Black Canyon National Recreation Trail: Emery Henderson Segment

BLACK CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION TRAIL: EMERY HENDERSON SEGMENT

New River Mountains seen from Black Canyon Trail

The Emery Henderson trailhead on New River Road is one of the most convenient points of access to the Black Canyon National Recreation Trail from the Phoenix area. 

Looking north on the Black Canyon Trail

The 100+-mile historic route runs north from Carefree Highway to the Verde Valley roughly parallelling Interstate 17 along its rugged course.  

Saguaros are a key attraction on the hike

The second leg in the trail, the Emery Henderson segment

straddles desert flats and floodplains between the freeway and the Agua Fria River that spills into Lake Pleasant in the northwest Valley. 

The Emery Henderson trailhead

Its 4-mile length wanders through the last vestiges of neon and industry before ducking into mountainous backcountry, but not before delivering one of the best trips through saguaro cactus country anywhere. 

Some old trail posts are still standing along the route

But, before it gets to the good stuff, hikers must trudge through a half mile of bland terrain, cross the North El Paso Gasline Road and listen to  firearms noise from a nearby shooting range. Sucking up these minor annoyances pays off quickly, though.

An impressive specimen in the Agua Fria floodplain

Following a rocky two-track the trail soon departs the “Sahara of the Suburbs” and tucks into shadeless plains of cholla and creosote surrounded by mountain ranges.  The distinctive mound of 2,980-foot Gavilan Peak dominates the eastern horizon while band of mesas including 2,857-foor Wild Burro Mesa bolster the western skyline. Where the route begins an easy descent into the floodplains of the Agua Fria River, desert flora, led by majestic saguaros, clutters runoff channels and crumbling foothills. 

New River Mountains to the northeast

Dead saguaros are havens for wildlife

Gigantic saguaros sprout from an earthen stew of white quartz chunks, basalt blobs, assorted metamorphic stones and sediments. This complex show of  geology belies the area’s rich mining history.

But it’s the saguaros that are the segment's signature feature.  They huddle in masses around gullies, stand as lone sentinels over pebbly flats and show up as contorted,zoomorphic forms begging to be named. Even the dead ones live on as havens for wildlife and subjects for detail-driven photographers. A smattering of ironwoods and Palo Verde trees sink roots deep into the major drainages that the trail crosses, providing what little shade the trail has to offer.

Desert icons on the Black Canyon Trail

Name that saguaro

The segment ends where the 3.2-mile Boy Scout Loop takes off.  Hikers may turn back here for a moderate 7.6-mile trek or loop around for a long 10-miler. Either way, Arizona’s most iconic cacti are constant trailside companions.

LENGTH:

7.6 miles roundtrip to the loop and back

10.4 miles roundtrip with loop

RATING: moderate

ELEVATION: 1,858  1,989

1,850-1,974 feet to the loop

1,850- 2,315 feet with loop

GETTING THERE:

Emery Henderson Trailhead:

From Phoenix, take I-17 north to exit 232 (New River Road). Turn left and follow New River Road for 3 miles and look for the Emery Henderson Trailhead turn off on the right. The roads are paved all the way to the trailhead where there are restrooms (out of order at this writing), hitching posts, covered picnic areas and plenty of parking and an occasional site host.

INFO & MAPS:

https://bctaz.org/

 

 

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

BLACK CANYON TRAIL Near New River This relatively new path was officially opened in 1992 and runs north-and-south for 9.46 miles to connect trailheads at New River Road and Table Mesa Road west of I-17, with plans in the works to extend the trail for 62 miles! Although just a few miles north of civilization and the outlet malls, Black Canyon Trail retains much of its “old west’ appeal. Used for years to drive livestock and as a stagecoach route, the path parallels the old wagon road that ran between Phoenix and Prescott. The rolling terrain of this trail passes by remnants of the area’s colorful history (including an old bath tub) and offers several high desert ridge vista viewpoints. Plentiful trail signs mark the way along the first couple of miles, but after that, the signs disappear and many primitive roads and unofficial trails crisscross the area. It is a good idea to carry a GPS or trail-marker tape to help in managing your route. Much of the hiking is in highly eroded, sandy washes, lined with grasses and wildflowers. And, oh, just one more thing; all you morons out there who think it is fun to shoot up trail signs: “gee, thanks”, I sleep soundly knowing that all those, silk screened terrorist horses are good and dead. LENGTH: Optional: total one-way distance is nearly 10 miles RATING: Moderate ELEVATION GAIN: 1200 feet (lots of ups and downs) GETTING THERE: From Phoenix, take I-17 north to exit 232 (New River Road). Turn left and follow New River Road for about 3 miles and look for the Emery Henderson Trailhead turn off on the right. The roads are paved all the way to the trailhead where there are nice restrooms, hitching posts, covered picnic areas and plenty of parking and a site host most of the time.