Black Canyon Trail: Biscuit Flat Segment

BLACK CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION TRAIL:

BISCUIT FLAT SEGMENT

Wild burros on Biscuit Flat

Wild burros make lots of tracks--and lots of little burros.  That’s a concern for hikers and land managers because overpopulation can lead to problems like overgrazing, negative impacts on native wildlife, and public safety issues around roadways. 

New River Mesa viewed from Biscuit Flat

With few natural predators and a law that protects them from human hunters, the sturdy African imports that are the descendants of escaped or released pack beasts used by the military, ranchers, Spanish explorers, and miners dating back to the 1500s, the herds can become hordes.

The route follows single and double track paths

The free-roaming, prolific breeders adapted to the Sonoran Desert and other areas in the Western states. Herds quickly grew to the point where they exceed the land’s capacity to support them.  The 1971 Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act states that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service are responsible for managing and protecting herds and their rangelands as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.”  

Wild burros cross the Black Canyon NRT

To thin the herds and maintain their health here in Arizona, the BLM uses fertility control and vaccine programs along with periodic “gathers” where burros are helicoptered out of congested public lands and either put up for adoption or transferred to Midwest off-range private pastures where they are taken care of for the rest of their lives.

Biscuit Flat is surrounded by mountains

Cholla line the Black Canyon NRT

The four-legged “spirits of the West” can be observed wandering in several Arizona ranges including the Lake Pleasant Herd Management Area, a 103,000-acre space located 25 miles northwest of Phoenix.  The Biscuit Flat segment of the Black Canyon National Recreation Trail provides non-motorized access into the heart of burro country.

The sandy floodplain of New River

 

Like the burros that average 400 pounds and 48-inches high, the roughly 100-mile-long historic trail is very much a spirit of Western heritage.

A cactus wren alights on a BCT sign post

 

It runs from Carefree Highway in Phoenix to the Town of Mayer and has recently been extended into the Verde Valley with new construction.  Following a mashup of ancient travel corridors, wagon roads and livestock tracks that pre-date Interstate 17, the route traverses mountain passes, valleys, sprawling rangelands, defunct mining operations and heritage sites that date back thousands of years.  The 5.9-mile Biscuit Flat segment is, well--flat. 

Signs guide hikers through the New River channel

It’s the first stretch of the route that begins at Carefree Highway and makes a straight shot north to the Emery Henderson trailhead on New River Road just 3 miles west of Interstate 17.

Crossing the New River channel

 The utterly pancake-level expanse registers like a mood board for a Martian landscape--that is if Mars had cactus, creosote and an ephemeral river running through it.  Resembling images sent back from Mars landers, the place is a massive basin surround by volcanic mountain ranges.

Gavilan Peak (2,980 feet) on near horizon

 

The thorny plain is dressed in scuffed shades of green muddled with dusty earth and course, dried forbs. Like the Native inhabitants and pioneers that wandered through, this place cut its teeth on surviving in the unforgiving spillway of a desert river.

Green sign posts mark the trail

 

Emery Henderson trailhead on New River Road

Without obvious lures, the vultures come anyway. Riding up drafts, the carrion-eating scavengers make lazy loops and investigative swoops often enough to suggest, something below is dead.  Maybe a javelina, rabbit or coyote. 

An uncommon white burro on Biscuit Flat

What’s alive are the burros, expanding suburbs, a widening interstate, shooting range, prison complex, fairways, a municipal transfer station and the massive semiconductor manufacturing plant rising from desert that surrounds the dusty trail and its relics of the past.

Hikers must watch for toppled signs

Beginning at the north end of the segment at the Emery Henderson trailhead, the path heads south on a mix of singletrack, two-track and dirt roads.  The trail is signed throughout but is crisscrossed with trampled paths made by the burros and fading dirt roads that can be confusing. 

Cave Creek Mountains viewed from Biscuit Flat

Bradshaw Mountains on the north horizon

Hikers must take care at intersections to spot the next sign to stay on track. (Some signs were down at this writing but did not present a navigation problem).  At about the 2-mile point, the trail enters the sandy floodplain of New River and makes a rocky crossing through a tamarisk-choaked channel.

Mountain vistas on Biscuit Flat

 

Old trough on Biscuit Flat

Signs anchored by rock piles guide the way through the weedy waterway.  On the south bank, the trail heads up an embankment, passes a gate and begins a shade less walk through open desert.  The pop-pop of pistol fire from the nearby Arizona Game & Fish Department-managed Ben Avery Shooting Facility grows louder where the trail briefly shares space with the Valley-circling Maricopa Trail and crosses Deadman Wash.  The south trailhead is little more than a dirt pullout and gate along busy Carefree Highway. 

