Loop Hike From Tissaw Road

Jim Manning led a hike in the Verde Santa Fe Bridgeport area on 2 January 2016. It was a little chilly when we met at the Safeway parking area, but the sun was shining brightly, promising a good day for hiking.

We drove north on Hwy 89A to Cornville Road and turned right (east). After traveling for 1.1 miles on Cornville Road, we turned right onto Tissaw Road and continued for another 0.7 miles before parking at a spacious parking area on the left. Donning our gear, we paused for a group photograph before beginning our hike.

Left to right: (kneeling): George Everman, Dolly Yapp, Daisy Williams and the author; (standing): Lila Wright, Dan Aragaki, Joan Meyers, John Ashworth, Gilliam Ashworth,Ellen McGinnis, Karl Sink, James McGinnis, Lu Stitt, Joanne Hennings and Loren Pritzel, Gary Jacobson, Bob Coates (behind Gary) and Jim Manning – photograph by Name Withheld using author's camera

Lila had suggested a hike in this area after reading of plans for a Bridgeport to Cornville (Windmill Park) connector trail. That planned trail is still not ready for use, although the route has been determined, so we asked Jim Manning who lives in Verde Santa Fe and works with Friends of the Forest, a volunteer trail maintenance group, to lead us on an alternate hike in the area. He chose a loop hike that began at the parking area on Tissaw Road, looped to the east for a short distance along an old road that was closed to motorized traffic (below left). We then crossed to the west side of Tissaw Road and formed a loop in the National Forest land between Verde Santa Fe and Bridgeport. When plotted on a map (below right), this loop very much resembled a collapsed lasso.

From the low-lying hills along the way, we had fantastic views across the Verde Valley.

Looking northwest across Verde Valley from a hill just southeast of Verde Santa Fe. On the horizon are Mingus Mountain (left) and Casner (right). Closer in are seen Bridgeport with Cottonwood beyond (left) and Verde Santa Fe (right)

The five-mile Bridgeport to Cornville connector trail, running from a trailhead on Zalesky Road in Bridgeport to a trailhead at Windmill Park in Cornville, is to be the “backbone” of The Cornville Trail System. In addition to the Backbone Trail, the system is planned to include the following connecting trails: Creosote Loop, Black Grama Loop, Zalesky Loop, Side Oats Loop, Dog Leg Link, Loy Link, Verde Link and Tissaw Link. More details, along with a trail map, are available in a 16 December 2015 Cottonwood Journal Extra article written by George Werner.¹

The path we followed for this hike was partly along the course of the Backbone Trail which largely follows an old stage road, the Coneville Stage Historic Trail.² The old stage road itself runs parallel to present day Cornville Road. The trail Jim led us on was well worn and quite distinct. The only problem for a hiker not familiar with the area would have been in deciding which of many well worn and distinct roads and trails to follow. A section of the trail that followed along an old road is shown here (below left). At one point we deviated slightly from our hike route in order to view the remains of a concrete bridge (below right) that carried the old stage road across a wash.

The name “Coneville”, for the old stage route, seemed at first to be a misspelling of Cornville, the present name of the nearby community (a census designated area). However, after reading several articles which used the name Coneville for the old road, I decided that it must be accurate. I was not able to determine for sure where the name came from, but I did find a Wikipedia article that indicates a man name Cone, along with a partner, owned land in the Page Springs area from 1878 until about 1880 when they sold it to James Page.³

We continued on our way, now turning south, continuing our loop along a ridge above Bridgeport. We stopped at a high point on the ridge for a snack and then continued on our way to the end of the ridge where we had an excellent view of the lower end of Bridgeport just below us, the Verde Villages across the river and the Black Hills on the horizon. The road faintly seen this side of the buildings in the foreground is Hogan Lane. The flat area, at the left edge of the photograph below and on this side of the river, is a pecan orchard.

Looking across, lower Bridgeport, the Verde River and Verde Villages to the Black Hills

We were now on the peak of a ridge with a wash that emptied directly into the river on our left and the river itself to the right. We would continue our loop hike by descending the ridge to the bottom of the wash, hiking back up the wash and climbing up the left side to continue along the rim until we reconnected with our original track. The descent was rather steep (below left) although the path ahead was always clear and we had no problem seeing where to go. The trail up the streambed in the bottom of the wash sloped gently upward, following an old road. The climb up the side of the wash (below right) was fairly steep but again along an easy-to-follow path.

We reached the rim of the wash at about 1130. We found ourselves on a nice sunny slope, with a gentle breeze and a great view, so we stopped for lunch.

After a leisurely lunch we hiked along the ridge for another 0.5 miles and closed the loop formed by our hike. Still another 0.2 miles took us back to Tissaw road at the point where we had crossed it after hiking along the east side of the road. Rather than retrace our steps from this point, we returned to the parking area by way of Tissaw Road, about 0.4 miles away. Our route thus consisted of two loops, making up a very rough figure eight.

This hike was 5.7 miles long, the highest elevation was 3509 feet and the total ascent was 1002 feet. Our GPS track is shown in red on the included map.

1 http://www.journalaz.com/sports/5-verde-valley-sports/3472-cornville-gets-grants-to-develop-maintain-bridgeport-connector.html

2 Ibid

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornville,_Arizona