On the edge of giving this 4 stars. We had this trail all to ourselves on 6/18/20, bonus. The sand... While never too deep there are sections and pockets all the way to the intersection with Canaan Mountain trail which is about 3.3 mikes each way, 1100'+ elevation gain. Most of the gain is fairly strenuous in the last mile or so. Sand and steep rock sections.

I used Maps.me to locate where we were on this trail, especially at about 2 miles in where the hiking trail diverges from the ATV tracks. I was also able to stay in the creek bottom longer, about 1/2 mile or so in from the trailhead, in order to avoid the sandy dirt road that parallels the creek bottom. We stayed in the wash for maybe 1/4 mile avoiding the first 2 ATV tracks that left the creek bottom to the right, second exit was maybe 200 yards from where we first hit the creek bottom.

We're full time RVr's focused on hiking, blog link in bio.