Sheep Trail south of Crook Trail

4 April 2015 was a perfect spring day for our hike on Sheep Trail. We left the Cottonwood Safeway parking lot a few minutes after 0700 and drove east on Hwy 260. Because some of our hikers had not yet had their morning coffee, we stopped at the convenience store at the freeway intersection for coffee-to-go before turning south on I-17. Driving across the mountain, we turned right onto Hwy 169 and continued for 4.6 miles toward Dewey-Humboldt to the West Cherry Road exit. There, at about mile marker 9.8, we turned left onto South Old Cherry Road (County Road 168), a well-maintained dirt road, and continued for 0.4 miles before parking at a spacious, newly-constructed, parking area on the right side of the road. General Crook Trail passes through the parking area and crosses the road here.

Before starting our hike, we donned our packs and gathered for a group photograph at the parking area.

Left to right: Jim Manning, Daisy Williams, Floyd Gardner, the author, Collene Maktenieks, Beverly Sass, Joyce Arregui, Dolly Yapp, Lila Wright, George Everman (kneeling), Betty Wolters, Donna Goodman – photograph by Name Withheld

Crossing the county road we set out on Crook Trail heading east, guided by a trail sign and a rock cairn (right).

The drainage here is north to south and we were heading directly east, so the trail led us across several shallow washes and through thickets of chaparral as it followed the ancient track of the old General Crook Wagon Road (left). Here the deep rut at the left is what remains of the old road while the bare path at the right is the present trail.

Lupine 

Goodings Verbene

It was now well into the spring season and we had experienced a wet winter, so we were on the lookout for flowers. We were not to be disappointed; we saw several different varieties along the 1.5-mile stretch of Crook Trail between County Road 168 and Sheep Trail.

Indian paintbrush

Desert hyacinth

There were numerous Indian paintbrush flowers along the way, their deep, rich red color providing a striking contrast with their more subdued surroundings. An isolated desert hyacinth, unobscured by any surrounding foliage, stood proudly in an otherwise bare spot.

Just one mile from where we had parked we crossed Hackberry Wash and passed through a wire gate in the only fence we encountered during this hike.

Wire gate in Hackberry Wash

Nestled among the drab, barely touched by spring, surrounding growth and above a brilliant green carpet of grass we saw a barberry bush (right), its sprinkle of yellow flowers gleaming like jewels in the desert.

George and I lingered behind searching for more flowers and pausing to photograph our finds. The other hikers stopped several times and waited for us to catch up and I am sure that must have been a bother for them. Nevertheless, we were quite determined to find all the flowers we could. Some of our finds were isolated, one-of-a-kind flowers. In the left photograph below, for instance, one can see a lone desert hyacinth at upper left, an isolated rock daisy at center right and a single filaree at bottom left. Shown in the right photograph below is a parish wild parsley.

Desert hyacinth, rock daisy & filaree

Parish wild parsley

After traveling east for 1.5 miles on Crook Trail we came to Sour Water Wash and the upper Sheep Trailhead. The topographical names become a bit confusing here because Racetrack Well is located along Sour Water Wash, just across Hwy 169 to our north, while Racetrack Wash is located another 0.7 miles to the east, actually running through the site of the Gray Wolf Landfill. Sour Water Wash then empties into Racetrack Wash about 1.2 miles downstream.

Starting at Crook Trail and Sour Water Wash, Sheep Trail (# 532) runs down the wash until it ends at Racetrack Wash and then continues downstream until Racetrack Wash ends after about 2.9 miles at what was apparently once a supply station on Cienega Creek along the “sheep highway.” This “sheep highway,” of which our trail is a part, leads from the area around Casa Grande to summer grazing in the high country above the Mogollon Rim. The last sheep drive that I am aware of¹ was in May 2010 although the “highway” is apparently still open for use and there may have been others since then.

The trail follows along the mostly sand-filled streambed of Sour Water Wash until it empties into Racetrack Wash.

Sour Water Wash just below Crook Trail

The hiking was easy down the streambed and, as already noted, the trail followed it to the junction with Racetrack Wash. After which it continued along an old road for most of the rest of the way. Having already hiked the path along the old road during a March scouting hike, I decided to try going all the way to Cienega Creek without leaving the wash. Most of the party followed the old road; however, we were always in shouting distance of one another. There were a few short stretches where rock hopping was required and the sand was marginally harder to walk on than the solid earth along the old road, but altogether the wash was an easy hike. The worst spot, photographed on the return hike, is shown below.

Jim Manning shown approaching the only climb required in Racetrack Wash

Just before we ended our hike at Cienega Creek, we found an unusually striking clump of primrose flowers (left), arranged by nature into a perfect bouquet.

We ended our hike at Cienega Creek although the Prescott National Forest web site says it ends at Forest Road 9650X. Some of our hikers did a bit of exploring while I took my noon nap and reported seeing a jeep road just upstream. A later look at the Forest Service road map disclosed that this would be FR 9650X and that it ends at a nearby plot of private property. However the junction of Racetrack Wash and Cienega Creek seemed to me a much more satisfying end of trail. Here we had flowing water, the ruins of an old stone wall that must once have protected a supply stop on “sheep highway” from floodwaters. Beyond what looked like a building site behind the wall were the remains of an old corral that must have been used for pack animals.

Cienega Creek at the mouth of Racetrack Wash

A building site and an old corral are located behind the wall shown below.

Old wall that apparently protected buildings and a corral from floodwaters

No one expressed any desire to continue on to connect with FR 9650X, so after lunch we headed back the way we had come. I again followed the wash because I wanted to get another look at a unique rock formation (right), a chimney-shaped column, standing in the streambed of Racetrack Wash, a short distance above Cienega Creek.

I had also noted a field thickly populated with desert hyacinths along a section of the wash that most of the hikers had bypassed and I wanted to make sure that I had a photograph that would display them at their best.

Field of desert hyacinths

I photographed two additional (a banana yucca and a groundsel) plants along Crook Trail during the return hike.

Banana yucca

Groundsel

My track, following the wash all the way, is shown in red on the included map (below). The blue sections of track show the actual trail that was taken by other members of the group.

1 http://verdenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=74&ArticleID=36545