Nice to see the petroglyphs not too far from home. The rustling in a bush (turned out to be a skunk), the explosives storage, and some fresh mountain lion tracks in the mud made the hair on my neck stand up a little. That and the fact that I didn't start until nearly 4pm means I didn't spend too much time here. I'd love to come back and do some more exploring, though.

The road to the trailhead is in good shape. Went slow over one little spot but my Jetta made it just fine. The brush is thick though; watch that you don't get any pinstripes.

looking for hikes we haven't done before
john suggested badger springs trail, which we've all driven by many times without stopping
he also found richinbar mine for enough to make a day of it
got an early start and set out for the mine while still dark
breezy and chilly until the sun came up
explored the mine ruins, which are extensive
found the petroglyphs to the north
think we missed the old townsite
checked out the old corral area
lots of cool old stuff
drove two miles north to badger springs exit and hiked down badger springs trail to the agua fria
went upstream through the boulder playground - lots of fun with plenty of water flowing
found a cairned trail and then an old road that went up on perry mesa
didn't really see or know of a destination up there, so retraced our steps
the mesa is huge, with great views and much more to explore
on the way out, found the petroglyphs at the confluence of the wash and the river
the day warmed up nicely
we had thought about hiking up to the black mesa ruins, but will save that area for another time
had to get back for the super bowl
fun day seeing something new - two good ideas, john
thanks for driving

What a pleasant surprise!! Found this trail from a book I bought called 60 Hikes within 60 miles of Phoenix. The exit for this place is just north of the Sunset Point rest stop off the I17. Once you exit you make a right and then you drive about a mile to the parking lot. The wash was dry but in some areas there was wet sand. Tons of butterflies! You hike the Badger Springs Wash till you hit the Agua Fria River. At this point you can choose to go left or right. We decided to go the rockier way first. We crossed over the river quite a few times boulder scrambling. Tons of tiny little waterfalls everywhere. The river was flowing quite nicely. We made it all the way up to one spot that had a huge flat rock where we could sit or lay down. Around us was 4 waterfalls. This part of the trail was right before the river bends. After hanging out here we decided to head back and see what the river had to offer to the right. This part of the river was much calmer. The area was wider so I was able to walk in the water a bit... (It was COLD ) Didn't see any large boulders in the river either so this was a great spot for relaxing for sure. We didn't go too far up this side since I was the only one in the group that had river hiking shoes. We headed back the way we came and the total trip time was only 2 and a half hours. Wonderful quick day trip!

Hard to find a local half-day hike when the forecast is 114F...but this one worked out fine. Only about 75min from the far-side of Phoenix to the trailhead.

I walked down the sandy trail to the intersection with the Agua Fria and spent some time looking at the nice petroglyph panel on the left. I scrambled all around the outcrop but didn't find anything else of interest.

I headed up the western slope to the edge of Black Mesa....I had hoped I might find some more glyphs or other signs of a path between Badger Springs and a habitation site on the rim, but didn't see anything convincing. I continued along the edge to the ruin (which I've been to before) and then reversed direction and took the ridge with a little bushwacking back to the car.

A little breeze on the mesa made it OK and I was home by noon - not bad.

Wow, what a great morning! Evie, Bella, Chloe (my canine hiking buddies) and I took a leisurely hike in the sandy wash of Badger Springs Trail. Actually, Evie ran back and forth with a big grin on her mug. Once we hit the Agua Fria (lots of water), we turned left and boulder hopped our way for about one mile. The girls enjoyed eating grass and playing in the water. On our way out, we came to a well maintained trail higher up from the river. It had a stunning display of wildflowers. Short hike, great for kids and dogs, stunning wildflower display and WATER made for a fun outing.

Quick, spontaneous trip this morning. My wife decided to go to work, so I flew the coop. Delightful morning 75* and a nice cloud cover. Fall bird migration has started, but I was disappointed with today's activity, most birds were high on the hillsides. Saw a Lark Sparrow, Canyon Wren, Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, Lesser Gold Finch and some Abert's Towhees.

Great little hike to cool off from a drive south on the I-17 before getting back to town. I stumbled onto this while trying to avoid rush out traffic back to Phoenix. The trail is actually fairly popular with the locals. You can see many trucks parked off on side roads. The trail is short unless you continue boulder hopping. There are some petroglyphs to view on the wall when you first see water. It's been extremely windy in this canyon during both of my visits. Today... I got to enjoy a calm before a storm feeling.

The excitement builds all summer to see the autumn foliage so we hit Inner Basin in the morning. The antarctic temps and snow changed our secondary hike from Bill Williams to this one. We didn't have much to go by other than Denny said it was in the "60 Hikes" near Phoenix book he was trying to complete. I always knew there was some confusion on the listing but having not been here couldn't say one way or the other.

By the time we reached the trailhead I was finally thawed out from the Inner Basin freeze off. Yet I still felt chilly and took a jacket. Not knowing up from down we parked at the restrooms before the trailhead which added a smidge to the hike.

Badger Springs Trail is a short 0.8mi jaunt to the confluence. I was pretty impressed not expecting much. The big bonus was we were back in the warm Arizona desert and not on some frigid north pole island. Badger is a very easy and scenic hike. Judging by the log book and our company on a Friday this place sees a fair amount of hikers in season.

While Badger is very cool Agua Fria is just fascinating. The canyon is deeper and the views are pleasing all around. There is no trail, you just boulder hop to your hearts delight. The majority of casual hikers never venture past Badger as the boulder hop takes more energy than walking on a sidewalk. Perhaps we had the most perfect weather ever or hiking in a snow filled freezer made me appreciate this one more. Now that I've reviewed our route I have a much better understanding for this area and look forward to future trips.

Couldn't figure out if the pipe following the canyon wall was for water? and going to? or from Richinbar? It looks more like an air duct.

The Badger trailhead reconfirms my thoughts on the FS. The forest service maintains roads and spends money by rolling the dice. If you call and ask for information you usually get a clueless hollow reply. The BLM is a well and fine tuned machine with their crap in order. If you go into any restaurant you can tell how clean the kitchen is by looking at the bathroom. Ever notice the BLM bathrooms at remote places like Quartz Peak to higher traffic areas like Badger are not totally disgusting like the FS...

Got home and watched the balance of the Diamond Backs succome to Cardinal fever.

Couldn't resist the urge to check out the raging New River and Agua Fria rivers this morning at first light. According to the USGS gage near Rock Springs, the Agua Fria peaked at close to 50,000 cfs around midnight (for comparison, that's about 3 or 4 Grand Canyon Colorado River's worth).

Hiked in from the parking lot just off the I-17 Badger Springs exit, as the dirt road down to the trailhead has been washed out in some places. The trail was a flowing stream, and the river was still raging, even though it was many feet below the peak. Lots of trees are gone. Hopefully the ones still standing will recover somewhat, as this was a nice picnic area. Nature is truly a wild, awesome force.