Deadwood Trail

I had long wanted to hike Deadwood Trail from Cedar Flat to Forest Road 618 near Walker Creek. The Skyliners had hiked a part of the trail, starting at FR 618 and returning the same way, the previous spring. I wanted to start at Cedar Flat and hike the entire trail. Saturday, 30 November 2013 turned out to be the perfect day for it. The regular Skyliners hike, led by Lila Wright, was to be on the lower portion of Chavez Historic Trail and several of us had already hiked that trail last spring to scout it for today's hike.

After some discussion with Lila we agreed that I would organize a separate hike on Deadwood for those who had accompanied us on the Chavez Trail scouting hike. This would include, in addition to the author: Jim Manning, Collene Maktenieks and Miriam Sterling. As it turned out Miriam was unable to hike that day and I recruited Donna Goodman to take her place.

We met at my house and left for our hike at 0800, the normal time for Skyliner hikes this time of year. In retrospect, we should have left an hour earlier because the driving and staging time to get to the Deadwood Trailhead at Cedar Flat turned out to be 2 hours, so we didn't start our hike until about 1000.

We drove to Camp Verde, took I-17 north to the Sedona Exit and turned right (southeast) onto FR 618. We continued on past the turnoff to the Beaver Creek Ranger Station, crossed Wet Beaver Creek and arrived at the unmarked Deadwood Trailhead just 0.1 miles before crossing Walker Creek at Ward Ranch (also known as Rancho Roca Roja); we had traveled 3.9 miles from I-17. The only sign at the trailhead proclaims the route to be Forest road 9201J. Deadwood Trail follows this road all the way between FR 618 and and FR 214 at Cedar Flat Tank. Although the road is coded on the Coconino National Forest Motor Vehicle Use Map as being open to all vehicles, only about the first 0.8 miles should be attempted by other than serious 4-wheelers, as it quickly becomes very steep and is covered with loose rock.

For this hike we had already decided that we would position one high- clearance vehicle (my pickup) at a corral located 0.8 miles from the trailhead at FR 618 and drive Jim's Jeep around Walker Mountain on FR 214 to the upper trailhead. Collene had also driven her vehicle which we left parked at the FR 618/Deadwood Trailhead.

We then continued south on FR 618, which now became a dirt road (it had been paved this far), crossed Walker Creek, continued past the entrance to Ward Ranch and turned left (east) on FR 214 about 6.2 miles from the Deadwood Trailhead. We followed FR 214 for another 9.6 miles before arriving at the upper Deadwood Trailhead (again unmarked) at Cedar Flat Tank. The spot is marked by a large corral with a huge, now unused, loading chute constructed of large timbers set on concrete footings. The old chute has apparently been replaced by a nearby portable metal chute.

Although not marked as such, the Deadwood Trail was easy to find with our plotted GPS track; it starts at FR 214 on the northeast side of Spring Creek. As we set out across the flat we were at an elevation of almost 5800 feet and we had clear views of the mountains all around us. Especially prominent were the San Francisco Peaks to the north and the Black Hills to the west. The area is open and grass covered, except for the eponymous, widely scattered cedars.

We saw several clumps of closely growing cedar trees located on top of the surrounding low hills. The clumps were similar to those, of other species of tree, I have seen growing in tropical environments such as the Philippines and Borneo. In particular, I remember standing on the catwalk of the USS Thetis Bay Flight Deck while anchored off the coast of Borneo at Kota Belud in 1959. We were landing Marines in the jungle as part of SEATO operation, Saddle Up and, while observing helicopter operations, I noted an otherwise bare hill with trees growing in a clump very much like the clumps of cedars we saw on the hills in Cedar Flat.

We noted that the old road (FR 9201J) we were following, did not correspond very well with the track (copper colored on the map below) I had plotted from an old USGS overlay in Google Earth. When we stopped for a snack at about 1130 at a fork in the road, I could see on the GPS just how great this variation between the track and the road was. Thus it didn't bother me at all when, having taken the fork leading north after our snack, we again departed from the GPS track. I thought it was just another temporary deviation. In retrospect, we should have taken the left fork, leaving both the road we were on and the GPS track in favor of what I have since determined is actually FR 9201J, the green line on the map below.

