On a cool windy morning 10 hikers gathered at the Weaver’s Needle Vista Viewpoint. We headed out of the parking lot by 8 AM. We followed the sidewalk for a short distance until we found an unmarked trail off to the left.

We followed this trail, meandering in and out of the wash as we made our way to the Hackberry Spring Trail. Just shy of a mile we reached the marked trail, where we stopped to take our group picture.

We made a left onto the trail heading northeast. We followed this trail, with some nice up and downs for maybe ½ mile or more. At that point, we came upon an unmarked trail to the right. We took this trail down to the south, into a wash that soon widens and becomes all rock, like bedrock.

We continue through the wash, which had some puddles, until it opens into First Water Creek, where there is even more water. We follow First Water Creek until we see the windmill at First Water Ranch. We make our way over to the ranch and corral where we take a short break to shed a layer of clothing.

From the ranch we head in a southeast direction with the trail going in and out of the First Water Creek as we make our way to the Dutchman’s Trail. When we reach the Dutchman’s Trail we turn left and follow the trail up through Garden Valley and past Black Mesa until we meet back up with the Hackberry Spring Trail.

At about 4½ miles into our hike we turn left on to the Hackberry Spring trail and head towards the Hackberry Mesa. After about ¾ of a mile we start our descent down to Hackberry Spring. Right at the 6-mile mark we hit the spring and stop for a snack break. We didn’t hang out too long because we were in full shade, and it was windy, so it was a bit chilly.

After our snack we make our way across the dry First Water Creek and make our ascent up the steep Hackberry Spring Trail. When we reach the top, we’ve completed our lollipop loop.

We continue on the trail with the same ups and downs we started in on until we reach the Hackberry Trail sign, where we turn off the marked trail and make our way back through the wash we came in on.

We completed 8 miles in 3 hours and 40 minutes.