This
report describes a January 8, 2011 hike by the Skyliners up Mescal
Gulch from Yavapai College to Verde Combination Copper Company’s
Verde Combination Shaft Mine.
We
parked just off Black Hills Drive at the eastern entrance to the
Yavapai College campus. We then hiked east on W Black Hills Drive
until the road makes a sharp turn to the left and becomes Haskell
Springs Road. We continued on Haskell Springs Road, going first
south and then north for about one half (1/2)
mile before turning right onto Abbey Road S. After jogging right for
a few yards, Abbey Road S leads generally northeast, first with a
paved road and then becoming a privately maintained gravel road for
about one half (1/2)
mile to an Architect’s office. (NOTE: The structure housing the
Architect’s office also appears to house a massage business and to
be utilized as a private dwelling). Going on past the Architect’s
office for a few yards one comes to a driveway leading off to the
left and providing access to utilities (water tank, scrap storage,
etc). The driveway ends just short of a fence with a ladder stile1
installed for pedestrian use.
Just
as one approaches the Architect’s office, there is a small wire
gate in the fence to allow pedestrian access and we took this route
on our way in. That turned out to be a mistake, because we crossed a
corner of private property and then had to cross another fence to get
back to public property.
About
seventy yards straight ahead from the stile lies a well-trodden cow
path that leads to the northeast, straight up Mescal Gulch. The
photograph here (right)
shows hikers crossing the stile on our way back. The end of the
driveway into the utility/scrap area is shown just ahead of the hiker
in front; a bit of the water tank is visible in the left edge of the
photograph.
By
the time we had all navigated the two fence crossings that we did on
the way in, some hikers needed a potty break and headed off in
differing directions looking for suitable spots. After that it
proved difficult to get our sixteen hikers all sorted out and make
sure they all headed in the same direction. Lila was bringing up the
rear and we were trying to make sure that we knew how many hikers
were ahead and that no one had headed up the wrong gulch. Finally,
Jim went back as far as the fence to make sure no one was left along
the way and Lila and I spaced ourselves out, keeping in sight to make
sure we had accounted for everyone. We have found that the trick is
not to try and keep everyone together, but to just know where they
are at any one time. This time, that effort was proving to be quite
difficult.
We
did, however, finally manage to assure ourselves that we were all
headed up Mescal Gulch.
 |
Hikers heading up Mescal Gulch
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After
following the cow path up Mescal Gulch for about one-third of a mile
from the stile, we came upon what appeared to be a shrine of some
sort. It is a carefully built circular edifice with stone walls
about two feet high. The floor is formed of stones laid out in a
circular pattern. There are two openings in the circular wall, about
70 degrees apart, with an indentation in the wall, possible meant for
an Alter, between them. Trees overhang the area and a variety of
objects (feathers, a plastic sphere, etc) were hanging from the
branches at the time of this visit.
 |
Shrine (?) located in Mescal Gulch about a third of a mile above the
end of Abbey Road S
|
The
trip up the gulch is a matter of following existing cow trails on
either side of the wash and sometimes rock hopping along the bottom
of the wash itself. Most of the way, at least one side of the wash
will present a relatively flat area along which cows have made
trails. However, such good luck often comes to an end when a sheer
canyon wall ahead blocks the way. Then one descends into the wash
and looks for the next open space ahead. During this hike, we often
found ourselves trudging through snowdrifts still lingering in shaded
areas. We made no attempt to keep the group close together, just
making sure that we did not inadvertently leave anyone behind.
I
was the only member of the group who had hiked this way before and my
memory proved to be somewhat spotty. One place I particularly wanted
to show the rest of the group was Little Ranch Spring and I never did
find the exact location this time. When I came this way before, it
was in the middle of a dry summer and the fresh water springing forth
and cascading down the dry canyon bed for a distance was hard to
miss. This time, on the other hand, just after a particularly wet
month, water was flowing from numerous wet-weather sources in the
canyon above Little Ranch Spring. I could only approximate the
location.
To
make matters even worse, I did not at first recognize the area when
we arrived at the road leading to Verde Combination Shaft. However,
arrive we did, and just in time for lunch. A few hardy souls
traveled on up the Gulch for a short distance and admired a
waterfall.
After
eating, twelve of the group decided to take an old road up the south
side of the Gulch to look at Verde Combination Shaft Mine.
We
knew little about this site, only that it is a big, deep, dangerous
hole in the ground that should have been closed long ago. I did a
quick online search and discovered that, according to mindat.org, the
site had “a
1,300 foot deep shaft and older shafts at the South end at 640 feet
and 500 feet deep” and the minerals list included “'Chlorite
Group', Muscovite (var: Sericite), Pyrite.”2
 |
Unprotected open shaft at Verde Combination Shaft Mine in Mescal Gulch
|
After
exploring the old mine, we gathered back where we had eaten lunch for
a group photograph. The dog shown in the photograph does not mean
that we are now taking dogs on hikes. This particular mutt is from
Candlewood Retreat Bed and Breakfast, located across the wash behind
the Architect’s office at the end of Abbey Road S. Apparently
deciding that it was his duty to insure our safety, he volunteered to
lead us on our hike, and would not be dissuaded. As a matter of fact
he seemed to think we needed to be escorted all the way back to our
cars and was cheerfully leading the way down Abbey Road S when his
owners arrived to retrieve him.
 |
Left to right - (back row): Daisy Williams, Marvin Alt, Colleen Maktenieks,
Lila Wright, Connie Woolard, Anita Jackson, Name Withheld, Gordon Bice,
Unable to contact, Donna Goodman, Miriam Sterling, Jim Manning; (front
row): Dolly Yapp, Unable to contact, Jan Prefontaine. The four-legged hiker
in front of the group was our volunteer trail guide – Photograph by the
author
|
You
may note on the attached map a loop in the track near the
beginning/end of our hike. That is because some of us including the
GPS carrier returned by a slightly different route. From the bend in
Haskell Springs Road, we continued straight ahead along an old
roadway and came out behind the vineyard at the college. This route
is actually no longer than the way we hiked in using Black Hills
Drive.
My
GPS file shows that we hiked eight miles and that the elevation
change was just under 1100 feet. The track is shown on the included
map (below).
1
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stile
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