Upper section of Deadwood Trail, showing trail details and deviations

So it was that we blithely continued on our way, leaving the GPS track and continuing on until we eventually joined Long Canyon Trail. We at first thought it might be Deadwood Trail. Actually, we only recognized it as a trail because of a series of neat, wire-bound cairns lining what would have been the path had there been one. Other than the cairns and an occasional sign bearing the number 63, there was no indication that anyone had ever hiked that way. I was pretty sure that Deadwood Trail was not numbered at all, but we were at least traveling parallel to my plotted GPS track and I knew that we would always be able to intersect it by traveling directly south.

We continued following the cairns until we reached Long Canyon Tank, at which time, it appeared that we were in danger of traveling too far down the north side of Deadwood Draw, the opposite side from the GPS track, so we headed directly south, traveling across country. We did have to cross Deadwood Draw, but we were soon back on the track as shown on the map (above). The below map shows the profile of our detour, including the 225 foot climb down into and back up the other side of the draw.

Profile of the major deviation we made from our plotted GPS track

After rejoining the plotted track and traveling west (slightly north) for about 0.6 miles we came to a fork in the road where another road branched off at an acute angle to the southeast. Later, I determined that that road was the actual trail, or at least was FR 9201J which we were attempting to follow as Deadwood Trail. It is the way we would have come had we taken the other fork where we stopped for a snack. See the point on the included maps labeled (snack at fork).

Another 0.4 miles brought us to a sharp turn where the trail headed almost directly south and descended sharply, dropping some 600 feet in 0.6 miles. The old road we were following was, in addition to being very steep, covered with loose rocks, making each step a perilous adventure. This was without doubt the hardest part of the hike.

About half way down this difficult section of trail, I discovered that I had lost my camera. I think that the strap probably snagged on a bramble while we were crossing Deadwood Draw. In any case, I wasn't about to return back up that steep, rocky road to look for it.

The below map (below) shows the GPS track of our hike in red, the plotted GPS track in copper and the short section of FR 9201J that we should have taken in green.

We might want to schedule an in-and-out Skyliner hike sometime in the future on the upper part of the trail, starting at Cedar Flat Tank and returning there.

We hiked 9.6 miles (from Cedar Flat to 0.8 miles short of the lower end of Deadwood at FR 618), 1.2 miles of this being due to our deviation to and on Long Canyon Trail. According to my GPS the total descent the way we hiked was 2193 feet and the highest elevation was 5780 feet.

Powerline Trail via FR 338 and Bug Hollow

The first time I hiked in this area was as part a group led by since deceased, long-time hiker, Ernie Hill, who was gathering data to restore an old trail. We started at the upper trailhead of what is now Trail 548 (Bug Hollow) and followed an old mining road past its present-day junction with Trail 549 (Powerline). Currently, information on the National Forest website indicates that Trail 548 still ends here¹⁷. However, that entry provided its condition in 2010 and said that plans existed to restore the section leading down the mountain to FR 338. The old Juniper shown below, standing at the edge of a meadow, marked the 2010 end of the trail.

Old juniper at meadow where Trail 548 (Bug Hollow) ended in 2010

Trail 548 now leaves the old road just before the juniper when hiking from the upper trailhead and leads past the tree, through the meadow and down the mountain to join with Forest Road 338 in Mescal Gulch, the start of our hike today. It is now clear, well-marked and easy to follow all the way. It even has a trailhead sign posted at FR 338.

On that years ago hike led by Ernie Hill, on the other hand, we saw no sign of the trail leading down the mountain to FR 338; it was that grown over. We did pause to take a quick look at what we then thought was just an old side road leading to the meadow, but is now clearly marked as Trail 548. The road we continued on was that now shown as Trail 549 (leaning sign near center) in the below picture. This, now clearly-marked, junction is shown below.

Road to left is Trail 548; road to right is Trail 549, both are now clearly marked

Having recently hiked all of the other trails in this immediate area, six members of our group set out on 16 November 2013 to hike on Powerline Trail. We would access the trail by following Trail 548 from its lower trailhead at FR 338 in Mescal Gulch. The day was chilly, a sharp wind was blowing, clouds were rushing across the mountain and it looked like rain at any moment. Nevertheless, we checked our ponchos, bundled our scarves around our necks and proceeded on our way.

