Little Wolf Creek Trail

On 22 November 2014 the author and one other hiker who chose to remain unidentified left Cottonwood at 0700 to hike Little Wolf Creek Trail. Donna Goodman who lives near Prescott met us in the town of Mayer and we proceeded to the trailhead.

From Cottonwood, we drove east on Hwy 260, turned south on Interstate 17 and continued to Hwy 69 (Exit 262). We then drove north on Hwy 69 for 8.1 miles to Mayer, turned left onto E Central Avenue and stopped to pick up Donna. The three of us continued for 0.3 miles on E Central, turned left onto Miami Street and then almost immediately right onto Wicks Avenue. We continued on Wicks for 0.2 miles and turned left onto Jefferson Street. Jefferson Street soon turns into a dirt road and then becomes either Forest Road 67 or County Road 177. It is posted as County 177, but some maps I have seen label it as Forest Road 67. In any case, after first turning onto Jefferson Street, we just followed the road for 6.9 miles and parked at a hairpin turn in the road. Despite the number shown, the sign (right) does mark the lower trailhead for Little Wolf Creek Trail #304.

I think the posted trail number, #9434, is because part of the trail has a double designation as a hiking trail and for ATV use. But after about 1.2 miles, a point marked by a corral, the trail is no longer suitable for other than hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers.

Leaving the trailhead we at first hiked along a streambed on the remains of an old road. Parts of the old road had washed out and it was very rocky in a few spots, especially when crossing the dry streambed, which we did at least twice. About 0.6 miles from the trailhead, just north of the Pipeline Canyon junction, the trail turned away from the bottom of Little Wolf Creek Canyon and we climbed along the shoulder of a high ridge that separates Pipeline Canyon from Little Wolf Creek Canyon. From here the trail then quickly descended to cross the Taft Canyon Wash and climbed another ridge on the other side between Taft Canyon and Little Wolf Creek Canyon. From the top of this ridge, we had a good view of the area ahead that we would be hiking through, including the scars of old mines on the mountain slope below Big Bug Mesa.

In the photograph below Big Bug Mesa is shown on the left, Little Mesa is on the right and between them is Coyote Spring Saddle. The two scars, one below the saddle and one to the left of it, show the locations of the old mines. Although not visible here, a third abandoned mine exists at the foot of the mountain alongside Little Wolf Creek.

Showing Big Bug Mesa, Little Mesa and the saddle between them

From our position high up on the ridge, we could also look back down Little Wolf Creek Canyon and on to the far mountains. In the center of the photograph below, the prominent formation looming just at the mouth of the canyon is Brady Butte.

Looking out the mouth of Little Wolf Creek Canyon from a ridge of Big Bug Mesa

The ridge we were on was covered with scrub oak, junipers, mountain mahogany and other assorted low-growing plants. The mountain mahogany (left), having not yet released its feathery, winged seed pods was absolutely glowing in the morning sun.

The trail now descended back into Little Wolf Creek Canyon after which it would follow closely along the streambed for the rest of the way to the saddle at Coyote Spring.

Just as we approached the creek we came to the corral beyond which, the use of motorized vehicles, if not prohibited, is at least quite impractical. I say “if not prohibited” because I never did see a sign that actually said they were not allowed.

There were still vestiges of an old road as we continued along the trail above the corral, and a little later we found an abandoned mine, probably explaining the old road, located just across the creek from the trail. We did not visit the mine on this trip, but I did visit it last April and took a photograph (right) of the shaft opening. The opening appeared too small for this to have been a major operation. On the other hand there was a large tailings deposit alongside the creek, so it may have been a larger operation than the opening would seem to indicate.

A little farther up the trail was the remains of what must once have been a cozy dugout-cum-cabin (left). It was rather small, perhaps 80 square feet, but showed the remains of what would have been a quite impressive fireplace. Could this have been where the mine operator lived?

We were now traveling through a ponderosa forest that would continue until we reached the saddle at Coyote Springs. We saw some faint signs of recent usage of the trail by mountain bikers but nothing else to suggest that anyone else had passed this way for awhile. Despite this it was easy to follow. I thought that I remembered seeing evidence of usage by cattle last April. However, we now found no such signs.

Although it had been a little chilly earlier in the morning when we were lower in the canyon and the surrounding mountains had blocked the morning sun, it was now quite comfortable.

When we arrived at the saddle we looked around a bit for evidence of Coyote Spring, but saw no sign of water anywhere. The drainage from this point is to the north to Grapevine Creek, about a mile ahead, and I suppose the spring might be somewhere down that drainage. Or perhaps it dried up after the place was named.

The saddle at Coyote Springs

The saddle is the only place that it would seem possible to lose the trail. We had hesitated here when scouting the trail, but then decided that it turned left rather than crossing the fence. Once one makes the turn the trail becomes quite obvious again. Unfortunately for those averse to climbing it now attacks Big Bug Mesa head on, rising around 560 feet in 0.5 miles and crossing some rocky terrain. The photograph (right) was taken looking back down the trail. There are few switchbacks to break the climb.

I decided that some early day cowboy must have laid out the trail by leading his least favorite cow to the edge of Big Bug Mesa and pushing her over the rim. He then just followed the path she took to the bottom, the only switchbacks being where she bounced off a tree and fell sideways .

We broke the hike by stopping several times to rest and enjoy the scenery. Looking to the northeast through the saddle we had just left we could see automobile and truck traffic along Hwy 69 between Mayer and Dewey-Humboldt, probably around Poland Junction.

Looking down on the valley above Mayer from the trail ascending Big Bug Mesa

We left the ponderosas that were growing lower down the slope and were once again in an area populated by smaller plants. Mountain mahogany was again plentiful and even smaller plants such as the occasional Indian paintbrush and the colorful buckwheat shown in the photograph (left) were growing in open spaces along the trail.

When we reached the rim of the mesa, we were still 0.3 miles from the upper trailhead at Forest Road 9434. But the terrain was now essentially flat, rising only another 150 feet to the trailhead, a welcome change from the steep climb to the rim.

From the trailhead one has a good view across Big Bug Mesa to the Bradshaw Mountains beyond. The trailhead is marked by a rock cairn, essentially just a rather substantial pile of rocks alongside the road.

Bradshaw Mountains in the distance, cairn in bottom right quadrant

The inset map (right) shows our climb from Coyote Springs Pass to the end of Trail 304 on Big Bug Mesa. This was the most difficult part of the hike and several of the hikers who made the scouting hike last April took one look and chose to wait at the saddle.

Today, however, all three hikers made it all the way to the end of the trail, arriving just at lunch time. That meant that we could eat our main meal exactly half way through the hike, always a good plan. But we decided to make a slight modification due to a breeze that had arisen and hike back to the rim where we would be sheltered by the trees from the rather chilly wind.

Before we left the trailhead, Donna and I posed in front of the trailhead sign mounted under the juniper growing alongside the cairn that marked the trailhead. So, yes, the upper trailhead is marked as Trail 304 while the lower trailhead is marked as Trail 9434.

Left to right: Donna Goodman and the author – photograph by Name Withheld

The hard part of our hike was done, so we felt entitled to a leisurely lunch which we ate looking out over the valley below.

This round trip distance for this in and out hike was 7.9 miles, the highest elevation was 6876 feet and the total ascent was 1925 feet.

Our GPS track is shown in red on the included map (next page) and various points of interest are labeled. Note that both Pipeline Canyon and Taft Canyon feed in from the northwest. Also note that Taft Canyon runs parallel to Little Wolf Creek Canyon for a considerable distance before actually feeding into it.