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/

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