Taking two 4-wheel drive vehicles we drove through Jerome and continued up the mountain on 89A to Mescal Gulch There we turned down the gulch on Forest Road 338. From 89A we drove approximately 0.3 miles down the forest road to to reach the lower Bug Hollow Trailhead (right). The sign is located on the right side of the forest road. The trail, seen to the right of the sign, follows along an old road, at first at a very gentle ascent. Soon, however, it started climbing at a fairly steep angle. Eventually it did level out a bit for a short distance, but then the trail left the old road and made another steep climb up the hill to the open meadow where the old juniper tree stands.

This photograph (left) shows a hiker making her way up the last section of trail below the meadow.

Upon reaching the meadow we found that the trail cut a quite distinct path, marked by cairns along the way, across it and on past the old juniper to the junction (photo shown at beginning of report) with Trail 549.

Surprisingly, several late season flowers were still hanging on. The cliffrose shrub and the thistle shown below were found along a sunny stretch of trail below the meadow.

Cliffrose

Thistle

Above the meadow, along Trail 549, we found additional examples of late blooming flowers, specifically several clumps of Rocky Mountain aster (right). Someone noted that we had recently had a good rain followed by several warm days and we decided the flowers were confused and thought it was spring already.

The trail, following an old mining road, was now leading gradually uphill and we soon entered a forested section and then, about 0.3 miles from the junction with Trail 548, came to sharp bend in the road. There appeared to have been some fairly extensive excavation at the area with a large flat space created at the bend. We did not see any mine tailings; however, we did note an orange-colored pipe (left) protruding from the ground. The notation R-31 was inscribed on the surface of the pipe by weld bead. We were not really sure whether it was a claim boundary marker or a vent for an abandoned underground mine.

From the sharp bend, the trail climbed fairly steeply for a distance and then followed closely along the 7,000 foot level along the contour of Mingus Mountain, dipping into and out of washes along the way.

But the hiking now became a little more difficult. We were still following along the old mining road, and would do so until the end of the trail. However, there were now fallen rocks in the trail, a lot of undergrowth in the old road bed and many fallen trees to navigate around. In a few cases the fallen trees and undergrowth constituted such barriers that some of our party considered turning back. But we all decided we had come too far to turn back this near the end.

We saw another orange-colored pipe further along the trail, this one inscribed with the notation R-30. Then still another, larger, pipe with a hinged lid on top, along with a smaller, rusted open pipe and a rod imbedded in a rock. We really couldn't discern the purpose of any of the objects. The only one we could be sure was not some sort of vent was the imbedded rod. These are all shown below.

Pipe inscribed R-30

Larger pipe with hinged top

Smaller, rusted open pipe

Rod imbedded in rock

Meanwhile, all along the way, we had great views farther afield. Woodchute Mountain was visible to the north and Verde Valley, dappled by the fast moving, ever-changing clouds was spread out below us. Closer in we noted a large, ancient fir tree growing at the shoulder of the road and wondered how it had escaped the lumbermen.

Ancient fir tree growing alongside the old road our trail followed

The view across Verde Valley is shown below. The clouds, impelled by the fast blowing wind, were moving swiftly across the sky creating an ever-changing mosaic of shadows on the hills below.

Looking out at Verde Valley from Trail 549 high on Mingus Mountain

The trail dropped about 200 feet during the last 0.2 miles. The old rock strewn, undergrowth choked, mining road that had been crisscrossed by dead, fallen trees for some distance cleared up a bit and then ended at the bottom of a draw. The old road's end ( as well as the end of our trail) was emphasized by the dead trunk of an enormous old tree that had fallen across it long ago.

Just on the other side of the old rotting trunk is a grass-covered open space, just big enough to let in a spot of sun. It makes a great place for a lunch stop and we availed ourselves of the opportunity. But it was still pretty chilly and we didn't linger after eating, pausing just long enough to pose for a group photograph while we were still at the end of the trail.

Left to right: Ruth Frazier, Frank Lombardo, Daisy Williams, Betty Wolters 

and the author – photograph by Name Withheld

Knowing that Trail 105, running from FR 338 to the top of Mingus, was not far below us, I suggested that we hike downhill from the end of Trail 549 and connect with it for the trip back to where we were parked. I had been that way several times before and it seemed shorter to me. Indeed, measured later it did turn out to be slightly shorter, 2.8 miles as opposed to 3.1 miles the way we had come.

