Smith Spring Trail Loop

Smith Spring Trail Loop is a 2.3-mile circuit from Frijole Ranch to two springs on the east side of the Guadalupe escarpment. The route pairs a paved orchard walk with a rocky climb to a shaded spring and a return over open foothills. Allow one to two hours for the easy-to-moderate loop, which has 402 feet of listed elevation change. It is a good choice when you want a short walk with more than one landscape, but the rough section feels like a real hike. For a shorter, accessible outing, the separate paved Manzanita Spring walk is about half a mile round-trip and turns back before Smith Spring.

The circuit starts at the signed Frijole Ranch Trailhead. The first leg to Manzanita Spring is paved and passes the ranch buildings and orchard. Beyond Manzanita, the trail leaves pavement for loose or hardened rock and climbs through lower, open slopes toward Smith Spring. The published segment breakdown gives about 0.2 mile from the trailhead to Manzanita, 0.9 mile to Smith Spring, another 0.9 mile to the Frijole Trail junction, and 0.3 mile back. You can walk either way; there is no clear agreement on which direction makes the steeper steps easier. Hiking poles are useful on the uneven upper tread.

Smith Spring is a small, shaded pocket against the mountain, with a short waterfall feeding a clear pool beneath a canopy that feels out of place in the surrounding desert. Water seeps from cracks in the limestone, flows underground below the spring, then appears again at Manzanita Spring. Ponderosa pine, Texas madrone and big-toothed maple grow in this damp patch. The madrone flowers in spring and carries red berries in fall; the maple can turn red-orange later in the year.

The walk begins in the landscape of Frijole Ranch, once called Spring Hill Ranch by John Thomas Smith, who filed on the site in 1906. He and Nella May Smith raised ten children there and irrigated a 15-acre orchard and garden with local spring water. They hauled produce to Van Horn, about 65 miles away, on two-day wagon trips. The orchard was partially replanted in 2006, a century after the Smith family settled here. It gives the paved opening a human story before the route climbs into the mountain foothills.

Away from the springs, the route looks out across the foothills, desert and the limestone mountains above. The open stretches have little shade, while the spring areas are greener and cooler by contrast; take that exposure into account on hot days. Scars from wildland fires in 1990 and 1993 are still visible along the walk. Watch for birds, mule deer and elk; sightings are never guaranteed.

Drive Frijole Ranch access road to its end, about a mile north of Pine Springs, and use the signed trailhead parking area. Shade structures, picnic tables and vault toilets are available at the parking area. Bring drinking water from the start because the route has exposed sections and no verified drinking-water source along the loop. Dogs are not allowed on park trails; trained service animals are permitted.