Oxbow Trail

It was 1052 when we finally arrived at the Oxbow Trailhead at Horse Pasture Tank on Tule Mesa to start our 10 April 2014 hike back to Brown Springs. We had left Cottonwood at 0700 and driven to Brown Springs to position one vehicle at the lower trailhead. We then drove back to Camp Verde and took Interstate 17 south across the Black Hills to Dugas Road which we followed 17.5 miles to the trailhead. About two miles of Dugas Road is paved. After that it is a well-maintained dirt road for several miles, gradually deteriorating beyond the Dugas community and becoming very rough about three miles short of the Oxbow Trailhead. By way of contrast only eight of the 17.4 miles from I-17 to Brown Springs are dirt road and that is well maintained.

The two signs shown below are posted at the trailhead.

Taken looking back toward Dugas

Trail orientation sign

The trail follows a jeep road about 100 yards to a wire gate, passes through and circles around the tank before dipping into Gap Creek Canyon below, dropping about 300 feet in 0.5 miles. The jeep road ended, of course, at the tank, but we found the way to be well-marked by rock cairns and by some recent trimming. We also noted that the path appeared to be fairly well worn, indicating heavier than expected usage in such a remote area.

Although the steepness of the slope required that we watch our step carefully to avoid falling, we still found time to admire the flowers we found growing on the trailside along the sunny slope. Included were flax, shining in different shades of blue, and under the trees near the bottom of the canyon, several western wallflower plants.

Flax

Western wallflower

Immediately after crossing Gap Creek (dry at this time) in the bottom of the canyon, we passed a sign announcing that we were entering the Cedar Bench Wilderness and then immediately started to climb back to the rim on the opposite side.

We continued to find flowers in bloom as we made our way up the canyon wall and across the rim, the highest elevation of our hike.

Mock Vervain

Wirelettuce or Desert straw

After reaching the rim on the other side of the canyon, we could look back and view our vehicle parked at Horse Pasture Tank. We were now some 150 feet higher in elevation than at the trailhead and were ready to start our 3167-foot descent to Brown Springs at the Verde River.

At 1.9 miles from the trailhead we came to a sad, old wire gate, in such dire condition that one must lift to open it. We conscientiously re-closed it after passing through and found ourselves at the Tule Rim Trailhead (right).

From our position high on the rim above Oxbow Tank, we could look out through the mouth of Gap Creek Canyon across Verde Valley and a slice of Wingfield Mesa (center) to the Mogollon Rim and the San Francisco Peaks (left of canyon mouth) in the distance.

Looking out the mouth of Gap Creek Canyon

As we continued our descent toward Oxbow Tank we saw several very attractive Cliff Fendlerbush shrubs in full bloom. I paused to photograph one of the most striking of these (left).

Shortly after passing the Cliff Fendlerbush shrubs by, we came upon another very distinctive shrub that, at first, I passed off as more of the same. However, a closer look revealed it to be a Cliffrose.

Cliffrose growing along Oxbow Trail

After passing Oxbow Tank, the trail leads down a wash that drains into Gap Creek Canyon. Just before dumping into the canyon, however, the floor of the wash suddenly drops away creating a sheer cliff wall around three sides. The trail crosses just before this dropoff and follows downstream along the steep wall of Gap Creek Canyon to the Chalk Tank Trailhead (right), located three miles from the upper trailhead.

It was now well past lunchtime and it was hot, walking along a sunny slope as we were, so we paused to rest in a bit of shade while we ate lunch. However, we didn't stop for long as we were still more than five miles from our destination. We had already decided that we would leave the vehicle we had parked at Horse Pasture until tomorrow so as not to have to drive out after dark.

We continued to look for flowers as we trudged along and were rewarded by such finds as a bank of phlox and a claret cup cactus.

A bank of phlox blooms

Claret cup cactus

Until this point the trail had been very easy to follow, marked all the way by cairns and relatively fresh evidence of trimming. Now, however, we found a few areas where we had to stop and look around a bit to make sure we were still on the correct path. There was never really any danger of becoming lost. But stopping to make sure of the trail did slow us down somewhat.

About 1.5 miles or so below Chalk Tank Trailhead, while we were still on the rim of Gap Creek Canyon, but just as we were dropping down to the east to put the ridge between us and the canyon, I took a photograph looking across the Verde River to 13-Mile Rock, Hackberry Mountain and the Towel Mountains.

13-Mile Rock Butte, Hackberry Mountains and the Towel Mountains

When we saw the Cold Water Trailhead sign (left) at Bear Grass Tank, we knew that we were just 1.2 miles from the Oxbow Trailhead at Brown Springs and we all felt some sense of relief. We would at least get home before dark. This was also the point at which we left the Lower Cedar Bench Wilderness.

The trail from Bear Grass Tank to the Lower Cedar Bench Trailhead was along an old road, much of which was covered with gravel. It was a perfect place for a rattlesnake to blend in and avoid notice, and one did just that (right). I had already passed it by and Lila was passing about eight feet away when the snake became alarmed enough to give us a warning rattle. We gave it a wide respectful berth and it never really coiled itself up for a strike.

We had soon passed the Lower Cedar Bench Trailhead and arrived at the fenced-in area around Brown Springs. I snapped a photograph to show the continual improvements being made to the area by what I assume to be new owners.

Private property around Brown Springs

It was 1654 when we arrived back at our vehicle waiting at the lower trailhead. We doffed our packs, loaded our gear and were quickly on our way.

But one more adventure awaited us; just as after crossing Gap Creek we saw something scurrying to get out of the road ahead of us. When we slowed for a better look we found that it was a gila monster (left), the only one I have ever seen in the wild. We stopped and watched as it scrambled across the ditch, up the bank and scurried away in the brush above.

Because it was Lila's truck that we left overnight at the trailhead, we returned by way of Cornville to let her off at home and I took that opportunity to take a group photograph of fellow hikers.

Kwi Johnson (left) and Lila Wright (right) made this hike with me.

This one-way hike was 8.2 miles in length, the trailhead elevation was 5920 feet, the highest elevation was 6088 feet, the total ascent was 834 feet and the total descent was 3813 feet.

Our path is shown in red on the included map (see map below).