Unfortunately, on the way down the mountain, I managed to miss Trail 105 when we crossed it. There were fresh-fallen leaves and it looked to be no more than just another game trail. This resulted in us wandering in the wilderness, so to speak, like Moses in the Sinai. Luckily, we didn't spend 40 years in our wilderness, just an hour and twenty six minutes. The extra distance was only half a mile, but I do have to admit that it was the toughest half mile of the hike.

After returning to Trail 105, the hiking was easy. The trail, despite our having missed it at first, is generally easy to follow and along this section varies little in elevation. We soon reached its end at FR 338 and then followed that route all the way back to our vehicles, waiting at the Trail 548 Trailhead. As we neared the end of our hike we passed a small cemetery on the left. It contains only three graves, one appearing to be that of a child and the others adults. The smaller grave had a marker made of a slab of stone with the figures 1901 inscribed on it. Other than uninscribed wooden markers of obviously more recent vintage, there were no other markers.

Three graves at an old cemetery

The small sandstone (right) with 1901 carved on it appears at the head of the middle grave. I moved it to take the photograph, then replaced it. There is an old mine shaft just across FR 338 from the site and I wondered whether the people buried there might have been a mining family. Or, perhaps they were ranchers running cattle in Mescal Gulch.

Continuing along the forest road, we came to the collector tank located at Mescal Spring and noted that it was now, unlike at earlier visits, bone dry. I climbed up behind the tank to investigate and found that the tunnel from which the spring previously ran is now completely blocked off (left) in the same manner as many old mine tunnels in the area. Perhaps it was once an old mine itself and has been blocked as part of some mine mitigation project. In any case, there is no longer any water flowing from it.

We were soon back at our vehicles. It had been a tiring seven-hour hike and we were ready to go home.

I had used a GPS track from another source to plan the hike and came up with a wildly excessive estimate of 10.6 miles for the round trip. I have since reexamined that track and still cannot determine what is wrong with it. As it were, my GPS-recorded distance turned out to be just 6.2 miles had we returned by the route we came. With the extra 0.5 mile detour caused by difficulty in finding Trail 105 coupled with the otherwise shorter distance the way we returned, we actually hiked 6.4 miles. Our highest elevation was 7007 feet and the elevation difference was 971 feet. But, considering all the ups and downs along the way, we really climbed a total of 1320 feet.

Our route is shown in red on the included map, except that the extra half mile is shown in blue.

17 http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/prescott/recreation/fishing/recarea/?recid=67441&actid=50   

Up Gaddes Canyon and on to FR 413

Six Skyliners set out on 9 November 2013 with the intention of hiking the 2.6 mile Gaddes Canyon Trail #110 from the trailhead on Forest Road 413 near Burnt Tank to the trailhead at FR 104D near the Mingus Mountain Fire Tower. Both Lila and I had hiked the trail in the past; the other hikers, although having hiked fairly often in Gaddes Canyon had never before hiked Gaddes Canyon Trail #110, which merely runs across the canyon at Gaddes Spring. Most people mistakenly assume that Gaddes Canyon Trail runs up and down the canyon and this leads to much confusion.

Another trail, number 9037, does run from the end of Black Canyon Trail in lower Gaddes Canyon up the canyon itself to connect with Gaddes Canyon Trail where that trail crosses the canyon. Some maps label the lower section of Trail 9037 as Gaddes 2. Then, adding even more confusion, another short section of trail on top of Mingus, shown starting from a point on the Forest Road between the south towers and the old heliport and passing to the north and west of Dry Lakes Tank to end at the rim of Gaddes Canyon, is also labeled Gaddes 2. Perhaps these two sections were once connected?

The normal Skyliner hike in Gaddes Canyon, referred to as the Coleman-Gaddes Loop hike, consists of hiking from FR 413 at the Black Canyon Trailhead up the Canyon on Trail 9037/Gaddes 2 to the junction with a faint trail that angles up the east canyon wall to connect with Forest Road 104 near Dry Lake Tank. From there we take Coleman Trail back down the mountain to connect with FR 413 about 0.5 miles north of the starting point, thus forming a loop. Sometimes, for variety, we hike this loop in the opposite direction, by hiking up Coleman Trail and returning by way of Gaddes Canyon. In either case, that leaves almost a mile of Trail 9037 in Gaddes Canyon that most of our hikers had never been on.

