Camptender Trail

On Saturday, 14 February 2012, fifteen Skyliners hiked Camptender Trail. We drove toward Camp Verde on Hwy 260, turned right on Cherry Road and drove approximately 3.2 miles before turning off to the left (just past mile marker 14) and parking at a road that leads down into Cherry Creek Wash.

We intended to follow written instructions prepared after my last hike on this trail from that point. However, with one person carrying the GPS to measure distances, another handling the written instructions, and a third (me) leading the way, that turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. The directions, which were accurate, said to walk up the wash for 0.15 miles (going southwest) then turn out of the wash and walk 0.1 miles (going southeast) to the start of a visible (barely) trail leading up the bank. Somewhere between the wash and the start of the trail we went astray and wound up at the mouth of the wash that leads down alongside Hull Hill. We spent 45 minutes or so beating our way through heavy undergrowth before finally intersecting the very faint Camptender Trail farther up the slope. We corrected this error on the way back and I erased our first meandering attempt, so the track included with this report is correct.

We found ourselves following a faint path upward along the slope of Hull Hill. The path runs above and parallel to the wash that starts at the gap between Hull Hill and Grief Hill and runs down to Cherry Creek. Along the way we saw a strange rock formation (right) directly across the wash, one of those improbable creations of nature that seemingly defy logic. It was a slender spire of rock, composed of stacked layers, standing defiantly out from the ridge that had eroded away around it. I took the picture of the spire and then blew it up to better display the multiple layers of stacked rock that compose it.

Just about 1.8 miles from the parking area at Cherry Road the trail seemingly ends in the gap formed by Hull Hill to our left (northeast) and Grief Hill to our right (southwest). A well-maintained fence runs across the wash and extends up the hills on either side. A wire gate (sometimes called a gap) is provided to allow easy passage. Beyond this point, we found no further visible signs of the old Camptender Trail. Our track to this point is colored blue on the included map.

It was too early to eat lunch when we arrived at the gap and we discussed whether to hike up Hull Hill for the view or to continue through the gap and climb Grief Hill to the southwest. I had previously plotted a route (a planned future hike) along Grief Hill Trail, south of our present position, and wanted to see whether we could intersect with that route today. We finally decided to give it a try and headed out on a course that I later learned would have taken us directly across the summit of Grief Hill before connecting with the trail. We made our way through (or around) catclaw groves, cactus patches and across several washes, finally stopping for lunch after having traveled another 0.6 miles (green track on the included map).

After lunch we turned back toward the gap we could still see in the distance, taking approximately the same route we had arrived on. I cut the track where we ate lunch and eliminated one leg so as to make the map easier to interpret. I also drew a more direct and, I think, much easier route from the gap to Grief Hill Trail. See the dark red line on the map; it follows closely along the contour of the slope above Grief Hill Wash at an approximate elevation of 4160 feet. It connects with where I have projected Grief Hill Trail to ascend the hill about 1.1 miles from the gap. The yellow line that starts at Hwy 260 is an old road that runs 2.8 miles and ends at Grief Hill Wash. The short red line is a route I sketched in to connect that road with Grief Hill Trail (shown in magenta), which is supposed to start further up the wash.

When we arrived back at the gap, we stopped long enough for our traditional group photograph before plunging back down the faint Camptender's Trail to our waiting cars:

Left to right: Jo Benkendorf, Bob Wakefield, the author(kneeling), 

Cindy Covin, Name Withheld, George Everman (kneeling), Miriam Sterling, 

Daisy Williams, Mary Gavan, Kwi Johnson (kneeling), Lila Wright, 

Anita Jackson, Colleen Maktenieks, David Beach, Donna Goodman 

– photo by George

We made much better time on the way back down the trail than we had going up. The way is very rocky and one must exercise great care to avoid turning an ankle or taking a fall due to the precarious footing. We did have a couple of minor spills on the way down, but no one was seriously injured and we all arrived back at Cherry Creek in good condition.

Before it actually descends into Cherry Creek Wash the trail seemingly ends on a small relatively level area just above the junction of Cherry Creek Wash with the wash that runs alongside Hull Hill to the gap with Grief Hill. The trail once again becomes distinct when it makes the final descent into the wash. To navigate that short stretch of no visible trail, pay close attention to the included map (below) or, better yet load the track into a GPS and follow it.

I call this a difficult hike because of the rocky and ill-defined trail and because going any further than the gap requires making ones way through catclaw and cactus.

Please refer to the included map (below) for a visual presentation of the trails and tracks discussed above.

The Camptender Trail is supposedly the route taken by those tending camp (cooking meals, etc) for the sheepherders who drove their sheep back and forth from the valley to the high country each year.

I you would like to know more about the history of the sheepherders and the annual trek to the high country (last made in 2011) a good place to start would be:

http://cvbugle.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=31237