The Lookout Connector links the western loop of the Los Caballos trail to the Juniper Ridge Trail near the fire lookout tower. This trail was planned 30 years ago, but in 2002 the Rodeo-Chediski Fire destroyed what little preliminary work had been done so it languished as little more than a line on a map until November 2013. This non-motorized trail is about 4 miles long and is rated difficult for hikers, horses, and bicyclists.

May 17, 2014, was warm and sunny with a light wind. The fire danger was only moderate. I trailered Cinnamon out of Joe Tank Road and parked at a wide spot where the Los Caballos trail crosses the road. This was about half a mile from where the Lookout connector leaves the Los Caballos trail. I saddled Cinnamon and we rode down Los Caballos trail to the Lookout connector junction. There were wildflowers in bloom and the Gambel’s oaks had finally leafed out. We were alone on the trail, which is the way Cinnamon likes it.

The Lookout connector crosses multiple ridges and canyons on an approximately east-west route to the Juniper Ridge lookout tower. This whole area was thick, tall Ponderosa pine forest before the Rodeo Fire. Now the wide-open oak, juniper, and pine forest offer panoramic views in several directions.

In a couple of places the Lookout connector appears to drop off the edge of a canyon until you get right up to the rim and can see where the trail turns to zig-zag down the side, across the bottom, then up the other side. At the first one of these, the trail surface was so dry and lose it was sliding into the canyon. Cinnamon crossed it hastily but safely.

When it’s not crossing ridges and canyons the Lookout connector follows the ridges briefly. This makes its topography interesting as well as challenging. The day I rode it there was enough wind to provide needed cooling without being unpleasantly fierce. We saw just one hawk on the way out.

As we climbed out of one canyon, a branch from one of the logs marking the trail edge caught in my stirrup. This spooked Cinnamon a little but the branch was so brittle it broke and fell clear without doing any damage.

The trail crosses Forest Road 136 and several undeveloped single-track roads. There is a barbed wire fence with a wire gate in it between markers LK11 and LK 12. I dismounted, opened the gate led Cinnamon through, closed the gate, mounted and we continued. Here the trail is in sight of a cindered road, then crosses the road near a cattle guard.

The Lookout connector climbs in and out of canyons for another mile and a half and crosses two more single-track roads. The ascent up Juniper Ridge begins near LK6 and from there to LK1 the climb becomes increasingly steep and rocky, winding from marker to cairn to marker. Climbing Juniper Ridge provides spectacular views. We arrived at the top and found the junction with Juniper Ridge trail marked by a wood sign giving the distance back to Los Caballos trail.

The Juniper Ridge lookout tower appeared to be in service because there were hummingbird feeders hanging from the roof on the north side. But if there was someone in the tower, they ignored us. Cinnamon helped me open the metal gate on Juniper Ridge trail into the area below the tower.

I sat on a log to eat my lunch while Cinnamon grazed on the grass growing around the outhouse. I moved Cinnamon to the tallest grass closest to the door before using the outhouse. When I came out, she was nowhere in sight! I looked behind the building in the direction we’d come from. No Cinnamon! I went around the outhouse and found her wandering halfway between it and the tower, heading toward the Juniper Ridge trail section we’d ridden two weeks before. I called, “Cinnamon! Where are you going?“ She stopped and waited for me with a look that seemed to say, “I don’t know. Where did you go?”

I led Cinnamon over to the fence around the base of the tower to see if the signs there said anything new. They didn’t. I briefly considered climbing the tower, but Cinnamon obviously wasn’t ground tying well enough for that. I had her lead rope with me, but she unties quick-release safety knots as fast as I can tie them. It didn’t matter because the tower gate was securely locked. I adjusted Cinnamon’s saddle, mounted, and rode her back the way we’d come.

Cinnamon again helped me with the gate. We backtracked to the Lookout connector, pausing to photograph Yucca blooms. Descending Juniper Ridge was as challenging as climbing it had been. We scared a very lively ground squirrel, or maybe it was a chipmunk, that leaped gracefully over piles of logs as it dashed off. Returning on the same trail offers a different perspective on the views.

Cinnamon strolled along, navigating the challenging sections of trail more easily this second time. We crossed the road and were safely beyond it when we heard an ATV. Cinnamon stopped and looked back over her shoulder at it as if to say, “What’s that thing doing out here?” I assured her it was on a road where it wouldn’t hurt us. She continued down the trail.



Cinnamon wanted to dash up some of the hills so we gaited briefly between LK12 and LK13 but walked most of the 9 ½ miles round trip. Back at my trailer Cinnamon drank some of the water I’d brought, but only when I held the bucket for her. I unsaddled and groomed her, then trailered her home with a brief stop at Circle K to buy a drink and snack for me. It was another nice ride on another nice day on the White Mountain Trail System.