Little Coyote-Martin Canyon Loop

Last November, while hiking on Coyote Spring Trail, we had noted a road running along the mountain above the head of Little Coyote Canyon. The road seemed to be a likely possibility for a hike, so a few of us scouted it on 24 February of this year and found that if we started at the south Woodchute Trailhead the hike to the end of the old road and back was 7.4 miles.

This was quite suitable for a regular Skyliner hike, so we scheduled it for 23 April 2016. From Cottonwood we drove south on SR 89A through Jerome to the summit of Mingus Mountain. There we turned right onto Forest Road 106, drove 0.3 miles, angled left at the presently-closed entrance to Potato Patch Campground and continued for another 0.10 miles to a the end of the pavement at a roughly circular graveled area with toilet facilities. After a brief pause to use the facilities, we gathered for a group photograph by Name Withheld.

Left to right: Donna Goodman, the author, Collene Maktenieks, Anita Jackson, Joanne Hennings, Jim Gibson, Lila Wright, Daisy Williams, Gary Jacobson, Floyd Gardner, Mark Purcell and George Everman – not shown is Jim Manning

Leaving the rest area, we continued for another 0.7 miles to the south Woodchute Trailhead, passing Powerline Tank along the way. This brought us to the end of FR 106.

At this point we split into two separate groups. The main group of hikers would park here to start their hike. Both groups (one afoot, the other in a 4-wheel drive vehicle) left the trailhead traveling west on FR 106D. At first this road was well-maintained and had even been graveled recently. After about 0.2 miles, however, the road passes through a fence and is unmaintained beyond that point. Although still passable for high-clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicles, it is very questionable for other vehicles. In February the gate had been open and was indeed in such a state of disrepair as to be useless. Now it had been repaired, sort of, and was closed. However, there was a large enough gap at one end of the gate to allow any determined cow to pass through. I guess it worked because the grass, instead of being “greener on the other side of the fence”, was absent altogether.

Note the large, cow-sized gap at left

About 0.6 miles from the parking area, FR 106D passes Hickey Tanks (plural because two tanks are located close together at the site) at an unsigned fork in the road (right). The forest road continues by way of the right fork. The left fork just provides access to the tanks.

Approximately 0.4 miles west of Hickey Tanks, we came to another fork in the road. Here FR 106D turns to the left (south) and continues to Mingus Tank, passing the turnoff to Hickey Mountain on the way. Leaving FR 106D at this point, we continued straight ahead, now on FR 106E and, after another 0.2 miles, arrived at the junction with FR 9710W which leads down the mountain to end at Little Tank (just above Turkey Tank) where the old unnamed road starts. We usually refer to area where FR 9710W ends as Turkey Tank, although it is actually located at the much smaller Little Tank. I suppose that is because Turkey Tank, located about 0.2 miles to the east, is the more prominent landmark. This figure (below) shows the end of FR 9710W at Little Tank; it also shows Turkey Tank and Martin Canyon Tank.

End of FR 9710W at Little Tank near Turkey Tank

The group of hikers who had started their hike at Woodchute Trailhead would continue along the old unnamed road to its end at a tank located on the ridge above Martin Canyon and then would return by the same route. The smaller group (George Everman, Gary Jacobson, Donna Goodman and the author), having driven this far would park and follow the same path as the other group to the end of the old road. However, instead of returning by the same route, we would bushwhack our way down the ridge into Martin Canyon and follow Martin Canyon Trail #103 back to where we had parked at the end of FR 9710W. Because our small group would do some bushwhacking we referred to ourselves as the “bushwhackers.”

For it's first 1.2 miles the old road, starting at Little Tank, curved gently around the upper watershed of Little Coyote Canyon. As we hiked along we wondered where the canyon got its name. Since it appears to be a bit larger than Coyote Canyon, the next canyon to the south, we finally decided it must have been named after a small coyote. It was a bit hazy and the normally great view out across Prescott Valley was obscured. Closer in, other than a sad looking cactus or two, I didn't note any flowers along the way. Meanwhile, a brisk, chilly wind was blowing and becoming ever stronger as we moved along, so we really didn't spend a lot of time looking around.

As we passed between a lofty 7280 foot peak on the right and a smaller 6920 foot one on the left, leaving the Little Coyote Canyon watershed behind, we could see a saddle in the ridge on our right that formed the south rim of Martin Canyon.

Gap in the ridge after we left the upper Little Coyote Canyon watershed

The end of the road we were following lay at a tank located partway up the eastern shoulder of that saddle. The distance along the road from Little Tank to the unnamed tank in the saddle is 1.8 miles.

The main group of hikers turned back at this point while the so called “bushwhackers “ followed a faint old cow down into Martin Canyon to connect with Trail 103 at the bottom. I had followed that faint old trail for a short distance when we did the scouting hike and then had sketched a probable course for it the rest of the way down the slope, basically just using contour lines to draw a track along what appeared to be the easiest slope.

