Wilbur Canyon North Rim Loop

Twelve Skyliners gathered at 0800 on 19 March 2016 for the last winter hike of the year. Tomorrow would be the first day of spring, the earliest since 1896. The Vernal Equinox marking the event actually would occur today at 2040, making tomorrow the first full day of the spring season.

Leaving Cottonwood, we drove 4.7 miles east on SR 260 and turned right on Forest Road 147 (This forest road may not be marked but the turnoff is almost directly across the highway from Thousand Trails Road which is marked.) Shortly after turning onto FR 147, an old road leads off to the left. It is only a stub, being a remainder of Old SR 279 (since replaced by SR 260). FR 147 then turns to the right and ends at a fork, the left fork being FR 361 and the right being FR 360. We chose the right fork, heading northwest, because it crosses Wilbur Canyon and then turns up the north rim of the canyon, forming the first leg of our loop hike.

Since passing the turnoff that I said was a stub of Old SR 279 we had actually been following the course of that old road, at first for a short distance on FR 147, then after the fork, on FR 360. We now continued across Wilbur Canyon on FR 360/Old SR 279 and parked at a fork in the road where FR 360 turns to run in the southwest direction along the rim of the canyon. The old SR 279 Road (see magenta track at right) continues straight ahead, now becoming FR 9604D, a designation it keeps as it continues across Black Canyon and on to a junction with FR 359 (Ogden Ranch Road), which it crosses and continues as Old SR 279, now a paved road, until it reaches East Arrowhead Lane in Verde Village 7. There it connects with Camino Real which runs on into Cottonwood to end at Main Street (SR 89A) just 0.2 miles from the intersection of SR 89A and SR 260.

Leaving our cars parked at the junction of FR 360 with FR 9604D, we donned our packs and headed up the Wilbur Canyon rim on FR 360. Although we would ascend about 750 feet as we followed FR 360 toward the Black Hills, we had 3.5 miles in which to do it and the slope was gradual. We scarcely noted that we were climbing.

The steepest and roughest section of FR 360 running up the Wilbur Canyon rim

Although the day had started out just a bit chilly, the sun was now bearing down and we were all in shirtsleeves. The warm sun and the fact that spring was upon us meant that we should be seeing wild flowers, so we started looking for them. Unfortunately, except for patches of blackfoot daisies, flowers were few. I did find one particularly attractive clump of daisies (below left) and a somewhat faded verbena (below right) as made our way up the road.

Blackfoot daisy                      Verbena

 At about 1000 we reached the junction with Forest Road 9710H, which we would follow for 0.4 miles to connect with FR 9406C for the trip back down the mountain.

Junction of FR 360 (left fork) and FR 9710H (right fork)

The left fork in the road shown in the above photograph is FR 360 which continues for another 0.8 miles, crossing Wilbur Canyon and ending at a place called Goat Camp Springs. Wilbur Canyon, itself continues west-southwest for about another mile and then turns to run south to its origin below Cherry Peak in the Black Hills.

Before continuing our hike, we stopped in a shady spot at the junction of the forest roads for a short rest, a snack and to pose for the group photograph shown here (below). The author, acting as photographer, does not appear in the group photograph but is shown separately (left), lounging under a tree.

Left to right: Dolly Yapp, Floyd Gardner, Jim McGinnis, Ellen McGinnis, Betty Wolters,Karl Sink, Joanne Hennings, Collene Maktenieks, Jim Gibson, Daisy Williams and Jim Manning

From the junction, FR 9710H led us 0.3 miles west southwest before turning northwest by north for 0.1 mile to the junction with FR 9604C. At this point FR 9710H becomes ATV Trail 514 (note, however, that the Prescott National Forest Motor Vehicle Usage Map shows FR 9710H extending for another 100 yards and also shows ATV Trail 514 as ATV Trail 509).

In another deviation from the Motor Vehicle Usage Map, which shows our intended return path, FR 9604C, as open to motorized vehicle traffic with camping permitted all along the way, the road is now blocked off and closed to all motorized vehicles. At the beginning of the closed section of road, the roadbed is filled with brush cut from manzanita shrubs, as shown in the photograph (left).

This closure didn't, at first, appear to be a serious problem for us as we were on foot, not using motorized vehicles. We just continued on our way, following the old roadbed as closely as possible. Hiking did become a bit more difficult as the manzanita was supplanted by catclaw plants growing closely alongside the old road. These plants are vicious, seemingly reaching out to snare the unwary passerby. Once caught by the plant's grasping, clawlike hooks, any attempt to pull loose is met by even deeper penetration. The victim's only recourse is to stop and patiently release the claws one by one. Even then it is not uncommon to find that, while working to free an arm or leg, another part of ones anatomy has been ensnared.

As we descended the mountain, plant growth changed and thinned. We left the manzanitas behind and were surrounded by scrub oak, ceanothus and other desert plants. The larger junipers appeared to have been removed some time ago, probably in an attempt to encourage the growth of grass for grazing. The plants that had been cut and piled on the old roadbed changed to reflect what was available and also became more sparse.

Our view stretched across the Verde Valley to the Mogollon Rim in the distance. Below is shown a view looking north across the upper valley toward Sycamore Canyon with a slice of the Black Hills to the left and a bit of the Mogollon Rim to the right

View looking across upper Verde Valley toward Sycamore Canyon

We also saw a few more flowers. Shown below are a solitary desert marigold (left) and a desert hyacinth (right)

Desert marigold           Desert hyacinth

A total of 2.2 miles of FR 9604C, from its start at the intersection with FR9710H to Goddard Tank Two, was closed off. Near the lower end, when vegetation to cut and place in the roadbed had become very sparse, the Forest Service had used an entirely different, but very effective, technique. They had simply used some sort of power shovel to scoop large buckets of soil from one track of the road and deposit them in the adjacent track. They had alternated scooping from one side to the other, so that each track of the road now consists of alternating humps and pits. Each pit in a track is matched by a hump in the adjacent track. This alternating hump and pit pattern can be seen in the photograph (below).

Alternating pits and humps used closing a section of FR 9604C to motorized traffic

Climbing in and out of the pits and over the humps made hiking a bit tedious; on the other hand vegetation had now thinned out so that we could just walk alongside the old road a large part of the time.

When we reached Goddard Tank Two the road closure ended and the remaining 1.8 miles of FR 9604C back to FR 9604D, being used to access the tank, was now in good condition.

Just one mile below Goddard Tank Two, where an overhead powerline crosses the road we found the other (unmarked) end of ATV Trail 514 (or 509). We could have taken that trail from the top and avoided the closed section of FR 9604C. However, it would have been 2.1 miles farther than the way we came.

When we arrived at the end of FR 9604C where it joins FR 9604D (old SR 279) we were just 0.3 miles from our cars and could see them clearly on the far bank of the wash we had looped around on this hike. As a reminder of its past import-ance as a major thorough-fare we noted a small section of pavement (right) still existent on the Old SR 279 roadbed.

We were soon back at our vehicles and ready to head home. I had driven my pickup because I intended to return home by way of Old SR 279. By that route it was only about 3.8 miles to my home in Verde Village 7.

The total hike distance was 8.2 miles, the highest elevation was 4209 feet and the total ascent was 919 feet.

Our GPS track is shown in red on the included map (below).