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| Screwtail Hill and SCREW, AZ | |
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| | Screwtail Hill and SCREW, AZ | | | |
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Screwtail Hill and SCREW, AZ
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| Hiking | 1.98 Miles |
534 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.98 Miles | 2 Hrs 41 Mns | | 1.47 mph |
| 534 ft AEG | 1 Hour 20 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Screwtail Hill is just south of Sunflower, Az and adjacent to Rte 87 to the east. It’s in the area where the north lanes ‘cross’ the south lanes, and is just north of the Lower Screwtail Bridge.
The hill is also right across the road from Black Mesa, and is bordered by the Sycamore Creek to the east.
From what I can gather, the area got its ‘Screwtail Hill’ name over 100 years ago, due to the very twisty, switchback design of the (then) wagon trail. The ‘hill’ was one of the worst parts of the wagon trail, and travel from Phoenix to Payson, or even Sunflower, was slow and dangerous in this area.
Quotes from a source stated “a twisty kink on an old stagecoach route wound around the Mazatzal Mountains”.
This continued even when the trail was initially improved for car travel.
Another quote, “traffic, moving at a quick clip off the Sonoran Desert, often slows to a crawl at the Screwtail Hill obstacle as one car after another struggles to navigate the switchbacks”.
Obviously, now we drive through the area at 55 and 65 mph, and there is no visual trace of the original twists or switchbacks while driving on the present 4-lane highway. I decided to explore the hill and see if I could find any trace of the twists from a higher vantage point. Satellite views don’t show much.
I traipsed all over the higher areas of the hill, just north of the Lower Screwtail Bridge and found no signs of all those twists and switchbacks. All the new road improvements have probably obscured all visual queues. My wandering makes my GPS track look like an Easter Egg Hunt gone mad.
While I was on that portion of the hill, I did happen to locate SCREW Triangulation Station (for the second time - as I was up there a few years ago). I’m sure the benchmark was put in place (1982) in connection with Rte 87 improvements in the 1980s and 90s.
It’s an ADOT benchmark and is named after Screwtail Hill.
After this hike I repositioned my car to a better (and safer) location along Rte 87 (further off the side of the road) and took another little hike, just a mile or so further north. I wanted to look around another area of Screwtail Hill, specifically the area that contains “MACK’S REST”. That will be my next triplog. |
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Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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