Saguaros on Biscuit Flat

If you parked a shuttle vehicle here, be sure to close the gate behind you to keep the legacy burros from wandering into 21^st-Century traffic.

LENGTH: 5.9 miles one-way

RATING: easy

ELEVATION: 1,598 – 1,878 feet

GETTING THERE:

NORTH: Emery Henderson Trailhead: From Interstate 17 in north Phoenix, take the New River Road exit 232 and go 3.1 miles west to the trailhead on the right. The large parking area has space for trailers. There’s a restroom, but it was out of order at this writing.

SOUTH: Bob Bentley Trailhead: From Interstate 17 in north Phoenix, take the State Route 74 (Carefree Highway) exit 223 and go 1.8 miles west to the trailhead on the right. No facilities.

INFO & MAPS: Black Canyon Trail Coalition

https://bctaz.org/

WILD BURRO INFO

https://www.blm.gov/whb

https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/herd-management-areas/arizona/lake-pleasant

WILD BURRO ADOPTIONS

https://aci.az.gov/capabilities/wild-horse-burro-training-and-adoption/

Beardsley Trail

BEARDSLEY TRAIL

Beardsley Trail crosses the Agua Fria River

The fusion of cholla-encrusted foothills and desert waterways is the foundational flavor of the Beardsley Trail.  Running through undulating terrain on the southwest edge of Lake Pleasant, the 4.4-mile route rolls out in an unrelenting string of ups-and-downs. 

Beardsley Trail is part of the 315-mile Maricopa Trail

The trail, which is also part of the 315-mile, Valley-circling  Maricopa Trail, provides a walking tour of a riffled landscape carved by the Agua Fria River and Morgan City Wash that rush sporadically, and trickle regularly through the arid foothills below the New Waddell Dam that contains the lake.

The hike starts roughly 2 miles south of the lake at the end of Beardsley CSR Road off the Carefree Highway (State Route 74) about 30 miles north of Phoenix.

Cottonwoods in Morgan City Wash seen from Beardsley Trail

Cholla glow in morning light on Beardsley Trail

After passing the trailhead gate, the hike makes its first of many downhill dips--this one into a leafy riparian corridor where the Agua Fria River and Morgan City Wash merge.  The short walk under cottonwoods, mesquite and invasive salt cedar trees is outfitted with a pair of foot bridges where water periodically flows over the trail.

Brittlebush shrubs are plentiful along the route

Lush with greenery and laced with the herbaceous scent of triangle-leaf bursage, the watery segment quickly morphs from jungle-like to a more desert standard creosote-and-cacti ecozone.  The trail follows South Park Road for a few yards before beginning its twisted north-bound journey through saguaro cluttered slopes, tight bends and long, swooping stretches that hang over deep folds in the landscape. 

Mountain vista from the trail high points

New Waddell Dam seen from Beardsley Trail

Throughout much of the hike, a ribbon of cottonwoods and willows visible in the canyons below the trail, betray the course of Morgan City Wash.  

Water lingers in the Agua Fria River

The brilliant linear oasis, which shows off in shades of gold in autumn, is fed by a high water table and is home to rare native fish, myriad dragonflies, abundant birds, amphibians, and critters including racoons, foxes, deer and javelinas.

Desert tobacco blooms year-round in moist areas

About midway through the hike, the trail begins hitting its highest elevations.

Needleleaf Dogweed adds pops of color to the trail

At just over 1,700 feet in elevation, the views expand with glimpses of the Bradshaw and Cave Creek Mountains as well as looks at the glassy, cove-fringed reservoir and its smattering of islands before the trail ends near the Desert Tortoise Campground.

Saguaros line the Beardsley Trail

LENGTH: 8.8  miles round trip

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION: 1,459 – 1,735 feet (620 feet of accumulated elevation change)

GETTING THERE:

Agua Fria Trailhead, Lake Pleasant Regional Park.

From Interstate 17 in Phoenix, take the State Route 74 (Carefree Highway) exit 223 and go 8.8 mile west on SR 74 to the turn off for the Beardsley CSR access road. Turn right and continue a short distance to the parking area. 

FEE: $7 daily fee per vehicle. $2 daily fee for walk/bike in with no vehicle parking in the area.

INFO & MAPS:

Lake Pleasant Regional Park

https://www.maricopacountyparks.net/assets/1/6/lake-pleasant-8x111.pdf

 

 

Black Canyon Trail: Windmill Valley Segment

BLACK CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION TRAIL: WINDMILL VALLEY SEGMENT

Cactus close in on the Black Canyon trail near Lake Pleasant

Registering somewhere between a honk and a howl, the vocalizations of the feral burros that roam around Lake Pleasant are as gritty and unbridled as the beasts themselves.