After a bit of discussion, we decided to abandon our original plan to hike from the Gaddes canyon Trailhead on FR 413 near Burnt Tank to the Mingus Fire Tower and return entirely on Gaddes Canyon Trail #110. We would instead leave one vehicle near Burnt Tank and take the other further along FR 413 to the Trail 9037/Gaddes 2 Trailhead. We would then hike up the canyon to connect with Trail 110 and follow it back to Burnt Tank, foregoing the trip on to the firetower.

The following photograph was taken where Trail 9037 starts at FR 413 in lower Gaddes Canyon.

Left to right: Daisy Williams, Lila Wright, Collene Maktenieks, Ruth Frazier 

and Betty Wolters – Trail 9037 begins behind Daisy; FR 413 is to the right 

of Betty

The last time I hiked this way was just after a rain in July 2011 and the vegetation was then lush and green. It was now November and the area has apparently been pastured heavily since then. The leaves have fallen for the year and cattle have eaten much of the smaller vegetation that we saw in 2011. The trail itself was clear except for several trees that have fallen across it and the hiking was easier this time.

With the leaves having fallen from the deciduous trees, we had relatively clear views of both sides of Gaddes as we made our way up the dry streambed, crossing and recrossing it several times along the way. The two photographs below show the canyon walls. At left is shown the south side of the canyon, actually it is the southwest side for we were traveling northwest for the the first 1.5 miles before the canyon made a turn and heads almost directly north. The photographs below show, respectively, the south and north sides of the canyon .

South side of Gaddes Canyon

Shown below are the hikers making their way up the gently-sloping trail. Note, in the foreground, the fallen tree that has not yet been cleared from the trail.

Streambed (left), fallen tree (bottom center) and hikers on trail ahead 

(center left)

About 1.5 miles from from the trailhead where we started our hike, at the point where the canyon turns to the north, a very faint trail leads off to the right, running across the streambed and through an opening created by cutting a section from the trunk of a large, fallen ponderosa (right). Note the rock cairn built atop the end of the fallen tree trunk. It marks the way. This faint trail comes out at Dry Lake Tank atop Mingus and is the route we normally take to hike what we call the Gaddes Canyon-Coleman Trail Loop.

Today, however, we had other plans and continued on up Trail 9037. As already noted, none of the other hikers had hiked the 0.9 mile section of trail between here and the junction with Trail 110 (Gaddes Canyon Trail) at Gaddes Spring before, so this short section along with Trail 110 would be a new experience for them.

We had started to see bear scat and cowpies shortly after beginning our hike and this continued all the way to the junction with Trail 110. The cowpies were pretty well dried out, indicating that the cattle had been moved to lower country some weeks ago; some of the bear scat, however, appeared to be no more than a few days old.

We joined Gaddes Canyon Trail at the bottom of the canyon. From here, we could turn right, follow the trail on past Gaddes Spring and up the east rim of the canyon to the top of Mingus where it ends at FR 104D just below the firetower. The distance would be something over half a mile. However, we were parked in the other direction, so we turned sharply southeast and climbed the west rim of the canyon to follow the trail back to the trailhead on FR 413 near Burnt Tank.

The climb out of the canyon on this side is surprisingly gentle, sloping diagonally up the canyon wall to join a fire road at the rim. As we neared the rim, we could look back over our shoulders and see the firetower at the other end of the trail in the distance. The tower can be seen, between the tree branches, in the very center of the photograph (left).

The fire road we joined at the rim of the canyon turned out to be the firebreak at the edge of a prescribed burn conducted by the Forest Service from November 1 through November 4. We noted a few smoldering embers along the way, but there was not enough smoke to bother us. In fact, we stopped right in the burn area to eat lunch, having found a good spot on a sunny slope with an excellent view across Prescott Valley.

Lila eating lunch and enjoying the view of the mountains beyond 

Prescott Valley

After following the fire road along the rim for perhaps half a mile, our trail left it to make its way down the mountain to the trailhead at FR 413 about 700 feet lower.

There are a few rather steep places in this section of trail, but it is generally well-engineered with several switchbacks making the way easier.

At the trailhead, the Forest Service had posted a sign (right) saying that the trail was closed due to the prescribed burn that had ended five days earlier.

