Towel Creek Trail

Directions from Cottonwood are as follows: drive through Camp Verde on Hwy 260, turn right on Fossil Creek Road (ten miles from the Hwy 260/I-17 interchange at Camp Verde) and continue for another 8.9 miles to arrive at the Towel Creek Trail Trailhead. There is no designated parking area; however, the road is wide enough to permit parking alongside.  These directions are for reaching the trailhead; however on this hike, we actually stopped just past Needle Rock, parked at a wide open area on the east side of the road about 200 yards short the actual trailhead.  After parking, we climbed over a fence, bypassing a locked gate, followed a road across the Hackberry Springs Wash and then turned south, still following an old road, to connect with the Towel Creek Trail.  The way we went is actually shown on the USGS overlay for Google Earth as being Towel Creek Trail.  I think the trail must have been rerouted sometime in the past to avoid a Ranch house located just across the wash from where we parked.

After crossing the gated fence, we paused for a group photograph with Needle Rock in the background before continuing our hike.

Left to right: Fran Lind (kneeling), Miriam Sterling, Becky Fowski, George 

Everman (kneeling, front), Bob Wakefield (kneeling, behind George), 

Jim Manning, Annie Johnson (kneeling), Lila Wright, Dave Beach, 

Akemi Tomioka (kneeling), Janet Wakefield, Dolly Yapp (kneeling), 

Name Withheld, Daisy Williams (kneeling), Anita Jackson, 

Mary Gavan and the author (kneeling)

As we traveled south along Hackberry Springs Wash toward the connection with Towel Creek Trail we encountered a herd of horses (second photograph below).  They were very friendly but lost interest once it was determined that we were not dispensing snacks.  Connecting with the trail, we continued along the southeast slope of Hackberry Mountain.  At first we were actually on the slope of a thousand foot lower formation that separated us from Hackberry Mountain proper and shielded it from view.  It was not until we passed Pombo Tank, over half way to Towel Tank, that we could actually see Hackberry Mountain.  We were still traveling southeast and now had Hackberry Mountain in view on our now right and could see the Towel Peaks directly ahead.  When we reached Towel Tank, located between Hackberry Mountain and the Towel Peaks, we would turn west and go directly between those two formations, following Towel Creek Trail on toward our goal, the Indian Ruins located near the Verde River.

On arriving at Towel Tank, we were confronted by a herd of cattle.  Like the horses we had encountered earlier, they lost interest as soon as it was determined that we didn’t come bearing edible goodies.  Pictures of both the cows and the horses are shown below.

Herd of cattle at Towel Tank.

The tank is located at the top of the saddle that separated Hackberry Mountain to the north from the Towel Peaks to the south.

Herd of horses encountered between the ranch house below Needle 

rock and Towel Trail

Towel Tank lies in the saddle that separates Hackberry Mountain to the north from the Towel Peaks to the south.  To this point we had climbed gently along a rocky trail from Fossil Creek Road.  From here we would follow an equally rocky trail sloping a little more steeply down to the Indian Ruins.  The picture shown on the next page accurately illustrates the type and condition of the trail for most of its length.  The picture was taken as I descended into a wash and shows the ascent on the other side.

Only six hikers intended to hike all the way to the ruins.  Some of the others had already visited them on a recent scouting hike and some simply wanted a shorter hike, so we separated not far beyond the tanks, with George, Akemi, Jim, Mary, Ellis and Becky continuing on.

The rocky Towel Creek Trail required close attention to footing.

About two-thirds of the way from Towel Tank to the ruins we came upon a short section of the creek that actually had a small trickle of flowing water.  There were no cattle in the area at the time; however, we saw plenty of fresh signs indicating it is heavily used.  Having just stopped for a rest and a snack break shortly before arriving at the flowing water, we did not pause, but pressed on toward our goal.

Form here the trail was a little less discernible, although we found occasional cairns placed along the way.  Fortunately, all the false trails made by cattle soon come to an end and it is then apparent that one has made a wrong turn.

On reaching the area of the ruins it is necessary to cross the wash and bushwhack up the hillside on the other side to access them.  At the point where we left Towel Creek Trail (2.1 miles short of the river) we could see both ruins set in the cliffs across the creek.  Easing our descent to the creek was a side trail that angled upstream and descended to the bottom.  The way up to the ruins was fairly steep but open and we were soon settled in at the larger (westernmost) of them eating lunch.

The larger of the two ruins in the area

After lunch and my traditional nap we traveled the short distance eastward along the cliff face to look at the smaller ruin.

This is the smaller of the two ruins

I did nothing more than stick my head inside either of the ruins; they are both being used extensively by bats and the floors are deeply carpeted with enough nitrogen rich guano to keep the most avid gardener happy for several seasons.

We descended back to Towel Creek upstream from where we had ascended to the ruins and followed a wash up the slope to access the trail.  We should have returned the way we came; it would have been easier.  We made, primarily at my insistence, several stops during the rock stream climb back to Towel Tank.  I really didn’t realize how dehydrated I had become until I weighed myself before stepping into the shower that night and found that I was several pounds lighter than normal.

For some reason George had poker chips with him (Was he trying to get a game started?).

One of the other hikers who turned back early got his hands on one and left it squarely in the middle of a cow pile (right) for George to find on the way back.

After the hike I learned from Lila that the group that turned back early visited the Tee Pee Rocks on the way home.  This formation, a clustering of fumaroles related to an eruption of Hackberry Volcano about 7 million years ago, is located just off Fossil Creek Road about a mile from Hwy 260.

The following is quoted from an article by Steve Ayers in the Camp Verde Journal:

The unusual formations are called fumaroles. They are the result of hot volcanic ash falling on a surface that is saturated with calcium rich water, such as the shores of the former "Lake Verde." The water in the ground turns to steam and vents upward through the fallen ash.

Where the calcified water comes in contact with the ash a layer of cement-like material is formed. Over time, the softer ash around the vents is eroded, leaving the conical shaped vent pipes exposed.

The pockmarked holes are the result of water eroding the base of the cones as they slowly expose themselves to the elements.

The Cottonwood Basin Fumaroles resulted from an eruption of Hackberry Volcano that took place about 7 Ma {million years}, give or take a Ma.¹

For a look at active fumaroles one has no farther to go than Salton Sea in Imperial County, California.  A shallow magma body underlying the area causes the activity there; carbon dioxide is released and conveys subsurface mud to the surface.  These fumaroles are located in a mud field and, although you can drive to the edge of the field, it is difficult to get really close to the fumaroles without sinking into the muddy surroundings.

Here is a shot by David Beach of the fumaroles at Tee Pee Rocks

Fumaroles at Tee Pee Rocks

Bob Wakefield got a couple of good flower photographs along the way.  He identifies them as a Desert onion and “possibly” as Indian Mallow or Abutilon palmeri.

Desert onion

Abutilon palmeri

The GPS Track for this hike is shown in red on the included map (below). Note that the track shown is the actual present-day trail; it avoids climbing the fence at the locked gate. From the Needlerock parking lot, one walks a short distance south along Fossil Creek Road to join the trail at the official trailhead.

The round trip distance from the parking lot for this hike is 10.2 miles, the highest elevation is 4465 miles and the total ascent is 1959 feet.

1 https://www.cvbugle.com/news/2010/mar/23/a-violent-past-a-brief-history-of-verde-valley-vo/