Dagelma Trail

The Dagelma Trail is a 5 mile loop with some elevation gain that travels along the shoreline of Applegate Lake. It’s a great dog walking workout or training run!

Driving

– It is a 50 minute drive from the I-5 Phoenix exit. That is exit 24 so head towards Phoenix and then, turn right on Highway 99 for less than a mile and turn left on South Stage Road towards Jacksonville.  There’s a quick jog right and then left on Griffin Creek Road and then South Stage turns into California Road as you drive through Jacksonville.
As you emerge from Jacksonville you are on Route 238 heading to Applegate. It’s rural. It’s nice.

Keep an eye out for Upper Applegate Road in about 10 minutes. You’ll turn left at a city called Ruch, but you aren’t going to see a city, you’ll just see a grey real estate/school building. So turn left and you have 20 minutes on Upper Applegate Road driving along the Applegate River. Some roads split off, but head toward Applegate Lake and Applegate Dam.
Turn left onto the road on top of the dam. French Gulch Road. Make the hairpin turn to your right just as you leave Applegate Lake and in about 1 uphill mile you will see the Dagelma Trailhead Parking to your right.

Parking

– Perfect trailhead parking for multiple cars.

Hiking

– There are a couple trails coming into the parking area but we are taking the one furthest to the left. We head downhill through the wooden “bike deterrent” gate and into the woods. Quickly there is an intersection but continue to the left and downhill. Staying on the Dagelma Trail. For a total of 1/2 mile we hike downhill until we reach the shoreline of Applegate Lake! Or if it’s low,…where the shoreline used to be.

Turn right and travel along for 2 miles on a pretty fantastic, shaded route with amazing access to Applegate Lake. Granted, if it’s late in the year and the lake is low and it’s super hot and smokey, it’s not quite as fantastic. However… shaded. So at 2.5 miles there is a trail uphill to the right that returns to your car but!… continue along the lake shore for another couple hundred yards. There is a fun spur trail to the left that pops out towards the lake and is a fantastic viewpoint so do that. Do it!

Now go back to that intersection and start uphill back to your car. It’s over a mile of tough uphill but it’s what you should have known you were going to have to do. There is a super vague trail intersection at the 3/4 mile point but just stay left. Soon you will arrive back at the parking area and your car. 5 miles. Boom.