The Copper Forks Ruin is located in the Tonto National Forest along the Cherry Creek Road north of Globe, Arizona. The ruins look worth visiting when viewed on Google Earth. To get there, turn off of AZ-288 onto the Cherry Creek Road and drive 23.8 miles to the turnoff that leads to the trailhead. If you drive up AZ-288 to where the Cherry Creek Road reconnects and turn down it then it is 16.3 miles to the turnoff. From the turnoff it is less than 1,500 feet to where you can park and begin hiking. For turn-by-turn directions enter the GPS coordinates of the turnoff (33.84549, -110.87310) into your driving app.
It should be about 2.7 miles from the trailhead to the ruins. A faint trail can be seen leaving the trailhead but it disappears before crossing Cherry Creek. On the other side of Cherry Creek it is easy to see the trail once again heading up the ridge.
Included with this post is the GPS file and map that we plan to use for our first visit. If you don't want to wait for us to get around to it feel free to try the GPS file and map for yourself. With no guarantee, of course, but they most often prove valuable for us.
Download GPS planning file:
