Arnett Canyon Hike isn’t an “official” hike that I could find on any of the usual hiking sites on the internet, but mark it down as gorgeous!

Lacking a Wednesday hike this week, and having a meeting on Friday which interferes with the regular club hike, I accepted an invitation from George to go along on a trek that he’d explored earlier.  Mark rounded out our little company.

Arnett Canyon is a beautiful canyon which starts inconspicuously in the desert a few miles south of Superior and works it’s way below the eastern flanks of Picketpost Mountain, finally joining Queen creek near the Picketpost trailhead.

We hiked into the canyon just under 3 miles (starting from the red X), then returned the same way.  The hike was very easy, there is almost no elevation change (the map shows less than 200 feet) over the entire route.  (Note:  I drew in that blue line to show you Telegraph Canyon where Mark tried to lead us into Fug-Ah-Wee country on the way back to the car.

Before you work your way into the canyon, PicketPost mountain is the dominant landmark ahead of you.

The hike basically follows game trails on the floor of the canyon, and we saw a lot more deer tracks than people tracks.  Arnett Creek contained a fair amount of water all along the canyon, and the presence of water provides a lush environment of trees, grass, and mesquite.  This is counterbalanced by the arid slopes which are populated by saguaro and other desert plants.

Happy New Year, enjoy the scenes below, and consider this hike as the “easy alternative” next time the ambitious people tackle PicketPost.