Last
November, while hiking on Coyote Spring Trail, we had noted a road
running along the mountain above the head of Little Coyote Canyon.
The road seemed to be a likely possibility for a hike, so a few of us
scouted it on 24 February of this year and found that if we started
at the south Woodchute Trailhead the hike to the end of the old road
and back was 7.4 miles.
This
was quite suitable for a regular Skyliner hike, so we scheduled it
for 23 April 2016. From Cottonwood we drove south on SR 89A through
Jerome to the summit of Mingus Mountain. There we turned right onto
Forest Road 106, drove 0.3 miles, angled left at the presently-closed
entrance to Potato Patch Campground and continued for another 0.10
miles to a the end of the pavement at a roughly circular graveled
area with toilet facilities. After a brief pause to use the
facilities, we gathered for a group photograph by Name Withheld.
 |
| Left to right: Donna Goodman, the author, Collene Maktenieks, Anita Jackson, Joanne Hennings, Jim Gibson, Lila Wright, Daisy Williams, Gary Jacobson, Floyd Gardner, Mark Purcell and George Everman – not shown is Jim Manning |
Leaving
the rest area, we continued for another 0.7 miles to the south
Woodchute Trailhead, passing Powerline Tank along the way. This
brought us to the end of FR 106.
At
this point we split into two separate groups. The main group of
hikers would park here to start their hike. Both groups (one afoot,
the other in a 4-wheel drive vehicle) left the trailhead traveling
west on FR 106D. At first this road was well-maintained and had even
been graveled recently. After about 0.2 miles, however, the road
passes through a fence and is unmaintained beyond that point.
Although still passable for high-clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicles,
it is very questionable for other vehicles. In February the gate had
been open and was indeed in such a state of disrepair as to be
useless. Now it had been repaired, sort of, and was closed.
However, there was a large enough gap at one end of the gate to allow
any determined cow to pass through. I guess it worked because the
grass, instead of being “greener on the other side of the fence”,
was absent altogether.
 |
Note the large, cow-sized gap at left
|
About
0.6 miles from the parking area, FR 106D passes Hickey Tanks (plural
because two tanks are located close together at the site) at an
unsigned fork in the road (right). The forest road continues by way of the
right fork. The left fork just provides access to the tanks.
Approximately
0.4 miles west of Hickey Tanks, we came to another fork in the road.
Here FR 106D turns to the left (south) and continues to Mingus Tank,
passing the turnoff to Hickey Mountain on the way. Leaving FR 106D
at this point, we continued straight ahead, now on FR 106E and, after
another 0.2 miles, arrived at the junction with FR 9710W which leads
down the mountain to end at Little Tank (just above Turkey Tank)
where the old unnamed road starts. We usually refer to area where
FR 9710W ends as Turkey Tank, although it is actually located at the
much smaller Little Tank. I suppose that is because Turkey Tank,
located about 0.2 miles to the east, is the more prominent landmark.
This figure (below) shows the end
of FR 9710W at Little Tank; it also shows Turkey Tank and Martin
Canyon Tank.
 |
| End of FR 9710W at Little Tank near Turkey Tank |
For
it's first 1.2 miles the old road, starting at Little Tank, curved
gently around the upper watershed of Little Coyote Canyon. As we
hiked along we wondered where the canyon got its name. Since it
appears to be a bit larger than Coyote Canyon, the next canyon to the
south, we finally decided it must have been named after a small
coyote. It was a bit hazy and the normally great view out across
Prescott Valley was obscured. Closer in, other than a sad looking
cactus or two, I didn't note any flowers along the way. Meanwhile, a
brisk, chilly wind was blowing and becoming ever stronger as we moved
along, so we really didn't spend a lot of time looking around.
As
we passed between a lofty 7280 foot peak on the right and a smaller
6920 foot one on the left, leaving the Little Coyote Canyon watershed
behind, we could see a saddle in the ridge on our right that formed
the south rim of Martin Canyon.
 |
Gap in the ridge after we left the upper Little Coyote Canyon watershed
|
The
end of the road we were following lay at a tank located partway up
the eastern shoulder of that saddle. The distance along the road
from Little Tank to the unnamed tank in the saddle is 1.8 miles.
The
main group of hikers turned back at this point while the so called
“bushwhackers “ followed a faint old cow down into Martin Canyon
to connect with Trail 103 at the bottom. I had followed that faint
old trail for a short distance when we did the scouting hike and then
had sketched a probable course for it the rest of the way down the
slope, basically just using contour lines to draw a track along what
appeared to be the easiest slope.
My
hand-drawn track worked well for only about 160 yards; then the cow
trail deviated to cross over a low ridge and pass along the top of a
sheer rock ledge before descending into the canyon. We were then
able to follow old cow and elk trails down the worst of the slope.
At the descent from the rock ledge, we stopped for a snack. As shown
in the photograph (left),
the other side of Martin Canyon is in view across the way and the
bottom of the canyon along which Trail 103 runs is just below us.
