| |
| Trilby Wash to old Vulture Mine Road, AZ | |
|
| | Trilby Wash to old Vulture Mine Road, AZ | | | |
|
|
Trilby Wash to old Vulture Mine Road, AZ
| | |
|
| Hiking | 2.47 Miles |
24 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.47 Miles | 1 Hour 31 Mns | | 2.32 mph |
| 24 ft AEG | 27 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Trilby is the major wash between the Agua Fria and Hassayampa Rivers. It trends southward out of the Heiroglypic Mountains, crosses under two highways, AZ 74 and US 60, then turns easterly below Wittmann on its course to the Agua Fria near Sun City. The lower part of the wash was followed closely by the old Vulture Mine Road, a route plied by stagecoaches of the 19th Century between Prescott and Phoenix via Wickenburg and the famed Vulture Mine. The road is visible now only in certain places.
I hiked this segment into the vanishing desert flatlands where creosote is still king and subdivisions and other heavy development are yet miles away. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and I saw or heard no one over almost six miles and three hours round-trip. That's how I remembered it from 21 years ago, the last of two previous times I did this dry and gently descending streambed. The drop is 121 feet, or an average of just above 50' per mile.
The wash is lined with palo verde, mesquite, saguaro and other plant life but the ravine itself remains clear and easy walking over hardened silt and shallow sand. Near the start, I did manage to cut my leg passing through a barb-wire fence. Unlike two decades ago, Trilby was riddled by tire tracks of 4WD vehicles, most of them fresh. A shame this once-pristine streambed is subjected to this kind of destruction.
About 2 1/4 miles out, an old wagon road crosses Trilby on an angle, southeast and northwest. In a short distance on the west, .04 mi by my GPS, it connects with the old Vulture Mine Road, a distinct dirt road coming in from the north. Of course the Vulture no longer looks old. It is traversed regularly by vehicles traveling between Circle City on the north and a small group of houses on the south. A trash dump is developing up the road a piece. But for a moment, looking to Vulture Peak and the White Tanks, I could almost imagine what it was like traveling through here in the 1870s. It is that untouched.
The best way to access this segment is to turn off US 60 into the Circle City entrance near Mile Post 125. At the first intersection, turn left or E onto paved Gompers Circle which ends shortly with two dirt roads leading out of an asphlat circle. Take the road that goes straight ahead. Although you can drive down nearer Trilby, I parked just off the graded dirt road and walked down .16 mile to the bridge abutment and picked my way down into the wash. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
