Haunted Canyon Trail to Tonys Ranch

I loved this trail and plan to go back to do the whole ten miles. I went on a Saturday and was the only one on the trail. Driving through the mine was eerie but just the beginning of the adventure! It definitely felt like I was the only one out there. Follow the public road and avoid the ones where you have to drive through a gate (those are private). The topography is beautiful and changes quite a bit throughout trail but it's pretty easy to follow. Highly recommend if you enjoy lightly trafficked trails where solitude is abundant!

Beautiful! Trail was marked well and cabin was easy to find.

Great short backpack. Got down to about 50 overnight. Also explored down in the canyon where it narrows and the trail goes up.

Hiked the trail at the beginning of September. The weekend was very hot, with no water in the river, or anywhere along the way. Camped in an open area not far from Tonys Cabin. There is a spring for water on your way to Tony's cabin (about half way to Tonys cabin from the campsite). There was water available at the spring, which we filtered.

Keep an eye out for ribbons at the river crossings, made it easy to stay on the trail.

Great backpacking event, though if I was to do it again I'd wait for a cooler weekend.

well marked trail with cairns along the way. saw cow, deer, chipmunk, roadrunner on the road near the mine and a coati. If you want to find Tony's cabin keep following the trail map straight along the creek. We followed cairns vering right and turned around because it was the wrong way. stay left in a large open area near an old corral and fence. my fitbit said 15 miles at the end but we did go off trail for a couple miles.

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This was an enjoyable hike! Clean, scenic, and it was really cool to see so much wildlife!

Beautiful walk. Wasn't lucky enough to catch any glimpses of exciting wildlife, but still fun. *SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE TRAIL IS INDEED THE 10 MILES BUT THERE IS 1.5 MILE WALK TO THE TRAILHEAD*

Beautiful scenery! Challenging but not impossible. We got a great workout but I can still walk.



As others have said, make sure to take a left at the fork before the steel bridge. The sign is covered in trees. Today when we went, the gate 1.5 miles before the trailhead was locked, so we had to walk that. I can see why, as the road is very soft and partly muddy after the gate, so I can see cars like mine getting stuck. Speaking of which, bring your SUV if you have one. Some of the roads around the mine and trail are very rough. Trekking poles and real hiking boots/shoes are a must on this trail. We could not find the cabin (even with the help of a gentleman on the trail who tried to point us in the right direction). Still a great hike!

Great day for a hike. Didn’t like the extra three miles thanks to the locked gate. We couldn’t find the cabin based off of this map. After getter by back I can see you just continue for another quarter mile or so after the red line on the map ends.

Getting to the trailhead is a bit confusing as you drive through/past an active mining site. Keep going, it’s really worth it!
The trail is lightly traveled for sure...we didn’t run in to anyone on trail. The light traffic made it a very peaceful hike but had to stay on guard to keep on trail. Really no formal markings but several cairns in place from previous trailblazers. It was colder than expected at the start but that turned out to be a good thing on the way back as some stretches are exposed and got a bit warm. Definitely wear layers!
Great canyon wall views and creek-side walking...though most of the creek was dry. Still plenty to see with how the trees and plants and rocks play together. I was surprised and delighted with this hike. Will definitely go again

Wonderful, there are lovely Canyon views as well as calm cool creek side forest strolling.

Our fitness trackers showed us going 13.5 miles from the gate to the cabin and back. So not 10.5, perhaps there used to be a way to drive down the road to the trail head, and that is why it shows here as 10.5. Our walking time average per hour was 3.1 miles

Not a difficult trail but it does cross the creek too many times to count. The creek was dry during our trip but if it had not been then all the creek crossing would be a problem, or at best really increase your time.

Nice trail. Backpacked to the abandoned cabin. Watch that it can get unpredictably cold over night as you camp by the creek. Please not creek is nice and beautiful away from everything quiet.

*UPDATE: hiked it a second time and STILL couldn't find the trail to the cabin. I have no idea what I'm missing. Help!

quite a rough drive in. lovely scenery. gate was closed so that added an extra 1.5 miles each way. saw javelinas and cattle on the stretch between the gate and the actual trail head. creek was low and trickling. never made it to the cabin because I hit a very steep scramble and felt like I lost the trail so I turned around. I'll get there next time.

I just wanted to add one thing. When you get to the steel bridge at the end of the directions take the fork in the road to the left instead of going over the bridge. The sign is kind of covered in trees. I ended up going over the bridge to a camping with a lot of areas that look like they could be the trail. Once I found it was before the bridge , nice hike, a bunch of fall coloring currently.

It’s a nice hike, first mile is up a dirt road then you go through a gate in the fence and it turns into an actual trail. Lots of ups and downs, pay close attention to the cairns as you cross the creek beds. We walked about 3 miles in then turned around so didn’t make it to the end.

Great trail. Took me 5.25 hrs to hike from the Closed Road gate to the old house and back. Plenty of nature and wildlife to look at. The old house at the end was pretty cool to check out. Definitely gonna hike this one again.

Nice hike. Beautiful high desert with stream. Ugly mine water lines is one minus.