Wild burros roam the Windmill Valley segment

Sturdily built and resilient, the desert-adapted, North African imports first arrived in Arizona in the 1600s carrying supplies with Jesuit priests.

Bradshaw Mountain vistas early in the hike

Valued for their strong backs and hardy work ethic, the burros soon found additional employment with prospectors. During boom times, they hauled ore but when the mines went bust, they either wandered off or were released into the wild where they thrived in the arid territory. 

Cholla cactus bloom April through May

Make no mistake, these docile-looking vegetarians are not to be messed with. Unlike their cousins the horse, these rough-around-the edges members of genus Equus are hardly the type to stride elegantly before feathered fascinators at a racetrack.

They can be scrappy and so it’s smart to observe them from a distance. Hikers can almost bet on seeing the free-roaming wild donkeys, that average about 350 pounds when full grown, in the Bureau of Land Management’s Lake Pleasant Herd Management Area which is located 25 miles north of Phoenix, west of Interstate 17, north of Carefree Highway (State Route 74) and northeast of the lake.

Desert snow blooms March through May

American carrot grows in a fire scar along the route

Much of the Black Canyon National Recreation Trail passes through this swath of Upper Sonoran Desert in the hilly backcountry of the Agua Fria River watershed.

Mesquite trees color a wash bright green

New River Mountains viewed from a high point

The 3.5-mile Windmill Valley segment, which is just a few miles east of the lake, is a scenic trek that winds through prime burro habitat. 

Bladder sage bloom March through June

The hike begins across the road from the Table Mesa trailhead with an easy walk among huge saguaros with majestic views of the Bradshaw Mountains to the north and a flank of flat-topped mesas near the north coves of Lake Pleasant.

Brilliant magenta Strawberry hedgehog cactus

Table Mesa (far right) seen from the trail

The trail quickly descends into a wash area and fire scar.  Torched trees and ashen cacti stumps belie an understory of resurgent shrubs and wildflowers. It’s in this short section of trail where the most species are found.

Buckwheat is a common find February through June

Look for desert marigold, chia, owl clover, desert snow, scorpion weed, globemallow, woolly daisy, white ratany and frilly American carrot.

White ratany blooms April through October

Beyond the fire damage, the trail traces a network of washes, bouncing between ridges and drainages as it gradually climbs 500 feet.  High points showcase vistas of the New River Mountains, Table Mesa and acres of scrubland where springtime color breaks in colorful cactus blooms, golden brittlebush, buckwheat and rare specimens of bladder sage.

Wide open rangeland on the Black Canyon Trail

The remainder of the route twists around stone pinnacles, rolling hills and rangeland ending at the Doe Springs Segment 7.7 miles (on trail)  north of the Emery Henderson trailhead on New River Road.

Low growing woolly daisies bloom Feb - May

While the Doe Springs junction makes for a good turnaround point, hikers can opt to customize the hike length by way of a car shuttle or tying in with the popular Boy Scout Loop for a more rigorous out-and-back trek through burro land.

Miniature wool star bloom March - June

 

LENGTH: 3.5 miles one-way

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION: 1,921 – 2,450 feet

GETTING THERE:

Table Mesa Trailhead. From Interstate 17, 36 miles north of Phoenix, take the Table Mesa Road exit 236.  At the end of the off ramp, turn left, go a few yards, and then veer right onto Frontage Road (the unsigned west end of Table Mesa Road).  Continue to the large “Table Mesa West” sign, turn left, and continue to the Table Mesa trailhead at kiosk No. 5 on the right, 3.1 miles from I-17.   To reach the start of the hike, walk a few yards farther down Table Mesa Road to the BCT sign on the left.

Roads are maintained dirt/gravel, suitable for all vehicles.

NOTE: While the Black Canyon Trail is not open to motorized travel or shooting, the surrounding area is popular with OHV riders and recreational shooters. Dust and noise may be noticeable.

INFO: Black Canyon Trail Coalition https://bctaz.org

 

SPRING VALLEY TRAIL

SPRING VALLEY TRAIL: Hells Canyon Wilderness Area

A stock tank on Spring Valley Trail

When the itch to “Get the hell out of Dodge” hits Arizona city-dwelling hikers, sometimes all it takes to scratch it is a free afternoon and a short drive. 

A rustic gate frames views of distant Tonto NF peaks

Spanning 9,951 acres of back country a few miles northwest of Lake Pleasant approximately 25 miles north of Phoenix, Hells Canyon Wilderness Area offers a quick way to escape into an untamed swath of desert that’s more paradise than purgatory.