That seemed rather odd as the trail appears to have been closed in only one direction; we saw no closure sign when we approached the burn area from the other side. Possibly, the closure had been lifted earlier and this sign was just forgotten.

On the included map (next page), our track is shown in red. The track up Gaddes Canyon to Trail 110 follows Trail 9037. Trail 110 from the junction with 9037 is also shown in red as it is part of today's hike. The remainder of Trail 110 is shown in blue. The faint trail that leads out of the canyon at Dry Lake Tank is shown in yellow and the short section of trail on top of Mingus that I have referred to as Gaddes 2 is shown in magenta. The lower section of trail, running part way up the canyon and also referred to as Gaddes 2 is not shown separately, but its start point is coincident with Trailhead 9037 and its end point is shown.

My GPS recorded the hike distance as 4.3 miles, the elevation change as 1449 feet and the highest elevation as 7486 feet. For reference, the elevation at Mingus Firetower is just over 7700 feet and the hang glider launching pad on Mingus is about 7800 feet.

Henderson Flat – Indian Ruins

Four Skyliners (Jim Manning, David Beach, Frank Lombardo and the author) camped at Henderson Flat on 02 November 2013. The purpose of our visit was to search for three Indians Ruins we had heard were located in the hills above the flat. I had found the locations of the three ruins noted on an old USGS map and we were fairly sure that we knew just where to look, so we set out on this bright and sunny day with a great deal of confidence.

Leaving from Cottonwood, we drove to Jerome on Hwy 89A, turned at the firestation onto Perkinsville Road, crossed the river on the Perkinsville Bridge and continued for another 3.2 miles before turning right onto Forest Road 181. Perkinsville Road, from Jerome to the FR 181 turnoff, although unpaved was in excellent condition; however, FR 181 turned out to be extremely rough, along with being crooked and steep. It should not be attempted with other than high-clearance, 4-wheel-drive vehicles.

About 6.8 miles along FR 181 we were deep in Railroad Draw. Another mile brought us to Henderson Flat where we intended to camp for the night. Jim Manning and I had driven this way just last year to camp out and visit ruins in Sycamore Basin, but I had remembered the distance to Henderson flat as being only 5.6 miles. This time, I thought we would never get there. Later I checked the report for last year's trip and found that the distance was 7.8 rather than 5.6 miles. So much for my memory. Our intended camping spot is marked by an old bunkhouse (above right) and a “trick” tank, the sort of tank that receives the water it stores from a collector rather than from natural runoff. In this case, the collector serves as a roof over the tank itself, as shown in the below photograph taken from a bunkhouse window in November of last year.

“Trick” tank at Henderson Flat and the hills where the Indian Ruins are 

located

The tank shown here with its own collector replaced an older now dried up tank, located a short distance downslope from the bunkhouse. The old tank was of traditional earth-dug construction and depended on natural runoff. The bunkhouse itself had been fitted with guttering that fed a large metal tank (cistern) installed to hold water for human habitation. It was all very elaborate for the few cows we saw, either on this visit or the one last year, and we think the area must have been much more heavily-grazed in the past. Obviously, the long-unused bunkhouse indicates that ranchhands were once in semi-permanent residence at the site.

We arrived at Henderson Flat, set up camp near the old bunkhouse, and were on our way to search for ruins by 1000. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and I planned to just toss my sleeping bag in the bed of my pickup, so my set-up was minimal. The other three campers all set up tents.

I had mapped the locations of the three ruins we were interested in on my GPS and we set out across country to the nearest one. I had been told that they were not very impressive ruins, but we were at least as interested in the search as the ruins themselves and were undeterred.

We crossed into boundary into into the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness area short distance from camp and continued on up the mountain slope, traveling at an angle that required us to cross a couple of washes. The washes were not very deep; however, they were pretty well choked with catclaws, manzanitas and cacti, making the going very difficult and slow. The manzanitas were difficult enough, growing thickly as they tend to do and making passage difficult. The catclaws and the cacti, however, seemed to actively retaliate, the catclaws jumping out to catch us and the cacti launching their spines as projectiles whenever we came near. The catclaws just took a vengeful bite and let go. However, the cactus spines were another matter entirely. They immediately penetrated clothing (even shoes) and quickly embedded themselves into flesh like little heat-seeking missiles.