My hand-drawn track worked well for only about 160 yards; then the cow trail deviated to cross over a low ridge and pass along the top of a sheer rock ledge before descending into the canyon. We were then able to follow old cow and elk trails down the worst of the slope. At the descent from the rock ledge, we stopped for a snack. As shown in the photograph (left), the other side of Martin Canyon is in view across the way and the bottom of the canyon along which Trail 103 runs is just below us.

The series of faint trails we were following lasted until we were clear of most the scrub oak and other assorted vegetation that grows higher up on the canyon wall. By then we were almost to the bottom, descending along a gentle slope covered with scattered ponderosa pines and little undergrowth. We came out about 0.6 miles upstream from where I had intended and about 0.1 miles above Smiley Rock. Determined to see and photograph that often-mentioned landmark, we shed our packs and hiked downstream to find it. Looking for something much larger than a medium-large stone close by the roadside, I walked right by Smiley Rock. Luckily the other hikers were paying closer attention and called me back. Although the head is tilted to the right (Smiley's right, that is), it is easy to discern the features of a smiley face in the rock. I took a photograph (below left) for my report and George then gave Smiley some eyeballs and took another (below right).

        Smiley Rock                     Smiley Rock with               

                   eyeballs

This figure (below) shows the planned, hand-drawn track (green) along with the actual track that we followed from Unnamed Tank (where the main group of hikers turned back) to Trail 103.

Planned and actual tracks from Unnamed Tank to Trail 103 in Martin Canyon

After spending a little time admiring Smiley Rock, we returned to where we had left our packs and, although it was still a little early, stopped for lunch. The photograph (below) shows the hikers enjoying the warm sun before continuing up the canyon.

Left to right: Gary Jacobson, Donna Goodman and George Everman – author not shown

According to the forest service description, Martin Canyon Trail follows along an old road that was bulldozed to provide access for the construction and maintenance of stock tanks located in and above the canyon. The trail is 6.3 miles long, starting at the end of Forest Road 9710W and ending at James Tank in the valley below the mouth of the canyon. The forest service says that full size vehicles are allowed on the trail “but it has been our experience that only modified high clearance vehicles are able to negotiate this trail, standard factory high clearance 4x4s are not recommended.¹”

The old road is also a part of The Great Western Trail, a north-south long distance multiple use route, running from Canada to Mexico through Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. The trail is 4,455 miles long and “has access for both motorized and non-motorized users”². The photograph (below) shows a section of the road between Smiley Rock and Rick Tank. Several areas were much rougher than the section shown.

Martin Canyon Trail above Smiley Rock

Rick Tank is located about 0.3 miles above Smiley Rock. To me it appears that the tank may have been an afterthought. It seems to have been constructed right in the middle of the original road, which was then rerouted. What must have been the original road, running straight through the tank, is now blocked off both below and above it.

I had hiked down Martin Canyon as far as Rick Tank Cutoff Trail #104 in 2009, followed it to Woodchute Tank and then returned by way of Woodchute Trail #102. For that hike we had also parked at the south Woodchute Trailhead and followed today's route to the end of FR 9710W at Little Tank. We had then turned down Martin Canyon on Trail 103 to access Rick Tank Cutoff Trail #104.

In 2009 a trail sign (right) was posted at the junction and we started looking for it as soon as we left Rick Tank. This time we saw no such sign and completely missed the trail junction. I think the sign must have been torn down and I had not bothered to place a marker on my GPS track. It is a good thing we were not planning on taking the trail to complete this hike.

We did, however, find a few other things to draw our attention. For instance, although there were not nearly as many flowers on this hike as we saw in May 2009, we did find a New Mexico raspberry (below left) and and a sugar sumac (below right), both photographed by George.

New Mexico raspberry           Sugar sumac

Earlier during this hike, between Little Tank and Unnamed Tank, we had seen several metal tank-like objects scattered about at various locations along the trail. We were not sure what they were used for until, deep in Martin Canyon, we found another one just to the side of the road and stopped to examine it more closely.

The top of the tank, as shown in the photograph (left), had a cover with an oval-shaped opening big enough for cattle to reach through but with enough lip around the opening to prevent solid objects from falling out in the event the tank were turned on its side. Additionally, drain holes were drilled in the bottom to prevent liquid accumulation. The purpose of the objects was now clear: they were salt/mineral block holders.

New Mexico raspberry Sugar sumac

We passed by Martin Canyon Tank without seeing it and soon were passing Turkey Tank. This was the first of the tanks that we saw today that was not bone dry and a small herd of cattle were milling about.

Cattle at Turkey Tank – photograph by George

Finally, as evidence that turkeys or other game must also use the tank, we saw that a hunting stand had been installed in a nearby tree. As shown in the photograph (right) taken by George, one couldn't call it a blind because it was in plain sight.

The hike by the larger group of hikers, from south Woodchute Trailhead to Unnamed Tank, is shown in copper (to Little Tank) and red (on to Unnamed Tank) on the below map. That hike was 7.4 miles in and out; the maximum elevation was 7245 feet and the total ascent was 1246 feet.

The loop hiked by the smaller group is shown entirely in red, starting and ending at Little Tank. It was 5.6 miles long, the maximum elevation was 6903 feet and the total ascent was 1107 feet.

1 http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/prescott/recreation/horseriding-c

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Trail