Small in comparison to other Arizona wilderness areas like Mazatzal (252,500 acres) and Superstition (160,200 acres)  Hells Canyon, which straddles Maricopa and Yavapai counties, was established in 1990 and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

A hiker takes in the views from a ledge above Garfias Wash

Of the several sketchy routes that wander through the area, the most popular and easiest to follow is the Spring Valley Trail. Except for a few BLM posts at the trailhead, the route is refreshingly devoid of signage which complements the hike’s remote atmosphere.  Navigating the trail involves only two crux moves: finding the trailhead and climbing down into Garfias Wash. For the later, the problem is easily solved by paying attention at the parking area.

From the dirt turnouts near a cattle guard on the access road, locate the small trail sign on the west berm. Then, look across the creek bed and spot the white trail register and a huge rock cairn that mark the official trailhead. Next, hike a few yards down the road, turn onto a wide dirt two-track and follow it a short way to a worn sign where you’ll turn right and use a series of cairns to work your way across the usually dry corridor of Castle Creek. From the register, head right and uphill along a well-defined path. At the top of the rise, go left where two big cairns mark the unsigned junction of the Spring Valley and Hermit trails. Beyond this point it’s clear sailing.

Spring Valley Trail is in Hells Canyon Wilderness Area

The trail dips and climbs through rocky terrain in the foothills of the Hieroglyphic Mountains passing by brilliant ocher mounds of volcanic tuff (compacted ash) embedded with rock fragments and other pyroclastic particles welded in a haphazard concrete-like structures. The trail’s west side is dominated by a sheer ridge line that rises to 2,904 feet. Below its crumbling slopes, acres of giant saguaros tower above sunny fields that are productive environs for spring wildflowers. 

Finding the trailhead isn't too difficult if you pay attention

Just past the one-mile point, the trail crosses an earthen dam that contains a stock tank frequented by native wildlife and the feral burros that live in the area.   

A rock cairn marks the way across Castle Creek

Although you may or may not catch a glimpse of the burros, their footprints and droppings around the tank and throughout the hike belie their presence. If you encounter them, it’s smart to keep your distance because they’ve been known to kick. Also, as with all wild animals, never approach, harass or feed them.  As the trail moves toward its highest point, be sure to pause and take in the ever-widening views of Castle Creek Wilderness and the Bradshaw Mountains in Prescott National Forest to the north and the New River Mountains in Tonto National Forest to the east and the glinting waters of Lake Pleasant.

The trail seems to end at the nose of the ridge overlooking Garfias Wash, but there are several options to extend the trek. You can opt to follow a faint trail heading right and an even more sketchy path that spins off the obvious trail and switchbacks steeply down to the wash or continue on a narrow cairned path that swerves north tracing the ridge line. Either way, the area’s rough nooks, washes and interesting geology hold many scenic surprises to explore.

The area's sunny slopes burst with wildflowers in spring

Lake Pleasant stands out on the southeast horizon

When done poking around, head back the way you came making note of distant dust plumes being kicked up by vehicles driving north toward Castle Hot Springs resort. The recently resurrected private spa secluded at the base of 3,260-foot Governors Peak is a luxury oasis built around natural hot springs that have attracted tourists since 1896.

The trail traces the slopes below Peak 2904

Huge saguaros thrive in the rugged backcountry

The trail has a remote, feral atmosphere.

A tiny sign on Castle Hot Springs Road directs hikers

Volcanic tuff features line the route

Hiker walks a ridge above Garfias Wash

Castle Hot Springs resort is hidden in the hills to the north

It’s not visible from the trail, but the posh, palm-shaded refuge that’s located just north of the wilderness boundary offers an alternative way to escape from Dodge for those who prefer clean sheets, Green Garden Gazpacho and craft cocktails over wilderness staples of tents, trail mix and electrolyte drinks.

LENGTH: 5 miles out-and-back

RATING:  moderate

ELEVATION: 1,800 – 1,920 feet

GETTING THERE:

Castle Creek Trailhead

From Interstate 17 in Phoenix, take the State Route 74 exit 223 (Carefree Highway) and go 11.4 miles west (toward Wickenburg) to Castle Hot Springs Road which is signed for Lake Pleasant Regional Park. Follow Castle Hot Springs Road 5.4 miles to the stop sign at the park’s north entrance. Turn left and drive 5.4 miles to a cattle guard past milepost 25 and park in any of the dirt turnouts along the road. Castle Hot Springs Road is graded dirt suitable for carefully-driven sedans. Part of the road crosses Castle Creek which may be impassable after storms.

INFO:

https://www.blm.gov/visit/search-details/275107/1