Crook Trail to Gray Wolf Ruins and Hecla

We had hiked on General Crook Trail from Hwy 169 and Little Hackberry Wash (6.9 miles west of I-17) to the junction of Forest road 9604F and Hwy 169 (1.8 miles west of I-17) last March. During that hike we had noted what appeared to be Indian ruins located among igneous outcroppings on top of a small round hill east of Gray Wolf Landfill. We could not be entirely sure that what we had seen were really ruins. Today, 28 December 2013, on our last hike of the year, we were returning to climb the hill and investigate.

We drove to Camp Verde on Hwy 260, took I-17 south to Hwy 169, turned west on that road and traveled about 1.8 miles to Forest Road 9604F. Turning south on the forest road, we drove about 0.3 miles to the point where it intersects General Crook Trail. We actually turned on a faint track just about 0.1 mile before reaching the trail and parked a little over 100 yards from the trail. General Crook Trail #64 is marked at this point by a standard upright trail sign displaying the trail number.

The trail is relatively easy to follow. The track of the original General Crook Trail is still visible and cairns, although often obscured by grass, have been erected along the way. The original trail, a wagon road, was scouted in 1871 by General Crook, construction began in 1872, supplies could be moved over it by pack trail in 1873, and in 1874 the first wagon train left Fort Whipple for Fort Apache.¹

When we started our hike, we were on the crest of the east slope of Johnson Wash. We followed Crook Trail down the slope of the wash, crossed over and continued for a short distance up the west slope, before turning to climb up to the ruins which could barely be discerned from our location. At the point where we turned off the trail we noted a single square, weathered post with no markings placed on the beside the old wagon trail. The climb to the top of the hill was along a gentle slope that rose some 275 feet in 0.3 miles.

We were not absolutely sure that the ruins even existed until we were close enough to see the man-made walls, with view-ports placed in strategic locations. Lila Wright is shown below ascending the wall.

Lila Wright ascending the north wall of Gray Wolf Ruins

I did not find an official name for these ruins, so I have chosen to refer to them as Gray Wolf Ruins, the name given to General Crook by the Indians and also the name of the nearby landfill.

The photograph shown here (right) shows a section of the north wall looking east from where we ascended.

From our perch among the ruins, we had a commanding view in every direction across the surrounding low-lying hills to the far mountains beyond.

Looking to the east from the ruins

The entire top of the hill had been fortified by strategically building walls to connect already existing igneous outcroppings. Since the connecting rock walls were were of the same composition as the outcropping rocks, the fortifications could easily go unnoticed from below.

Fortifications enclosing the entire top of the hill

We found a suitable spot at the very top of the hill and posed for a group photograph.

Left to right: The author (front), Betty Wolters, Collene Maktenieks, 

Daisy Williams (standing), 

Connie Woolard, Lila Wright (standing), 

Kwi Johnson and Gary Jacobson 

– photograph by Name Withheld

Leaving the ruins, we retraced our steps down the hill, rejoined Crook Trail at the bottom and climbed back up the eastern slope of Johnson Wash to our parked vehicles.

Hiking back up the east slope of Johnson Wash. The trace of the old Crook 

Wagon Trail runs just to 

the right of the hikers, topping out just above the 

leftmost hiker.

The red track in the below map shows our path to the Gray Wolf Indian Ruins. The green track shows a short section of the Crook Trail as it detours around private property, the Gray Wolf Landfill.

Map showing the trail to Gray Wolf Ruins and the Crook Trail detour around 

Gray Wolf Landfill

The short distance to and from the ruins was never going to be an adequate hike, so we climbed back into our vehicles and drove another 5.1 miles west on Hwy 169 to the point where Crook Trail crosses the highway and heads to Hecla (perhaps more commonly referred to as Ash Creek Station). The station was originally built by John Stemmer, a cavalryman stationed at Camp Verde, who mustered out in 1870. The station had an inn with seven rooms. In the early 1890, according to a July 23, 2008 article published in the Camp Verde Bugle, “the neighborhood became an official community with a real post office, named Hecla after a nearby gold mine.” The article goes on to say that the post office only operated for about a year.²

The start of the trail to Hecla was clearly marked (left) and there is plenty of parking alongside the highway.

As can be seen in the photograph at left, the trail was wide and had a smooth surface. Although the gravel surface seen here only lasted a few yards where it ended at a corral, the entire trail was still easy hiking. About 0.7 miles from Hwy 169, Crook Trail makes a turn and heads in a more westerly direction. Because the path straight ahead is wider and more distinct at this point it would be easy to miss the turn.

There is a trail marker (right); however, it is one of those whose directional arrows can be interpreted incorrectly. For guidance, just look for the two rock cairns beside the shrub just to the right of the sign. They are aligned to take you in the right direction.

From the turn described above, the trail becomes a little narrower and in places follows along washes. But it is still easy hiking with a relatively smooth dirt and sand surface and well-placed cairns to show the way. The distance from the turn to Hecla is only another 0.7 miles and we were soon there. On arrival, after crossing the creek, we were greeted by a beautiful, gnarled old hackberry tree standing sentinel on the west side of the creek.

Beautiful old hackberry tree at Hecla

We continued past the remains of the old stone corral and stopped alongside the creek to eat lunch.

Still standing wall of old stone corral at Hecla

We had now completed all of Trail # 64 except the 0.6 mile section that continues on past Hecla to end at FR 323, so we decided to continue on and complete that section. The red track in the below map shows Trail 64 from Hwy 169 to its end (or start) at FR 323. The blue track shows an alternate route we took on the return trip

Map showing Crook Trail #64 from Hwy 169 to Hecla and on to Forest Road 323

We hiked 6.3 miles (2 miles to the Indian Ruins and 4.3 miles to Hecla and on to FR 323). All distances are round trip. Our highest elevation was 4736 feet and the elevation difference was 416 feet.

1General Crook National Historic Trail Study Report, USFS, 1986 (Draft), p. 384

2 http://campverdebugleonline.com/print.asp?ArticleID=20599&SectionID=74&SubSectionID=702