Butterfield Hiking Trail

The Butterfield hiking trail is a challenge not to be taken lightly. A reviewer has posted several photos so take a good look, and imagine your legs going over those rocks. I recently completed this trail over the weekend so experienced it first hand. Don’t skip checking in at the visitor/​ranger center in the park before heading out. They get a lot of information from you and that is for good reason as there is very little, if any, cell phone reception on the trail. Also bring some hiking companions not just to enjoy the scenery, but also for safety. Because of the trees, terrain, and lack of cell coverage it would take considerable time to locate and extract you if something happened.
For camping in the back country, there are basically two sites. Rock Hole Camp and Junction Camp. Take note of the «Rock» in Rock Hole Camp because unless you are sleeping in a hammock, you will have a hard time finding a spot free of rocks to put a tent. Junction Camp is more cleared to put up a tent. The park the trail connects to is called Devils Den, so a fitting name for the section of trail between Rock Hole and Junction Camp could be the Devil’s Rock Garden. Lots and lots of rocks so I would recommend mid-​height hiking boots at a minimum to protect your toes and reduce the chance of rolling your ankles. A sprained ankle would certainly spoil your day. Please make sure you have water, and a way to purify water should you run out.
There are a couple little «waterfalls» on the trail that really only have water coming down if it rained recently. It may be a good thing if there isn’t water everywhere as the rocks are smooth faced so very slippery when wet.

So compared to some of the National Parks and NP hikes I’ve been on, this place is just so-​so, but it’s really not fair to compare Devil’s Den and the Butterfield Hiking Trail to them, it has to be considered separately, for what it is – a State Park. And for that I give it 4 stars.
I went on July 4, 2012, the Ranger Station and Visitor Center was open which was good. The Rangers were very helpful and meticulous in getting all my info for my planned hike on the Butterfield Hiking Trail — a 15-​mile loop. They got my car description, license plate #, start time, estimated end time, and «cut off time» — i.e. the time after which, if I had still not returned, they would send a ranger out looking for me – which was nice, pretty professional, and reassuring to me. I was doing it as a day hike which while a bit challenging, is doable for someone in decent shape who is an experienced hiker and comes well supplied. I had hiking boots, a headlamp, 8 liters of water, a water filter, and some food in my hiking backpack. I also used bug spray. The bug spray was a must.
The hike itself was ok, unlike most hikes that go up the first half then down the second half (or the opposite for a place like the Grand Canyon), this hike went up and down constantly over rolling hills — so even though the absolute elevation gain at any one point was only about 500 feet, the total elevation gain if you account for all the mini-​ascents was probably much higher than that. Typical rugged wilderness scenery, woods, woods, and more woods — it was pretty dry so there were few water sources, but there were some if I needed more water. Ultimately I only drank about 5 of the 8 liters I brought. My one gripe is that I lost the trail on 3 separate occasions, which is very easy to do if you don’t pay very careful attention to the blue diamond markers on the trees designating the trail. Those detours probably tacked on another 2 miles or so onto my total distance. Between miles 2 and 3 in particular I went way of course and ended up out at the highway at Bridge’s General Store, and to find the trail again I had to go back about a mile on the highway, so that was kinda bad. But I guess as long as one pays very close attention to the blue tree markers you should be ok. Also even though I am a pretty experienced hiker my right knee did start hurting pretty bad after mile 12 or so, I think it was a combination of the long distance and the relatively heavy pack I had on (8 liters of water weighs a lot), and for the last two milesor so I basically limped with a ramrod straight right leg. I started at 8:30am and finished right around 5:30pm which is 9 hours, but I think if one doesn’t get lost at all like I did and has no leg/​msk problems like I did this hike is doable in about 6 hours.
Overall this is a good day excursion and hike if you’re in the local area, recommended.