Route Editor
Route Scout
Park at the BLM parking area and proceed to the River. There are no official trails, but many "use trails". Plan on getting wet. A popular day hike is upstream to Buckskin Canyon Also use this to access the lower TH's for the following trails: -> Cooper -> Treasure Canyon Trail -> Jesus Canyon -> Needle Trail -> Williams Trail -> Slaughterhouse Trail Check out the Official Route and Triplogs. Leave No Trace and +Add a Triplog after your hike to support this local community.
One-Way Notice This hike is listed as One-Way. When hiking several trails on a single "hike", log it with a generic name that describes the hike. Then link the trails traveled, check out the example. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.
Most recent Triplog Reviews
Hassayampa River Trail
Cooper Trail - Seal Mtn - Hassayampa Loop
I enjoy hiking and documenting old trails that get little use, in the hopes that maybe it'll draw interest and keep the trail tread alive. The Weaver Mountains and Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness area is one that sees few visitors, other than than those from the Williams Dude Ranch. There is a lot of mining history in this area.
The temps were going to be perfect for this one. The filtered sunlight made it even better.
We were greeted by our past hiking buddy Lucky, at the TH and started on the Hassayampa River Trail, heading upstream.
We crossed the Hassayampa River, taking our shoes off, and headed up the Cooper Trail. There is zero info on this trail, other than the line on the BLM map at the Trailhead. It shows it ends in the middle of nowhere. I was able to trace the route for us to follow, using Route Manager's Sat. view.
This trail is a steady climb up from the Hassayampa River. It's easy to follow to the point it meets The Hole Trail. It appears the Dude Ranch uses it to this point. The fainter Cooper Trail takes a hard right here to head uphill, on it's way towards Seal Mountain. It's faint at times, but always there.
Pick your line to the peak of Seal Mountain. Great lunch time views for sure.
Seal Mountain summit Video
[ youtube video ]
Down a long ago used road we descended to Spring Creek and then into Cottonwood Creek. Cottonwood Creek was a smooth granite playground. Quite scenic for sure.
Finally in the Hassayampa River and on the home stretch... the final 10 miles.
We checked out some mining building ruins I saw on GE at the confluence of Cherry Creek, that were interesting.
The last destination for the day, was the large mining ruins just North of Buckskin Canyon. There was tons of large heavy equipment that was left behind on this one. Quite interesting to check this area out.
Good hiking with Lucky and Karl again.
We almost lost Joe to the quicksand.
It was actually a bit spooky.
The temps were going to be perfect for this one. The filtered sunlight made it even better.
We were greeted by our past hiking buddy Lucky, at the TH and started on the Hassayampa River Trail, heading upstream.
We crossed the Hassayampa River, taking our shoes off, and headed up the Cooper Trail. There is zero info on this trail, other than the line on the BLM map at the Trailhead. It shows it ends in the middle of nowhere. I was able to trace the route for us to follow, using Route Manager's Sat. view.
This trail is a steady climb up from the Hassayampa River. It's easy to follow to the point it meets The Hole Trail. It appears the Dude Ranch uses it to this point. The fainter Cooper Trail takes a hard right here to head uphill, on it's way towards Seal Mountain. It's faint at times, but always there.
Pick your line to the peak of Seal Mountain. Great lunch time views for sure.
Seal Mountain summit Video
[ youtube video ]
Down a long ago used road we descended to Spring Creek and then into Cottonwood Creek. Cottonwood Creek was a smooth granite playground. Quite scenic for sure.
Finally in the Hassayampa River and on the home stretch... the final 10 miles.
We checked out some mining building ruins I saw on GE at the confluence of Cherry Creek, that were interesting.
The last destination for the day, was the large mining ruins just North of Buckskin Canyon. There was tons of large heavy equipment that was left behind on this one. Quite interesting to check this area out.
Good hiking with Lucky and Karl again.
We almost lost Joe to the quicksand.
It was actually a bit spooky.
2017-04-08 The_Eagle
Hassayampa River Trail
Cooper Trail - Seal Mtn - Hassayampa Loop
Bruce put together this loop and was determined to get 'er done. His selling points leaned heavy on weather and tree "cover". This Weaver Mountain hike lies in the outer bounds of the Bradshaw Mountains. It's perplexing why this range filled with history is rarely visited by avid hikers close to Phoenix. Their willingness to travel to other states and continents before exploring their backyard seems out of character for an explorer.