But, hey, of what matter are a few inconveniences when one is climbing a mountain with friends searching for ruins. Anyway, as we climbed higher we had great views across the way to Mingus and Woodchute Mountains, although the view was somewhat obscured by smoke from a prescribed burn on the other side of Mingus. As we climbed higher, the growth thinned out a bit and we were better able to avoid some the cacti and catclaws, but the way was now steep and rocky.

About a mile from camp and some 300 feet higher, we were approaching the spot where we thought the first ruin was located. It seemed a very unlikely spot and I thought that my information must be wrong.

Approaching the location of the first ruin

However, just when we were ready to give up and head for the next location, a member of our party checked behind some heavy growth and we heard him shout “Indian Ruin.” There they were, a bit more impressive than expected from the information provided by others.

Frank Lombardo at the ruin

A still-standing wall is shown below. Part of the overhang has collapsed filling the space behind the wall with broken rock. We spent some time poking around in the ruin, finding little except a single pottery shard.

Debris contained behind wall

Pottery shard

Quite pleased with ourselves for having found the first site, we set out with renewed enthusiasm for the next location I had marked in my GPS. That site was a mere 0.1 miles and some fifty feet higher in elevation than the first site. Unfortunately, to get there we had to climb back across the ridge we were on descend, for over 200 feet, cross a wash and then climb back up another ridge following a very steep and rocky course. The total distance by this route was about 0.5 miles. The profile for this section of our hike is shown in here (above left).

We found this site more easily, actually stumbling over it on top of a ridge as we were heading to what I thought was a more likely spot. I had expected it to be tucked under an overhang and was heading to a rock outcropping which looked like a good place for one when someone said “here it is.” This one was constructed on the very crest of the ridge we had climbed, just below a further rise in the ridge marked by red rocks. The following photograph shows a section of wall from the old structure and beyond a glimpse of the red rock marking a further rise in the ridge.

Wall remains at bottom, foot of cliff marking a further rise of the ridge at top

We found a few pottery shards, examined them and, as always, left them at the site. Just at the base of the red rock cliff shown in the top right quadrant of the above photograph, we saw evidence of another smaller structure. For storage?

Pottery shards

Remains of small structure … storage?

We were doing quite well. We had found two of the sites we were searching for and were preparing to head for the third. Suddenly, however, we again heard the cry of “Indian Ruins” from a member of the party who had climbed the low red-rock cliff ahead. He had spotted, across the canyon, an unexpected ruin that we had not known was there. It was just a little higher than we were and it appeared that we would be able to reach it by following the contour line around the canyon instead of hiking down to cross the wash and coming back up the other side. We could tell from where we were that it was more substantial than anything we had expected to find today, so we immediately cancelled plans for the other ruin we had anticipated hiking to and headed for this one. The photograph below, taken from just above the second ruin we found shows the unexpected ruin from about 0.1 miles away.

Looking across the canyon at the unexpected ruin

The hike along the canyon wall to get to the other side proved to be perilous and difficult. We had to watch carefully to avoid slipping on loose rocks, all the while dodging cacti and catclaws. By the time I reached the ruin it was again time to stop and remove spines, and I must have spent fifteen minutes at the task before I was ready to hike again.

This ruin contained seven rooms (eight if one counts a small subdivision within one of the larger rooms) and at one time had a second story, probably doubling the number of rooms. The most substantial, still-standing wall is shown here (right). Note that the lower portion of the wall is mortared while the rest is not. Perhaps it was torn down and rebuilt at sometime in the past. Or, possibly, the upper part was just constructed at a later date using a different technique. A pole can be seen extending through the wall about a third of the way from the top. This marks a division between floors.

This photograph (left), taken from the other side of the wall, shows the top part of wall from the poles marking the division of floors up. Most of the upper portion of this side of the wall is mortared. The small section at the very top of the wall appears to have been added at a later date.

Jim Manning is seen examining the aforementioned wall in the following photograph.

Jim Manning examining the large, partially-mortared wall

The below photograph, taken as we were leaving the area, shows the ruin from the end opposite our entry point.

