Dry Mills Trail (24) starts up the old remains of a road and within 100 yards passes into the edge of the White Mountain Wilderness. Within 1/4 mile, the trail tops out in a saddle and begins descending northward toward Mills Canyon.

The first few hundred yards of this decent are fairly steep but the trail continuously flattens as it approaches Mills Canyon. The trail follows along the bottom of a tributary drainage of Mills Canyon the entire length of the hike. This hike does not really offer breathtaking views of the wilderness from any point but it does offer exquisite forest scenery and a chance encounter with elk or deer.

The last half-mile of the trail is like a stroll in the park. A sign marks the intersection of the Dry Mills Trail with Mill's Canyon Trail #22 (Wet Mills Trail). Running water is usually always present along this stretch of Mills Canyon because of the presence of a couple of springs located a few hundred yards up the canyon.

This intersection is a great place to have lunch and let kids do some exploring and pine cone hunting prior to the return hike. If a longer hike is desired, take a side trip up Mills Canyon Trail (22). Just remember that a climb of almost 600 feet awaits you back on Dry Mills Trail during the return hike!

The primary trees along this hike consist of Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and limber pine. The limber pines supply an abundance of light tan cones. Limber pines have smaller needles than the Ponderosa's and get their name from the extreme flexibility of the branches. A small, green limb can be twisted into the shape of a pretzel without breaking. The limber pines evolved and developed this trait to withstand lots of snow without breaking any limbs.

Rock hounds don't have a lot of opportunities along this hike as much of the outcrops are covered by soil and forest duff. Along the trailhead, boulders of the 25 million-year-old Bonito Lake Stock cover the ground.

Please make an effort to pack out all trash that your group generates as well as any litter left behind by other careless hikers that may have visited the area before you. It never fails to amaze me how some uncaring individuals can carry 5 pounds of beer into the wilderness, drink it and then are not capable of carrying an ounce of crushed cans back out to the trailhead. This land is on loan to us by our children and grandchildren. If you can't respect the forest for yourself, respect it for future generations. Otherwise, they will not have the opportunities in the years to come that we have right.

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