Verde River #11 - Twin Buttes to River, AZ

For one thing, never believe the forest service write-ups. The FS write-up claimed that the Twin Buttes TH was 7 miles to the Verde River. We had parked about a 1/2 mile from the actual TH. We drove to what I had thought was the end of FR 194. There's a sign pointing the way to the Verde River trail #11. We parked here in a nice big turn-off. The first 1/2 mile of the hike was on a nice jeep road that would be OK for high clearance or 4 x 4 vehicles (I wouldn't take a small SUV on this road, there were some minor steps to contend with). After a 1/2 mile, we came to the true TH. There was a pickup truck parked here.


The TH is at 5,800 feet, and the trail descends to the river from here. We had expected a 14 ~ 15 mile round trip hike. The day was already warm as we started hiking. The trail follows a very old jeep road that had some washed-out parts and is very rocky. Even though it's a jeep road, you do have to watch for sudden changes in direction. The trail is pretty well marked with cairns. You pass through an old ranch gate. The trail then goes by an old corral, and there's a spur trail that goes into it. It's very easy to follow this spur trail into the corral. The trail takes a sudden turn to the right at this point. Watch out for this. After 8 miles, we stopped for a "go - no go" decision. We could see the river in the distance, and by using my GPS, I guessed it was another 2 miles out. We had used about 50% to 60% of our water, decided to go for it and get more water.At this point, we had only descended to about 4,400 feet. Shortly after this point, the jeep road turned into a trail and rapidly lost elevation down into the canyon. Near the bottom, we saw a sign that said 1 & 1/2 to the river and 9 miles to the TH. We drop some more elevation, and as soon as we could, we made it to the Verde River. The river was slightly cool, but the water tasted great (after filtering). We cooled off, rested, and drank as much water we could. Now started our long and hot climb out. The temps felt like they were in the mid-90s. The first three miles out were tough in the heat. We had waited until 4:30 PM for the climb out, so we could be out of the heat of the day. The sun went down about 8 PM, and it was a full moon this night. The moon was so bright; I had a moon shadow! I was very careful not to lose the trail in the dark. At one point, I missed one of the quick turns and got off-trail. I used my GPS to get back on track. I got back to my Jeep at 10 PM. The 14-mile hike turned out to be 22 miles! I went through 9 liters of water this day. This trail should be hiked in early spring or late fall due to the heat.

2008-06-21 topohiker