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It isn’t quite so wet when we get to Packsaddle Road.
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Wet grass is not exactly what you expect to find in the Sonoran Desert.
But it soaked the toes of our boots on this cloudy day in the Goldfields.
Five adventurous hikers made their way from Willow Springs Trailhead:
Roger Dickey, Chuck Parsons, Peter Yanover, Clara Tenny, and hike leader Ted Tenny.
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Did you put waterproofing on your boots?
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A fishhook barrel cactus is well protected.
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We crossed Willow Springs Canyon with only a few puddles of water, then
left the mining road and contoured our way up to the pass at 2264.
Ted wanted to keep high and dry, so we were actually above the pass before
we got there. Fine views of peak 3141 and the Golden Dome rewarded us.
This is the Goldfields’ big sky country, once used for cattle ranching.
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A game trail goes through the pass north of hill 2437.
We followed it around the first butte, then got up on the ridge for a
sweeping view of the mountains in all directions.
The ridge is alternately rocky and smooth.
We walked on down to an idyllic stream with lots of wet grass.
The stream runs beside a bright golden valley of Tertiary rhyolite,
eroded into fantastic shapes.
Our route out of the valley is up and over one of the passes at the
top of the slickrock. But which one?
Ted found a route that looked like the one taken on a hike last fall –
going the other way – but when we got to the top there wasn’t a
good way to climb down on the other side.
So the others waited at the pass while Peter and Ted climbed higher, going
westward to find a good way down.
There were several routes, each farther west than the one before.
Finally we climbed down into the canyon east of hill 2365.
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IQ Arch from the adjacent ridgeline.
It’s a gray-green day in the Goldfields.
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Our lunch stop was by eroded cliffs with a lot of desert varnish.
From there we fought our way downstream through the brush until we
reached Packsaddle Road, a quarter mile south of the original route.
Wet bushwhacking.
When we got all the way down we found a cairn beside the road.
Clara spotted a tarantula who wanted to have his picture taken.
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A friendly tarantula crosses the trail.
Packsaddle Road follows the stream south for a couple miles, past a
corral near the spring and on to the junction of FR 1356 which goes
west to Dome Mountain Trailhead.
We went straight ahead, into the Goldfield mining district.
The road swings by Blue Ridge, site of the Bulldog Mine which gave
its name to many local geographic features.
A quarter mile from the Hackamore Trailhead we left the road and
followed a horse trail on in.
We had the Goldfield Mountains to ourselves all the way from Willow
Springs Trailhead to Packsaddle Road.
But then there were Jeeps, pickup trucks, ATVs, rangers and tourists
for the rest of the hike.
It had taken us 6 hours to hike those 7 miles, mostly off trail.
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