Having
located a wire-bound cairn marking the upper end of the Chavez
Historic Trail during a recent hike to the Rattlesnake Canyon gaging
station, we decided to do an exploratory hike in preparation for
adding it to the regular Skyliner hike schedule.
It
was a perfect day for hiking when five Skyliners (Jim
Manning, Colleen Maktenieks, Miriam Sterling, Lila Wright and the
author) set out on 6 March 2013. Anita Jackson had
intended to join us, but her car had broken down.
Chavez
Trail1,
a road established in 1864 by Colonel J. Francisco Chaves, ran about
125 miles from Winslow (then Sunset Crossing) to Prescott (then Fort
Whipple). It followed an old Hopi Indian path (the Palatkwapi Trail)
that ran from the Colorado Plateau to Verde Valley. Upon reaching
the Verde Valley, the trail continued by way of Montezuma Well to
Camp Verde and then led up Copper Canyon to Ash Creek and on to
Prescott. This would have it following the same route as the later
established General Crook Trail2
(built 1872) from Camp Verde to Prescott. Chavez Trail itself served
as part of a much longer road, running from Santa Fe to Los Angeles.
Although
the Arizona State Parks website describes Chavez Trail as “relatively
even and straight,” Martha Summerhayes3
described the portion of it that we were to hike (now know as Chavez
Historic Trail) as follows:
Little by little we
gave up hope of reaching Verde that day. At four o'clock we crossed
the "divide," and clattered down a road so near the edge of
a precipice that I was frightened beyond everything: my senses nearly
left me. Down and around, this way and that, near the edge, then back
again, swaying, swerving, pitching, the gravel clattering over the
precipice, the six mules trotting their fastest, we reached the
bottom and the driver pulled up his team. "Beaver Springs!"
said he, impressively, loosening up the brakes.
As Jack lifted me
out of the ambulance, I said: "Why didn't you tell me?"
pointing back to the steep road. "Oh," said he, "I
thought it was better for you not to know; people get scared about
such things, when they know about them before hand."
"But," I
remarked, "such a break-neck pace!" Then, to the driver,
"Smith, how could you drive down that place at such a rate and
frighten me so?"
"Had to, ma'am,
or we'd a'gone over the edge."4
With
this historical background in mind, we hikers drove north on I-17
from Verde Valley and took the Stoneman Lake Road exit. Passing back
under the freeway, we turned as though to enter the freeway on the
southbound ramp, but then immediately veered right onto a dirt road
(Forest Road 647, though unsigned). About 0.3 miles from the I-17
exit, we came to a very rough section of the road where it crosses a
wash. High clearance vehicles, even 4-wheel drive in wet weather,
are highly desirable here. After
crossing the wash we drove along a smooth, well-packed dirt road for
another 0.5 miles before coming to a 90% right turn. We parked at
the bend in the road and started our hike from there.
We
knew that at least the trailhead was marked by a prominent cairn and
we knew just where that was, just a few yards from our parking spot.
We had no idea what sort of markings, if any, we might find farther
along the trail. Examining the trailhead cairn (right),
we discovered it had apparently been placed as part of a cooperative
venture between the Forest Service and an organization named Back
Country Horsemen of America.
We
were pleased to find that we could also see another cairn within
sight of the first, a pattern that was to be repeated all the way
along the trail.
For
the first three-tenths of a mile the trail led us southwest through a
grove of junipers, but then turned and ran for half a mile to the
northwest heading directly toward Rattlesnake Canyon. This shift in
direction brought us around the head of Hog Canyon, after which we
again turned southwest to travel along the spine of the ridge between
Hog and Rattlesnake Canyons. At the high point of the ridge, about 2
miles from the trailhead, we paused for a rest. I was carrying about
40 pounds of weight including two half-gallons of water strapped to
my belt, and just collapsed beside the trail for a good rest. The
others walked on over to the rim of Rattlesnake Canyon for a good
view up and down the canyon.
Continuing
southwest along the rim of Rattlesnake Canyon, we came to its
junction with Woods Canyon and passed around the head of Bias Canyon
on our left. We were now traveling along the crest of the ridge
between Bias and Woods Canyons. Soon we found that the trail was
following very close to the rim of Woods Canyon and we had excellent
views (see next three photographs)
down into and across the canyon. Looking upstream, we could clearly
see the junction with Rattlesnake Canyon; looking across the canyon
and just slightly to the northwest we had a great view of Courthouse
Butte with the smaller Bell Rock to its left. Meanwhile, looking
northeast from our viewpoint, we could see Lees Mountain and Munds
Mountain poking above Horse Mesa which formed the opposite wall of
Woods Canyon.
 |
Looking up Woods Canyon past the junction of Rattlesnake Canyon
|
 |
Courthouse Butte (center); Bell Rock (left of Courthouse Butte)
|
 |
Lee and Munds Mountains looming above Horse Mesa
|
We had expected the
trail to be rocky. However, it had to this point been exceptionally
smooth and easy to hike, and it continued to be so for another for
another 2.5 miles or so as it dropped at a gentle slope, falling just
200 feet in that distance. After that, it became rockier and ever
steeper, finally plunging 800 feet in 1.5 miles near the end.
I thought of Martha
Summerhayes' words as we made our way down the steeper parts of the
trail, now clearly following an old road bed that twisted its way
rapidly downhill very close to the edge. In some sections it was
steep enough that we had to take great care to avoid slipping on the
loose gravel and falling. Having driven a few loaded mule-drawn
wagons down steep slopes in east Tennessee during my youth, I could
easily understand the teamsters response to Mrs. Summerhayes
complaint about his speed.
As we neared the end of
the trail we came out on Forest Road 9402T and followed it a very
short distance to the car we had parked here to take us back to the
upper end of the trail.
Later reference to an
old topographic map placed the site of the stage station about half a
mile south of where we came out. I don't know whether that is
correct; however, we could find no signs of any old buildings where
we came out, so I think I will add an investigation of the area shown
on the map when we do a Skyliner hike on the trail.
On the included map
(below) our GPS track is shown in
red while the green line shows the route from the I-17/Stoneman Lake
Exit to the upper trailhead.
As measured by my GPS
track the trail is 8.6 miles long (one way), the maximum elevation is
5301 feet and the total ascent is 1706 feet.
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