Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Emory oaks, whose elongated, evergreen leaves can be smooth or toothed. These are
shed but quickly replaced, and there are usually leaves on the ground year-round, not
just in the fall. In several places along the trail, the oaks form a lovely bower over-
head.
About 0.3 mile beyond the gate, the trail crosses the usually dry creek bed again
and continues generally east or northeast. A quarter-mile farther brings you to a
signed fork to the left indicating Dutch John Spring, just a few yards below you. A
bathtub-sized metal trough here may be dry for much of the year. A half-dozen pale-
barked Arizona sycamores surround the area, making for a very pretty glade.
Once you've finished exploring this area, which I call Lower Dutch John Spring,
you can continue climbing on a narrow trail to the east-northeast, following the right
side of the small ravine. Soon, you'll cross to the left side under three Arizona sy-
camores and come to a 12-foot-square dirt platform, shored up by a few rocks—I
don't know what this is. About 0.3 mile from Lower Dutch John Spring, look for
an unsigned fork that goes steeply to the right. (If you miss the turnoff and continue
straight, staying on the left side of the creek bed, you'll be on a trail that swings north
and peters out after a few hundred yards.)
The steep fork to the right soon becomes a gentle climb up the left side of another
drainage. After a few hundred yards this becomes greener, and you may glimpse pools
of water to your right, steeply but not far below. A mossy, glistening cliff on the far
side appears to be the spring. If you cross the drainage to the right and start climbing
a steep rock face, you've gone about 100 yards beyond the upper spring. There are no
signs here.
So who was Dutch John? A locally respected historian, writer, and hiker spins
a story about a murderous German gunslinger named John who worked in the Santa
Rita Mountains in the 1920s, and whom locals thought might be Dutch. Perhaps they
mistook his
Deutsch
for Dutch. (Truth be told, I found no history behind the name of
this spring, so you're welcome to make up your own.)
Nearby Attractions
Canyon.
