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| Browns Canyon to rock corral - Harquahala, AZ | | -
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| | Browns Canyon to rock corral - Harquahala, AZ | | | |
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Browns Canyon to rock corral - Harquahala, AZ
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| Hiking | 6.72 Miles |
422 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.72 Miles | 4 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.41 mph |
| 422 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Whenever I hike in a new-to-me wilderness in Arizona, it is like discovering yet another hidden gem of gorgeous scenery. Browns Canyon in the Harquahala Mountains Wilderness is no exception. The deeper you hike into this canyon, the more it draws you in. The canyon was filled with pools, smooth bedrock, massive boulders and desert scenery. Other points of interest are a concrete dam built in 1982, a corral made of stacked rock walls, and an ancient site with a dozen or so metates in the bedrock. The canyon has no trail, but it is wide and smooth enough to make for some easy hiking.
Arizona Highways mentioned that "petroglyphs abound in the area", but I didn't find a single one despite doing a thorough scan while hiking. Many times I went over to some boulders and/or rock walls to give them a closer inspection, but no luck. It is a difficult search because the rocks here have natural markings that resemble petroglyphs. I'll just have to return and search the sides of the canyon even more 
This was a very enjoyable hike in a beautiful canyon, and I was wishing I had more daylight to stay longer. As expected, I saw zero people for the entire day. About half way into the hike, I heard a wild burro braying off in the distance. I saw a few cows as I got closer to a rock corral, which is where I turned around and headed back. This is most likely a seldom-visited canyon, as the only prints I saw were from animals.
The driving route I took to get there requires high clearance and 4WD. The road crosses several washes and is slow going. It was deeply rutted in places and rocky in other places. The vegetation for most of the way gave my vehicle a whole new set of pinstriping  . Amazingly, the spot where I ended up parking was at a landing strip in the middle of nowhere. It even had a decent windsock.
After going NE on North Eagle Eye Rd, I turned left at 33.80290, -113.18665. At a quarter mile, keep to the right where the road forks. The road heads west. At the 2.5 mile point near 33.80877, -113.23038, the road curves to the north. After the curve, the road is following along next to the wilderness boundary. Continue north for another 1.7 miles to the northern end of the landing strip. This is where I parked because the road started looking rougher (plus it ends just a short distance anyway at the wilderness boundary). |
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