Quail Springs Ranch Road to Allen Spring

Fourteen Skyliners departed Cottonwood at 0800 on 23 February for a hike from Quail Springs Ranch Road to Allen Spring. We drove south on Camino Real/Old Hwy 279 and turned right on Quail Springs Ranch Road, going west. Proceeding toward Mingus Mountain on this road, we crossed Quail Run and continued for approximately another 0.7 miles before turning to the north on a rough dirt road where Quail Springs Ranch Road crosses a wash. We drove up the dirt road to the top of a small hill (about 125 yards) and parked at the junction with another dirt road running east and west. Actually, some of the drivers parked alongside the paved road and walked up the dirt road.

Donning our gear, we hiked east for 0.1 miles on the east-west dirt road before turning north on another dirt road, crossing under a power line, and heading down into the wash that drains the area around Quail Springs. This road ended just over 0.1 miles ahead at Pasture Well. At the well we crossed through a wire gate and entered the wash traveling downstream.

We followed the streambed for about 65 yards before turning north at a rock cairn located where a side wash feeds into the main wash. From the wash, the trail ascends a ridge and follows along its crest to connect with Chuckwalla Road running up Mingus Mountain. However the trail is not well-defined and is easily lost. Even having been through here numerous times, I made several attempts before locating the turn up the ridge. It is best to use a GPS device with a good track when hiking this trail. We did find a few old bits of trail-marking ribbon along the way indicating that we were still on course. However, I still resorted frequently to my GPS device to ensure that we were on the shortest route to our goal, an abandoned green, metal tank located alongside old Forest Road 355, just about 0.1 miles from Chuckwalla Road. From the tank we would follow the old road to join Chuckwalla.

I was following a GPS track made during an April 2009 hike and we had little trouble staying on course. Really, it is just a matter of following the spine of the ridge; however, the ridge is fairly wide and a lot of extra steps can be added by wandering around.

On previous hikes, I had followed close along the south edge of the ridge where it drops steeply to the wash below Quail Springs. That brought me to a wire fence at the point where old FS 355 dropped down into the wash, and we followed that practice for this hike. However, this time we decided that rather than crawling through the fence, we would follow it to the green tank where a wire gate is installed. That was so easy that I laid a new route for that section on the way back by crossing the fence at the wire gate and then returning to our original track farther down the ridge.

Below is shown a picture of the old green tank. The accompanying sign indicates that it was installed as a cooperative venture by the Verde Valley chapter of Quail Unlimited, Laurel Leaf Ranch and Prescott National Forest. The tank is now unused.

Photographed by the author on 24 August 2012

After passing through the wire gate at the green tank, it was only another 0.1 miles to Chuckwalla Road. We were now high enough that we had excellent views in all directions. Looking north across Verde Valley and the Red Rock Country, we had a clear view of the snow-capped San Francisco Peaks. Mingus Mountain, up which we would hike on the way to Allen Spring, loomed to the east.

After a short rest at the junction with Chuckwalla Road, we headed up the mountain, stopping along the way for a snack break and a short rest, and after another 1.4 miles arrived at the point where we would leave Chuckwalla Road to hike along a faint trail that generally follows an old above-ground plastic waterline that previously served the green storage tank and several smaller watering tanks. Before slipping under the fence at a small cairn on the right at a turn in the road, we paused for a group photograph.

Left to right (sitting): the author; (kneeling): George Everman, Dolly Yapp 

and Daisy Williams;(standing): Jim Manning, Donna Goodman, Gordon Bice, 

Lila Wright, Mary Gavan, Becky Fowsky, Anita Jackson, Frank Lombardo, 

Tim Caron, Tom Petesch – photograph by George with time delay

Two of the group, having other commitments for later in the day, turned back at this point. The rest of us slipped under the wire fence and followed the trail along the old waterline. The photograph shown here (right) was taken in August 2012, soon after the cairn was built. The trail crosses the fence just to the right of the cairn. The ribbon faintly visible just above and a bit to the left of the cairn is long gone.

At first the trail is clearly visible, following closely along the pipeline. However, it temporarily leaves the route of the pipeline to cross a wash and climb a hill on the other side before rejoining it further on. The pipeline runs up the wash and crosses at a point where it will be safely above the high water mark during a flood, not a point that is easily crossed by a trail. The photograph (left) shows the trail as it leaves the wash and heads up the hill on the other side.

After a short distance the trail becomes very faint, marked only by a few rocks placed alongside where one might go the wrong way. It is very easy to spend a lot of time making one's way through this section without using a GPS device with a good track. Long pants are a must as the trail is overhung with catclaw. The trail soon joins the old plastic piping remaining from the waterline and continues up a steep slope along a sharp ridge between two washes. Following the trail is fairly easy through this section, however, as the old waterline piping is visible most of the way. There is a break in the line several yards after one encounters a coiled-up section of piping. The photograph seen here (right), taken as we descended the section of trail below the pipeline break on the way back, shows Anita carefully picking her way through the catclaws.

Although the break is not long and the trail is fairly clear through this section, it does not continue along the pipeline after the break, instead veering off to cross the next wash at a different point, again picking an easier route to avoid a difficult crossing. From this point one can see a large rock outcropping below and on the other side of the wash; the trail passes just beside it. Unfortunately, we have to make a steep descent along a brushy, indistinct trail, cross the wash and find our way through more thick brush to reach the rock. There is a trail of sorts, but it is not easy to follow.

The two below photographs, dating from August 2012, show the trail descending into the wash and then leaving the wash on it's way up the mountain by way of a small side wash.

Entering the second wash

Leaving the second wash

The first few times I hiked this way, I believed the wash we had just crossed to be Oak Wash which continues down the mountain to cross Hwy 260 at the Home Depot store in Cottonwood. However, it is really just a side wash flowing into Oak Wash which is on the north side of the hill we were now climbing.

Following the trail along this deviation from the waterline is especially difficult. It meanders its way up the manzanita-covered hillside taking advantage of natural openings in the growth. Along the way, there are numerous false openings that end after a few yards. Some of these are blocked off by carefully-placed rocks and dead manzanita branches, but many are not.

We eventually reconnected with the pipeline and followed it on to connect with an old mining road where we stopped for lunch. After lunch, some of the group wanted to turn back while others wished to hike on to Allen Spring. We decided that those who didn't want to hike farther would wait at this nice sun-bathed spot, an old mine site.

I was testing a new backpack with the approximate weight I would be carrying later this spring for a trip down Paria Canyon, so I skipped my traditional noon nap and headed on up the trail, an old road that connects with a jeep trail that runs just below and parallel to Allen Spring Road. It would be about 0.5 miles to the jeep road, another 0.65 miles south along that road to connect with Allen Spring Road and an additional 0.3 on to Allen Spring. During this 1.45 mile trip, we would climb an additional 750 feet, some of it on a snow-covered road. The spring, located behind the tree shown in the photograph (left) is well-hidden from the road; the hiker who doesn't know it's location is sure to pass by without seeing it.

We paused just long enough to take a photograph (below) of hikers surrounding the locked entrance, before heading back to rejoin the rest of the group.

The entrance to Allen Spring. The entrance is kept locked and I 

have no idea how far the cave extends to the actual spring

Based on my GPS readings, the total hike was 10.40 miles round trip; the maximum elevation was 6086 feet and the total ascent was 2396 feet. Approximate interim hiking distances are as follows:

Trailhead to Chuckwalla Road – 1.7 miles

Distance on Chuckwalla Road – 1.4 miles

Distance along old waterline – 0.7 miles

Distance from old mine site to Allen Spring – 1.45 miles

The GPS track for this hike is shown on the included map (below).