Verde River Falls from Salt Mine Road

Two years ago we attempted this hike and, losing our way, arrived at the river about a mile downstream of the falls. Although that hike turned out to be an enjoyable trip along an interesting section of the river, in my opinion more interesting than a visit to the falls, we were determined to reach the falls from Salt Mine Road. So it was that eleven Skyliners set out on 17 November 2012 on another attempt to do so. It was just three days short of two years since our failed attempt.

Eight of us left Cottonwood at 0800 and met the other three hikers at the intersection of Oasis Road with Salt Mine Road in Camp Verde. From there we continued on Salt Mine Road for about 10.8 miles and parked at a gated side road just short of the Chasm Creek crossing. As an aside, we passed the turnoff to the Chasm Creek Trailhead approximately one-tenth of a mile before reaching the parking area.

We hiked along the old road, still used by the rancher who grazes cattle in the area and by the Forest Service, for about 1.8 miles. We passed at least two opportunities to turn off on roads leading off to the right; however, we had traced a route that would take us to the falls, and it did not lead that way. At first, we were passing along the southern slope of a large hill with Chasm Creek off to the right. Eventually, we came out on the crest of a ridge between a large wash to north and Chasm Creek to the south. Straight ahead, the ridge rose some 150 feet to form a large bulbous knob as it ended at the river.

We knew from reference to our map that the falls were located just beyond that rise and that the shortest distance to there would be along its northern slope. I had plotted, and loaded into my GPS, a route that I believed would take us directly there. The old road we were following ran in that general direction; however, it soon became apparent that dropping down into the wash and following it to the river might be an easier route. Two of our hikers, elected to do just that, but I wished to find out whether the route I had plotted would work, so I continued along the side of the ridge with the rest of the party. The going was difficult in that there were a lot of loose surface rocks and these were mostly hidden by a dense layer of dead grass. We had to take great care to avoid turning an ankle or taking a fall. Long before we arrived at the fall, it was apparent that the wash would indeed have been the easier route and, when we arrived on the slope high above the river, the two hikers who had taken that route were already waiting for us at the bank.

The following photograph was taken, looking up river, just as we rounded the shoulder of the rise.

Looking up the Verde from the rise above the falls

Our route called for us to round the rise on the north side and then pass along the east side above the falls to descend just downstream. As we passed along the slope heading south, we could look directly down on our goal (picture below).

Looking down on Verde River falls from west of the river

The going became quite precarious as we made our way down the steep bluff. The hikers who were waiting below had a better view from there and helped by pointing out the best path for us.

When we were all finally safely down to the river we continued a short distance across a dry meander to eat lunch on the rocks alongside the main waterfall. The sun was warm and comforting and the soothing noise of the water rushing over the falls called for a nap. I barely managed to finish my lunch before falling asleep.

I awoke with a start to find the rest of the group on their feet and ready to depart. I quickly donned my pack and, finding that everyone was still grouped close enough together, asked our trusty volunteer photographer to use my camera to take a group photograph (below).

Left to right: Mary Gavan, Jim Manning, the author, Lila Wright, 

Donna Davis, Daisy Williams, Donna Goodman, Jo Benkendorf, 

Tom Mantovani and Beverly Sass 

– photograph by the eleventh hiker using the author's camera

No one wanted to climb back up the bluff we had descended, so we all returned by way of the wash. This just involved a short, easy hike along the river bank to the mouth of the wash and climbing under a fence on the north side to bypass a steep dropoff in the bed of the wash as it made its final descent to the river. As it turned out, we could have avoided climbing under the fence by walking just a few yards further upstream where a gate was conveniently provided. Indeed, several of the group took that route.

The wash was relatively open all the way, having only one short stretch where we climbed out to get around an obstructed area. Soon finding ourselves back parallel with the old road we had followed in, we left the wash and cut up at an angle to join the road for the return trip to our cars.

This is a relatively easy hike just as long as one takes the wash rather than the route I had mapped out. There is no discernible trail leading from the old road down to the wash. However, the slope is gentle and not too heavily vegetated except by grass, and there are far fewer rocks hidden beneath the grass than we had found when taking the other route in.

One could actually drive along the old road in a high-clearance vehicle and park at the descent point to the wash. The total hiking distance this way would be only about 1.5 miles round trip.

NOTE: This section of the Verde River is a bald eagle nesting area and is normally closed from the first of December until the middle of June.

The included map (below) shows our return route in red and the more difficult route in green.