Our boy Lucky greeted us at the trailhead. He is one of the dogs from the Williams ( dude ) Ranch. He hiked with us two years ago on another big hike so we were happy to see him.
Cooper Trail
Like all trails out yonder here, nothing is signed. It's rolling hill hiking on a trail that starts out good with a few hiccups then fades to rarely used. The largest mix of wildflowers I recall lured us on. Bruce had Seal Mountain as on off trail destination. A matrix of ground cover from the wet winter made the bottom portion easier stabilizing the steep ascent. The top is large jumbled black rocks. Lucky patiently waited for us 50-100 feet below.
From Seal Mtn we hiked down to a rarely if ever used dirt road that took us by a tank. Then soon into Cottonwood Creek which had a nice flow along with a quarter mile of tree cover! The advertised tree cover gave way to granite, some pink, and a narrow twisting canyon.
9.5 miles of the return hike is along the Hassayampa River. We've done 1.5 miles on this river in his nearby hit single Treasure - Hole - Roy Waits - Slaughterhouse loop. Which is the reasonable limit of river sloshing. A mining camp with lots of equipment near the tail end was the saving grace spirit lifter in my opinion.
A good memorable hike. Wildflowers galore, Seal Mtn, Cottonwood Creek and the mining area were true highlights. Hiking along the Hassayampa River is nice for a mile. The weather was phenomenal as promised!
Wildflowers
scorpionweed, poppies, cream cups, desert trumpet, flat top buckwheat, desert mariposa, brittlebush, banana yucca, new mexico thistle, microseris, lupine, desert globemallow, desert rock daisy, arizona penstemon, indian paintbrush, white ratany, claret cup cactus, strawberry hedgehog, fiddleneck, blue dicks, cliff fendlerbush, rattlesnake weed, london rocket, desert tobacco, chia, canaigre
Our boy Lucky greeted us at the trailhead. He is one of the dogs from the Williams ( dude ) Ranch. He hiked with us two years ago on another big hike so we were happy to see him.
Cooper Trail
Like all trails out yonder here, nothing is signed. It's rolling hill hiking on a trail that starts out good with a few hiccups then fades to rarely used. The largest mix of wildflowers I recall lured us on. Bruce had Seal Mountain as on off trail destination. A matrix of ground cover from the wet winter made the bottom portion easier stabilizing the steep ascent. The top is large jumbled black rocks. Lucky patiently waited for us 50-100 feet below.
From Seal Mtn we hiked down to a rarely if ever used dirt road that took us by a tank. Then soon into Cottonwood Creek which had a nice flow along with a quarter mile of tree cover! The advertised tree cover gave way to granite, some pink, and a narrow twisting canyon.
9.5 miles of the return hike is along the Hassayampa River. We've done 1.5 miles on this river in his nearby hit single Treasure - Hole - Roy Waits - Slaughterhouse loop. Which is the reasonable limit of river sloshing. A mining camp with lots of equipment near the tail end was the saving grace spirit lifter in my opinion.
A good memorable hike. Wildflowers galore, Seal Mtn, Cottonwood Creek and the mining area were true highlights. Hiking along the Hassayampa River is nice for a mile. The weather was phenomenal as promised!
Wildflowers
scorpionweed, poppies, cream cups, desert trumpet, flat top buckwheat, desert mariposa, brittlebush, banana yucca, new mexico thistle, microseris, lupine, desert globemallow, desert rock daisy, arizona penstemon, indian paintbrush, white ratany, claret cup cactus, strawberry hedgehog, fiddleneck, blue dicks, cliff fendlerbush, rattlesnake weed, london rocket, desert tobacco, chia, canaigre
2017-04-08 joebartels
Hassayampa River Trail
Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness Loop
Fast Facts
The word Hassayampa is an old Indian word that means “the river that flows upside down.” All tributaries on the west side of the Bradshaws flow into the Hassayampa.
This is one one of Arizona's longer rivers running just over 100 miles before dumping into the Gila River.
The Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness was created in 1990.
Caveat:
Trail locations and names were derived from a document provided to me from the BLM. These names do not necessarily agree with the sign at the trailhead at Williams Ranch.
The drive on Constellation Road was in much nicer condition this time, then the last time I was on it the end of 2014. There would probably be no problem getting a sedan all the way to the Trailhead a Williams Ranch.
The Hike:
We started our hike before 7am and were greeted by the Ranch Dogs. Three to four of them. After calls from the ranch, all but one returned. Lucky for us we got the nice one (I think Joe wanted to take him home) and the best hiker of the bunch. You could tell he'd been on the trails before.
