Tonto National Forest, Tonto Basin

Such natural beauty at this first!! Many great trails to hike for all levels of experience! The climate is great for most of the year. There are several scenic places worth visiting. A nice place to be part of nature! Lots of cute places to visit along the way if you’re traveling through by vehicle.

This was an awesome place to visit! We went to the Sear Kay Indian Ruins in the Tonto National Forest. This is located just out side of Carefree AZ which is like 15 minutes from the actual old west town of Cave Creek AZ. We love this area and have lived out here for a few years and the hiking in this area is beautiful. These Indian ruins are only like a few miles North of Lake Bartlett. There is wildlife here and you will probably see see deer in the area if you look for them. The parking lot to the ruins is paved and has a bathroom. The also have picnic tables and areas to sit. The parking spaces are limited to probably less than 20 spots. The parking lot does have a gate that the forest rangers probably open and close daily. The hike it self is pretty easy, it is up hill and the trail is marked and maintained. Wear hiking shoes… The views up top are amazing, you can see for miles. The ruins are not still all intact. There are medal signs around each structure showing great pics and information. The walls are still standing in some of the rooms. This is a way cool place to come because you can walk around everything and sit in the rooms that are still partially up. We hiked up and had lunch and came back down the south East trail that is super rugged and steep in some areas. Again, hiking shoes is a must due to the super loose gravel trail coming down this way. If you go this way you can get pretty close to some free standing boulders that are huge and pretty neat looking. This trail is not maintained or marked. I would highly recommend this hike it’s pretty easy especially if you just use the marked trail. Up and down in an easy half hr. There is plenty of places to sit up top and gaze out. Carefree and North Scottsdale are easily visible from the top. Great place for a picnic on top.