Photograph taken looking back as we were leaving the ruins

As might be inferred from the number of photographs shown here, we spent considerably more time at this ruin than at either of the first two sites. There was, after all, a lot more to see here. When we were through, we decided to make our way diagonally down the wall to the bottom of the canyon and then follow along the wash toward the flat below. We thought we were a bit over a mile from camp and expected to intersect Henderson Flat Trail #53, running up the valley from Sycamore Tank, about half way there.

As it turned out, we were not too far off. We travelled 0.7 miles down the steep canyon wall, along the wash at the bottom and across several other brush, catclaw and cactus-infested washes before finding the trail. The trail itself, although marked by cairns and relatively easy to follow, appeared to be little used. We followed it for 0.6 miles back to camp, passing the dyke that had formed the old tank Henderson Flat along the way. Before it was drained this must have been a substantial tank; it appears to have covered several acres and the dyke had a rock-lined sluice at one end to prevent erosion of the earthen dyke.

We arrived back at camp at 1600, having been on the trail (or, rather, struggling through the brush) for six hours. I was tired and peppered with of cactus spines, but after a few minutes of rest while plucking the spines from inconvenient places, felt much better.

The smoke from the prescribed burn had by now largely dissipated, but had been replaced by a few threatening, clouds that might well be a harbinger of rain showers. I decided that I would pitch my tent after all; it was going to be a fairly chilly night and I certainly didn't want to spend part of it wet. Later during the night, when I heard the pitter-patter of raindrops on my tent, I snuggled with great satisfaction deeper into my warm, cozy sleeping bag.

But before bedding down, we must cook supper and we were all looking forward to some time around the campfire. I had thought that we might have trouble finding nearby fuel for our campfire at the flat. It is an ideal place to camp and shows much evidence of being so used, so I thought that all available fuel would have been used already and brought along some firewood. As it turned out, fuel was plentiful and I wound up bringing my wood home again. There were a number of fire rings left by previous campers, so we just selected the most convenient one and soon were gathered around the campfire to eat, review our day's activities and plan for the morrow.

An early dinner around the campfire with the setting sun still lighting the 

mountains in the background. Does it get any better than this?

We had hiked 3.0 miles, mostly through thick brush and found three ruins, one entirely unexpected. The total ascent was 949 feet and the highest elevation was 5231 feet. Our track and the locations of the ruins are shown on the included map (below).

Henderson Flat – Lonesome Pocket Trail

We got a leisurely start the next morning. We had decided to hike on Lonesome Pocket Trail #61 which leads generally north from Henderson Flat. The trail is marked by cairns and we actually saw a few footprints for the first half mile or so. After that there was no indication of recent usage. At first the trail leads through a meadow; it then enters a juniper forest, rises at a fairly gentle slope, and crosses several washes, gradually becoming steeper and rockier. Soon after leaving the meadow, we found several fossilized sea shells, such as the example shown here (above right). These were found only along a short stretch of the trail. After that, the composition of the rocks changed and we found we were moving through an area of broken up sandstone that appeared to have been deposited in relatively thin layers and was marked by intriguing designs.

About a mile from camp we came to a fork in the trail. According to the trail sign posted sign (left), our trail continued straight ahead for 2.0 miles while a trail to forking to the left would lead to Sand Flat, 6.0 miles away.

We certainly did not have time to hike to Sand Flat as we had decided that we would leave for home at 1200, so we continued on toward Lonesome Pocket. Actually we would not even have time to hike all the way to the pocket, but would just go as far as we could and still be back at Henderson Flat by noon.

As we continued on up the trail we noted a volcanic intrusion left exposed when the softer surrounding material had eroded away, see photograph below. Meanwhile the trail became ever steeper and rockier.

Volcanic intrusion

Steep, rocky trail to Lonesome Pocket

After some more hard climbing we reached a very narrow section of the ridgeline and the trail ahead seemed to level off a bit. We paused there for a snack and I snapped a photograph of my fellow hikers.

Left to right: David Beach, Frank Lombardo and Jim Manning

Even though, as already noted, the trail did level off somewhat for a short distance, we could see that further ahead was another steep climb on up to Lonesome Pocket on top of the mountain. It was now close to 1030, so we decided to return to camp after our snack. We arrived back at camp at about 1140 and were shortly on our way back home.

I recorded the round trip hike distance as 2.9 miles, the total ascent as 912 feet and the highest elevation as 5760 feet.

Our track for the hike on Lonesome Pocket Trail is shown following (below).