Mike in the Wild

Start in Potato Patch and make a left on Yankee Doodle Trail.  Those names sound more at home in a television satire on country living than they do in mountain hiking.  But they are actually the directions that promise one of the most idyllic escapes for both the avid hiker and the experienced birder in the Prescott area. Dandrea Trail starts high in the Bradshaws, its trailhead nestled at the end of Poacher's Row in the summer community of Potato Patch.  It's Trail No. 285, beginning near groves of aspen trees that were starting to burst in their autumn yellows on my late September outing.   It cuts through thick woods of fir, oak and pine trees, and its rocky slopes are dense with grasses and wildflowers.  The ascent up Mount Union in Prescott National Forest is not terribly steep, but the pathway was an old miners' road, and has since been covered in large, protective stones.  This makes for a rough hike, so it's best to leave the running shoes at home...

While Prescott might be Arizona's mile-high city, some of the surrounding peaks climb closer to 8,000 feet.  They're all in the Bradshaw Mountain range that rises just a few miles to the community's south, where mountaintops offer high escapes to alpine environments that are mostly protected and managed through the Prescott National Forest. Mount Union is the range's highest mountain, followed by Mount Davis and Spruce Mountain.  These summits and surrounding slopes are populated with dense forests of ponderosa pines, Gambel oaks and Douglas firs.   Both Union and Spruce can be reached via forest roads, but a high-clearance 4x4 might be needed, especially if winter snows or summer monsoons have rutted and muddied the way.   A more rewarding way to experience the verdant landscape is to hike one of several well used and marked trails that access the peaks.  The surrounding forest creates a dense, cool canopy even during the hottest part of the summer.  Mea...