Warning

This trail has only been partially surveyed at this time. Length and other trail data may be incorrect or missing. Please consult other resources before planning any trips based on this page.

Price Shake Trail #236

Important Note

Some maps show this trail dropping from Dobson Saddle into Shake Gulch and connecting with the Cottonwood Trail. As this connection has not yet been found, this trail will continue to be marked as incomplete for the time being, and the trail length is the distance between the Price Canyon Trail and Dobson Saddle.

Current Trail Conditions

Lack of use, lack of maintenance, and combined fire and flood damage have degraded this trail significantly in recent years. It is still possible to follow its full length, but expect brush overgrowth, tread degradation in drainage areas, and many trees to step over.

Length: ~1.6 mi

Difficulty: difficult

Condition: terrible

Elevation gain/loss: 1,365 ft ↑ / 10 ft ↓

Average slope: 16.0%

Access

The Price Shake Trail is accessible from a junction along the Price Canyon Trail, (31.76465, -109.26287) departing to the west 0.44 miles above its trailhead. This junction is marked with a sign, though the trail is identified only as the "Shake Gulch Trail" and the mileages on the sign are incorrect.

Trail Description

From the Price Canyon Trail, the Price Shake Trail heads west, crossing the Wilderness boundary approximately 150 feet later. The very initial stretch of the trail is fairly visible and easy to follow, but it begins to get rocky and less easy to discern after about 350 feet from the boundary. The next 0.38 miles alternate between walking up the creekbed along the bottom of Bull Canyon and occasional crossings with the trail visible to either side. Some portions along the south side of the canyon are passable for some distance before returning to the creek, and in one place there is even a small switchback to ascend to a slightly higher level for a time. Care must be taken, however, to not miss the point where the trail crosses the creek and switchbacks up the north slope of the canyon. This point is not obvious, but the start of the ascent is marked with a rock cairn. (31.76285, -109.270021) It is possible to continue up the canyon from here, and there are several (usually dry) waterfalls about 1,000 feet beyond in one of the several forks the canyon has.

A small seep flows a minuscule trickle of water across the trail a few feet above the cairn, and a pipe has been inserted into it in an apparent attempt to capture some of that water.

From this point, the trail remains quite obvious compared to the stretch in the canyon. Initially heading northeast, it swings north over the next 250 feet to a second switchback to the southwest which curves west to a third, then north to a fourth before resuming its westward passage for 920 feet. A drainage is crossed and the trail contours to the southwest around a protruding ridge to another drainage crossing 975 feet beyond. Now beginning to climb to the southeast, the trail swings up onto a dry ridge which it switchbacks loosely up the spine of. Approximately 450 feet after starting up this ridge, the trail appears to head in several different directions. (31.76095, -109.27533) Take the rightmost of these paths, heading roughly northwest for a short distance before picking up the trail again and swinging back to the southwest.

A period of contouring along the southern slope of an increasingly steeper canyon begins here. After 500 feet you will pass under the first of several large rock outcrops and curve around to a westward heading briefly. 650 beyond that, a switchback is encountered, at which point you enter a heavily burned patch, then pass beneath another rock outcrop 350 feet after. Here, the trail has become washed out somewhat. You will need to turn to the left and head up what appears to be a wash climbing to the southeast for approximately 40 feet before you pick up the trail again ahead of you and cut across to the west and then northwest, passing just below and curving around a rock spire, followed by an s-curve. 400 feet and several switchbacks beyond that and you will have climbed to brief flat spot. An overlook with a great view back out Bull Canyon into Price lies 90 feet to the northwest. (31.75874, -109.27958)

The trail continues to the south, climbing to a bend 50 feet beyond and continuing to the southwest for the final 450 feet to Dobson Saddle. The signs here are somewhat burned but still mostly readable. The extremely faint and mostly lost Erickson Peak Trail takes off between two rock piles to the west-northwest (31.75796, -109.28107) and the Price Shake Trail allegedly continues to the south-southwest into Shake Gulch but there is little evidence of it in the immediate area of the saddle.

Map

Topographic map of Price Shake Trail #236

Last updated May 3, 2017.