Across the flowing Hassayampa we found a trail on the opposite side that took us right to the Treasure Canyon TH
Treasure Canyon Trail is 2 miles and 600' of AEG to get to the Hole Trail. The trail is thin is spots requiring a track to stay on trail. Nothing too thick, but I was glad I had long pants on to begin. I'm assuming the Canyon we traversed, to the east, was Treasure Canyon (Unnamed on Topo), but we found none.
Hole Trail is on an old jeep road, and climbs very steeply coming out of Jesus Canyon for 2 miles. There's some big views from up here. Flowers were substantial in pockets with a wide variety, accented by brittlebush.
Roy Waits Trail was a last minute decision. I'm glad we decided to give it a try. Pretty well defined and great views all the way down. Second favorite trail on the day
A half mile stint on the Fools Canyon Trail and we jumped on the Slaughterhouse Canyon Trail. Use your GPS track to determine the real trail from the cow paths on the west side. Once you crest and start the drop, you get some great views to the east.
Joe, Route Scout and myself took a short lunch at the Hassayampa, before heading up the Williams Trail, to an unnamed canyon, and forcing Route Scout to turn around at a 30' climb up a dry fall. Thinking he'd turn around and go back to the ranch, he rejoined us a 1/2 mile later, after finding a way around
Needle Trail was next and another decent climb out of the canyon. This was probably my favorite trail on the day. We once again lost Route Scout on this trail, this time to the horsemen and their fellow dogs from the ranch.
Once in the Hassayampa River, it was time to forget about trying to stay dry on the crossings, and just walk through the water. The water was quite refreshing
I really enjoyed checking out these new trails....and there more out there.
Hassayampa River https://youtube.com ... 5rQc
Wildflowers
Substantial to extreme in spots.
The word Hassayampa is an old Indian word that means “the river that flows upside down.” All tributaries on the west side of the Bradshaws flow into the Hassayampa.
This is one one of Arizona's longer rivers running just over 100 miles before dumping into the Gila River.
The Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness was created in 1990.
Caveat:
Trail locations and names were derived from a document provided to me from the BLM. These names do not necessarily agree with the sign at the trailhead at Williams Ranch.
The drive on Constellation Road was in much nicer condition this time, then the last time I was on it the end of 2014. There would probably be no problem getting a sedan all the way to the Trailhead a Williams Ranch.
The Hike:
We started our hike before 7am and were greeted by the Ranch Dogs. Three to four of them. After calls from the ranch, all but one returned. Lucky for us we got the nice one (I think Joe wanted to take him home) and the best hiker of the bunch. You could tell he'd been on the trails before.
Across the flowing Hassayampa we found a trail on the opposite side that took us right to the Treasure Canyon TH
Treasure Canyon Trail is 2 miles and 600' of AEG to get to the Hole Trail. The trail is thin is spots requiring a track to stay on trail. Nothing too thick, but I was glad I had long pants on to begin. I'm assuming the Canyon we traversed, to the east, was Treasure Canyon (Unnamed on Topo), but we found none.
Hole Trail is on an old jeep road, and climbs very steeply coming out of Jesus Canyon for 2 miles. There's some big views from up here. Flowers were substantial in pockets with a wide variety, accented by brittlebush.
Roy Waits Trail was a last minute decision. I'm glad we decided to give it a try. Pretty well defined and great views all the way down. Second favorite trail on the day
A half mile stint on the Fools Canyon Trail and we jumped on the Slaughterhouse Canyon Trail. Use your GPS track to determine the real trail from the cow paths on the west side. Once you crest and start the drop, you get some great views to the east.
Joe, Route Scout and myself took a short lunch at the Hassayampa, before heading up the Williams Trail, to an unnamed canyon, and forcing Route Scout to turn around at a 30' climb up a dry fall. Thinking he'd turn around and go back to the ranch, he rejoined us a 1/2 mile later, after finding a way around
Needle Trail was next and another decent climb out of the canyon. This was probably my favorite trail on the day. We once again lost Route Scout on this trail, this time to the horsemen and their fellow dogs from the ranch.
Once in the Hassayampa River, it was time to forget about trying to stay dry on the crossings, and just walk through the water. The water was quite refreshing
I really enjoyed checking out these new trails....and there more out there.
Hassayampa River
https://youtube.com ... 5rQcWildflowers
Substantial to extreme in spots.
2015-03-21 The_Eagle
