This hike is located near Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ.
To the Trailhead: From the Pinetop-Lakeside area, head on HWY-260 south towards the Lakeside Ranger station. Just past the ranger station, turn left on signed Porter Mountain Road (FR45). Take this road for 1 mile and look for the signed trailhead on the right (across from the humane society).
Although alluring images of icicles and dark, stony passages come to mind when mulling over the signature feature of this celebrated White Mountain trail, “ice cave” is little more than an anticlimactic side trip on an otherwise striking trail. Off-limits and surrounded by a chain-link fence, the cave is actually a lava tube that exhales cool air year-round.
The hike begins on a dirt road that passes a row of ranch homes before encountering the marshy margins of Porter Creek, where clusters of cattails and fragrant grasses populate the dewy marshlands that host the trail on its way to Scott Reservoir.
At the 1-mile point, the route bends away from the water and begins a mild, pine-shaded climb. The ice cave, a.k.a. Blue Ridge Cave, is located a few yards off the main trail near the 2-mile point, where the protective fence is barely visible off to the left. The spur path is marked by a low rock wall and two blue diamond markers tacked to a tree. After visiting the cave, hop back on the main route and continue for another 1.5 miles to the Blue Ridge Trail No. 107 junction, the turnaround point for this hike.