The
series of faint trails we were following lasted until we were clear
of most the scrub oak and other assorted vegetation that grows higher
up on the canyon wall. By then we
were almost to the bottom, descending along a gentle slope covered
with scattered ponderosa pines and little undergrowth. We came out
about 0.6 miles upstream from where I had intended and about 0.1
miles above Smiley Rock. Determined to see and photograph that
often-mentioned landmark, we shed our packs and hiked downstream to
find it. Looking for something much larger than a medium-large stone
close by the roadside, I walked right by Smiley Rock. Luckily the
other hikers were paying closer attention and called me back.
Although the head is tilted to the right (Smiley's right, that is),
it is easy to discern the features of a smiley face in the rock. I
took a photograph (below
left)
for my report and George then gave Smiley some eyeballs and took
another (below
right).
 |
Smiley Rock Smiley Rock with
eyeballs
|
This
figure (below) shows the planned,
hand-drawn track (green) along with the actual track that we followed
from Unnamed Tank (where the main group of hikers turned back) to
Trail 103.
 |
| Planned and actual tracks from Unnamed Tank to Trail 103 in Martin Canyon |
 |
Left to right: Gary Jacobson, Donna Goodman and George Everman – author not shown
|
According
to the forest service description, Martin Canyon Trail follows along
an old road that was bulldozed to provide access for the construction
and maintenance of stock tanks located in and above the canyon. The
trail is 6.3 miles long, starting at the end of Forest Road 9710W and
ending at James Tank in the valley below the mouth of the canyon.
The forest service says that full size vehicles are allowed on the
trail “but it has been our experience that
only modified high clearance vehicles are able to negotiate this
trail, standard factory high clearance 4x4s are not recommended.1”
The
old road is also a part of The Great Western Trail, a north-south
long distance multiple use route, running from Canada
to
Mexico
through
Arizona,
Utah,
Idaho,
Wyoming,
and Montana.
The trail is 4,455 miles long and “has
access for both motorized and non-motorized users”2.
The photograph (below)
shows a section of the road between Smiley Rock and Rick Tank.
Several areas were much rougher than the section shown.
 |
| Martin Canyon Trail above Smiley Rock |
Rick
Tank is located about 0.3 miles above Smiley Rock. To me it appears
that the tank may have been an afterthought. It seems to have been
constructed right in the middle of the original road, which was then
rerouted. What must have been the original road, running straight
through the tank, is now blocked off both below and above it.
I
had hiked down Martin Canyon as far as Rick Tank Cutoff Trail #104 in
2009, followed it to Woodchute Tank and then returned by way of
Woodchute Trail #102. For that hike we had also parked at the south
Woodchute Trailhead and followed today's route to the end of FR 9710W
at Little Tank. We had then turned down Martin Canyon on Trail 103
to access Rick Tank Cutoff Trail #104.
In
2009 a trail sign (right)
was posted at the junction and we started looking for it as soon as
we left Rick Tank. This time we saw no such sign and completely
missed the trail junction. I think the sign must have been torn down
and I had not bothered to place a marker on my GPS track. It is a
good thing we were not planning on taking the trail to complete this
hike.
We
did, however, find a few other things to draw our attention. For
instance, although there were not nearly as many flowers on this hike
as we saw in May 2009, we did find a New Mexico raspberry (below
left) and and a sugar
sumac (below right),
both photographed by George.
 |
New Mexico raspberry Sugar sumac
|
Earlier
during this hike, between Little Tank and Unnamed Tank, we had seen
several metal tank-like objects scattered about at various locations
along the trail. We were not sure what they were used for until,
deep in Martin Canyon, we found another one just to the side of the
road and stopped to examine it more closely.
The
top of the tank, as shown in the photograph (left),
had a cover with an oval-shaped opening big enough for cattle to
reach through but with enough lip around the opening to prevent solid
objects from falling out in the event the tank were turned on its
side. Additionally, drain holes were drilled in the bottom to
prevent liquid accumulation. The purpose of the objects was now
clear: they were salt/mineral block holders.
 |
New Mexico raspberry Sugar sumac
|
We
passed by Martin Canyon Tank without seeing it and soon were passing
Turkey Tank. This was the first of the tanks that we saw today that
was not bone dry and a small herd of cattle were milling about.
 |
| Cattle at Turkey Tank – photograph by George |
Finally,
as evidence that turkeys or other game must also use the tank, we saw
that a hunting stand had been installed in a nearby tree. As shown
in the photograph (right) taken by
George, one couldn't call it a blind because it was in plain sight.
The
hike by the larger group of hikers, from south Woodchute Trailhead to
Unnamed Tank, is shown in copper (to Little Tank) and red (on to
Unnamed Tank) on the below map. That hike was 7.4 miles in and out;
the maximum elevation was 7245 feet and the total ascent was 1246
feet.
The
loop hiked by the smaller group is shown entirely in red, starting
and ending at Little Tank. It was 5.6 miles long, the maximum
elevation was 6903 feet and the total ascent was 1107 feet.
1
http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/prescott/recreation/horseriding-c
2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Trail
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