snowbowl Road and Highway 180, since it is the closest restaurant and we are all hungry enough to eat boiled boot leather. We wind up shutting the place down, as we are just getting our dinners served close to their 9:00 PM closing time.

It has been a very long day and nearly Midnight by the time we arrive at the I-17 & Bell Road meeting location where we had all met almost 18 hours earlier. Bill jokes that we need to classify this as a two-day hike. Definitely another one for the record books. Great job Trailblazers! All of you now qualify as "A" hikers.

There were some earlier discussions among several of us during the Pumpkin Loop hike about the cause for so much downfall along parts of the Bull Basin Trail. Some thought it was mostly the result of the 2000 Pumpkin Fire, while others believed very high winds were responsible for knocking down many of the trees.

Shortly after the hike I talked to a couple of Forest Rangers at both the Peaks Ranger District and the Williams Ranger District. They both concurred that most of the downed trees are a direct result of the Pumpkin Fire, while occasional high winds also continue to knock down still standing fire damaged trees. So both theories are correct, although the fire was largely responsible for most of the downfall.

Many dead trees remain standing for years, even decades, after a forest fire and continue to serve as perches, lookouts, and nesting sights for a variety of birds, including flickers, woodpeckers, and large birds of prey like hawks and eagles. Unfortunately, they are also an ongoing threat to passing hikers in the area, between falling branches and limbs and the trees themselves toppling over and crashing to the ground — often right across the trail as we saw so many times on this hike. So whenever hiking through these fire damaged areas we have to be ever vigilant and aware of such possibilities.

After taking the group picture I hurriedly started hiking. I was a little unsocial, but 10:20 is a late start for a 3200-foot exploratory hike. I was out front with Andreh. We did not wait for the group at the first trail intersection. At a point where the trail appeared to descend into the valley we were unsure if it was the Bull Basin intersection without a signpost. We choose to keep our elevation and followed remnants of a trail until it faded. We circled back and waited until more of them caught up.

Lance and Funyung led the way down. Others followed. I took a bushwhack shortcut to join Lance in front. At the signed trail junction “T2” we waited with thirteen others for the last two. Over the radio Chuck asked if anyone wanted to break for lunch.

It was 11:30 we were only at 8200 feet. I looked at Andreh and said “LETS GO”. We did. At 9600 feet we took a short food break. As we were about to go Lance, Chris, and Gary caught up. Andreh and I left.

At 2:15 we reached the cabin. After a short break Andreh and I headed up to the tower. We answered over the radios we would wait for the group before heading down Pumpkin Trail.

Chris, Gary, Lance, Nancy, and Dave waited with us at the start of the Pumpkin trail. We took a group picture. It was 4:00. Not knowing the status of the others, I thought it would be best to start down. I was not looking forward to dancing in the dark over fallen trees.

Uneventful. Beautiful. Picturesque. Fir, Aspen, and Pine commingling near the top. Easy switchbacks. No trees to climb over. We had great views of “Wild Bill Hill”, a hike I plan to lead in the future.

Andreh and Lance led. Not knowing if others would be following, we took an easy pace keeping us five together. As we reached the burned ridgeline, Bill shared his water with Nancy. The radios blurted some were doing Pumpkin and others were doing the Kendrick Trail.

At the cars we waited. Rudy, Diane, Monica, and Linda joined us. Four vehicles, four drivers ... life is good.