2.8 Miles
140 feet
Pretty Easy
A+ Views
Walkin’ Jim Trail Hike Overview
The Walkin’ Jim Trail hike excels at solitude, views, Staghorn cholla, and wild burros. This is an excellent trail close to Lake Pleasant. Do yourself a favor and hike this!
Map & Elevation Profile
Max elevation: 1877 ft
Min elevation: 1783 ft
Total time: 01:10:13
Map for the Walkin’ Jim Trail
Alltrails has a great map of this hike for you. Check it out here.
Parking
From the W Carefree Highway (74), turn on N Castle Hot Springs Road. 2.3 miles from the turnout to Scorpion Bay, you will see gravel parking lots on both sides of the road. The Walkin’ Jim Trail Hike starts from the northwest corner of the lot on the right-hand side of the road. There is a gate that you will need to unlatch and walkthrough.
Walkin’ Jim Trail Hike Notes
On this day we planned to drive to Crown King to off-road in the Bradshaw mountains. However, I17 didn’t want us to do that. There was a brush fire earlier in the day the traffic was backed up for miles.
We looked at a map and said let’s go towards Wickenburg to avoid the traffic. I randomly found this article from a Scorpion Bay rental company about the best hikes in the area and am so glad I did!
The Walkin’ Jim Trail turned out to be awesome. This type of trail is exactly what I l think of when I think of a ‘real hiking trail.’ It’s hard to describe but think a single wide gravel/rocky path that weaves in and out and up and down washes. Sometimes you are in the creek bed, sometimes you are next to it. And there are cairns.
There were also great mountain views, a gazillion Staghorn cholla (learn more about the different types of cholla in this great video tutorial), and wild burros. It was neat to see the burros but also worth mentioning that there was a lot of burro poop. And I mean A LOT. It was sort of impressive how much poop there was. But if you hike around where burros live you are bound to see poop.
It was really hot when we were there and we only hike 3 miles total. You can turn this into a shorter or longer loop.
So, is the Walkin’ Jim Trail Hike worth it?
We are 100% going back here when it isn’t so hot. This is a fantastic area! We will be back Walkin’ Jim Trail!
Photos that will make you want to go there:
