Cottonwood to Jerome with Diana

Our daughter, Diana, arrived on Saturday, 6 October 2012 for a week-long visit. I picked her up at the Phoenix Airport and we visited Cabela's and Trader Joe's in Glendale to look at hiking/camping supplies and for me to purchase some items needed for a forthcoming hike to the Crack-in-Rock Ruins.

Sunday was spent just lying about and relaxing, but on Monday, 8 October, Diana and I arose very early and headed out for a hike up Mingus and on into Jerome. Rosemary would pick us up in Jerome when we finished our hike and we didn't want her to drive up there after dark, so we had planned several decision points along the way at which we would pause to assess our progress and make any necessary corrections to ensure we got to Jerome before dark.

We parked across the road from the Fire Training Facility on Mingus in Cottonwood and hiked up FR 493 toward Allen Spring Road, pausing frequently to rest, enjoy the view and observe wildlife. Our first wildlife sighting was a small group of mule deer almost hidden by the tall grass along the road just above the turnoff to Oxbow.

Mule deer peering at us through the tall grass – Photograph by Diana Price

As we photographed the deer, we were being carefully observed by a hawk perched in a nearby dead tree, no doubt on the lookout for his morning meal.

Hawk on the lookout for his morning meal – seen along FR 943 just 

above Oxbow turnoff – photograph by Diana Price

We continued on up the mountain at a leisurely pace, pausing often to take in the views ahead and back across Verde Valley. On reaching the small dip that marks the hairpin turn below Iron King Mine, we paused for a good long rest before resuming our climb. This is one of my favorite spots for taking a short trailside nap or just a good rest. There are a few cottonwood trees growing along the wash that crosses the road at the turn and Azurite Peak (an informal name for a small peak that has an abundant supply of that mineral scattered among the tailings from an old mine located at the very top of the peak) looms over it.

Refreshed by our rest, we continued on up FR 493 toward Iron King Mine (photograph by Diana at right), pausing again at the junction of the short road that leads to a lookout point on an outcropping from the mountain proper. This is also the spot where a mountain bike trail, a cutoff from Trail 106 above Allen Spring Road, ends at Fr 493 after having run straight down the mountain, crossing Allen Spring Road on the way.

A clump of tall grass glistened with a silver sheen in the morning sun along the side of the road Above the glistening stems, and across the foothills of the Black Hills, we had a view east all the way to the White Mountains in the distance.

Looking east to the White Mountains, seen dimly on the horizon 

– by Diana Price

We continued on past Iron King Mine to the single-iron-bar gate at the hairpin turn in the road at a wash running between Iron King and Copper Chief Mines. The iron gate, bars motor vehicle access to an old road that once ran up the mountain across Iron King Mine to connect with Allen Spring Road above. During mitigation of the mine a few years ago, part of the road was converted into a drainage ditch by digging it out, installing a liner and then refilling it with rocks. It now serves to divert runoff from above the mine into the main wash, thus keeping it from entering the mine area.

The old road is still a good hiker shortcut to Allen Spring Road and serves to shorten the distance by something like half a mile as compared to continuing on FR 493 and returning on the road to Iron King. It is quite handy for hikers taking Trail 106 to the top of Mingus or taking Allen Spring Road toward Jerome. Availing ourselves of this, we walked around the gate and, after a sharp half-mile climb, were on Allen Spring Road at the Trail 106 junction, above Iron King Mine. We had hiked 5.6 miles and climbed almost 2500 feet.

This was one of our designated decision points, so we stopped tor a good long rest and to decide which way to go from here. We could either head north on Allen Spring Road, or we could climb further up Mingus on Trail 106. After some thought we decided to take Trail 106 to its junction with Trail 105A and stop there for another reassessment.

The trail runs above but parallel to Allen Spring Road until the road turns to run northeast when it crosses the wash at a concrete bridge below Baltimore Spring. The trail, meanwhile, continues almost directly west, at first rising moderately, through the oak, pines and occasional maple, then becoming quite steep before it reaches the saddle between Mingus Mountain proper and a lower outcropping peak. Here it is joined by Trail 105A, a connector between Trails 106 and 105. From Allen Spring Road, we had hiked another 1.1 miles and climbed an additional 1770 feet to reach an elevation of 6740 feet.

The below photograph, taken below the 106/105A junction, shows the moon visible above Mingus and a section of the trail ahead.

Trail below Mingus with the moon above – photograph by Diana Price

From here we could continue to the top of Mingus on Trail 106 and then return. However, it was now noon and, if we did that, we would not be able to hike on into Jerome, but would have to return to Cottonwood the way we came. We decided to turn back from here and hike on along Allen Spring Road to Jerome.

After having decided to turn back, we didn't stay very long at the junction. We wanted to get back to Allen Spring Road for a late lunch and a nap. We had spotted an excellent spot for that on the way up the trail. It had a soft patch of grass and a fantastic view looking out over Verde Valley.

From the Trail 106 Trailhead at Allen Spring Road 

– photograph by Diana Price

On arriving back at Allen Spring Road, we each found a comfortable spot amid the grass and settled down for a mid-hike nap. The next two photographs (see next page) show our napping arrangements.

Diana napping in the grass – photograph by the author

Ellis napping in the grass – photograph by Diana Price

After our extended nap, we paused for one last photograph from our prime location.

Clouds and sky from the bottom of Trail 106 Trailhead 

– photograph by Diana Price

Much refreshed by our nap, we headed north on Allen Springs Road to Jerome. We still had to decide where in Jerome we would meet Rosemary. We could be picked up at the hairpin turn at Deception Gulch, or we could continue along Gulch Road and Hwy 89A to Grapes Restaurant, our original plan. We had discussed both possibilities with Rosemary, and had arranged to call her when we had made a decided. We would make that decision when we stopped at the spring in Mesquite Gulch.

We crossed the concrete bridge below Baltimore Spring and continued on our way, weaving in and out around the ridges and washes that make up the slope of Mingus. Along here one has clear views looking northeast across the valley below to the haze-shrouded San Francisco Peaks in the distance.

Looking across Verde Valley to the San Francisco Peaks 

– photograph by Diana Price

When I hike this road, I always keep looking for the first sight of Jerome, and that always seems to be just around the next bend. Finally, however, we did see Jerome and a few bends later came to the edge of Mescal Gulch near where the Jerome waterline, which has closely followed along the road until now, makes a near-vertical plunge into the Gulch, crosses and climbs out the other side. From here to where the road emerges from the gulch on the other side, it is a mere 0.4 miles as the crow flies. However, reaching that point requires a 2.5 mile trip, to descend into the gulch and travel along the other side. The spring where we would make a rest stop and decide where to be picked up was deep in the gulch.

When we reached the spring, I gathered a handful of watercress to eat with my banana and dried blueberries. After eating our snacks, we checked the time and determined that it would be near dark by the time we reached Deception Gulch at the hairpin turn below Jerome. We would call Rosemary and have he pick us up there. Unfortunately, we were out of cellphone range while in Mescal Gulch, so were unable to contact her until we were near where the road turns out of the gulch. By then she had begun to wonder whether we had had an accident.

We did, however, finally make contact and arranged for the pickup.

When we reached the last ridge before the descent into Deception Gulch, we chose to take the shortcut that runs through the old mining area. This enabled us to save a little distance and also to pass by the large manzanita (left) that grows alongside the road on the way.

We reached the pickup point just as Rosemary was pulling up.

The hike, shown by GPS track on the included map (below) was 15 miles, the maximum elevation was 6740 feet and the total ascent was 3417 feet. We spent a lot of time resting and taking naps, so the total time on the trail was around 12 hours.