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| | | Vanover Pink Hill and Monument Wash Loop, AZ | | | |
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Vanover Pink Hill and Monument Wash Loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 11.90 Miles |
799 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.90 Miles | 4 Hrs 33 Mns | | 3.03 mph |
| 799 ft AEG | 37 Mns Break | 10 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | This was a Fun little loop trail connecting the Creosote, Vanover, Pink Hill and monument Wash Trails. Was particularly nice because of the large Monsoon rain this area got the day before. Started out at the Speedway Trail Head at the Wildhorse Trail and connected to the Creosote Trail. This hike was supposed to be 8.6 miles but side trips along the way made it a total of 12 miles. The weather was really muggy and the air really thick but it was offset a bit by the overcast conditions for most of the morning. Since it had just rained there were no signs of any one on these trails, the only prints were those of animals that had used it the night before or early morning. The rains also made it easier to walk the Sandy portions of the trails and Washes. I was surprised I didn’t run into any Snakes on this trip but I did see a lot of deer.
My first side trip was at the Kennedy, Vanover, Squeeze Pen Trail Junction. At this Junction is the western most portion of the Garwood air strip that was made and used by Garwood (1950’s) to fly to work (Davis Monthon) and by visitors to his ranch. The air strip ran from here to the east to almost the Wildhorse Trail. The old Wentworth trail followed this air strip to the now abandon Freight Wagon Trail. The Freight Wagon Trail from the air strip to the Garwood Ranch was his access and named the Freight Wagon Trail because it had a western tone to the name.
From this little side trip I took the Vanover west to the Shantz Trail. This trail crosses the Monument, Loma Verde and Javelina Washes. This would be the first time I cross these washes and since it is on the lower end of the park these washes are fairly large, particularly the monument Wash. There were signs that Monument Wash was running a tiny amount from the night before.
From the Vanover I continued south along the Shantz to the Pink Hill Trail. Along the Pink Hill Trail I will once again cross the three washes I crossed earlier. The Javelina Wash at this point is about 400 feet across and consists of a lot of small finger like streams heading north winding through the creosote bushes. On the far east side of this Wash is a stream that actually looks like a wash and is about 20 feet across. At .5 miles further along the pink Hill Trail is the Loma Verde Wash and this is a single stream that is fairly narrow. Both of these Washes have signs indicating the Javelina and Loma Verde Wash Trails. Another .1 miles after the Loma Verde Wash is the junction with the Loma Verde Trail. The Pink Hill trail follows the Loma Verde Trail for .2 miles were the Pink Hill Trail East Starts up. The Pink Hill trail Skirts along the North side of Pink Hill (The old Pink Hill trail use to head straight up Pink Hill and cross over to the east side, making it a more direct route). At this junction with the Pink Hill East Trail is where I did my second side trip. There is a short spur trail that heads up to the top of Pink Hill. From the top of this hill are great views in all directions, well worth the .1 mile excursion. Once back on the Pink Hill Trail East and after about 100 yards, the remnants of the old Pink Hill Trail can be seen going up to the top of the hill. The Pink Hill Trail continues east and crosses Monument Wash .3 miles later. This wash was running the night before, looked like a foot or two across. From this wash it is .2 miles to the Squeeze Pen trail and the end of the Pink Hill Trail.
From the Squeeze Pen Trail junction I headed south to the Loma Verde Trail and the Monument Wash Trail. This is also where my third side trip occurred. Along the Squeeze Pen Trail I heard water running in Wildhorse Creek so I back tracked heading north on the Squeeze Pen Trail to the Deer valley Wash Trail. There was quite a bit of water running at the Deer Valley Wash Trail, about 20 feet across. From here I headed south again on the squeeze Pen to the Carrillo Trail and decided to head east along the Carrillo Trail to the crossing of the Wildhorse Creek. Obviously the stream was running pretty good here too.
Now that I got all the side trips out of the way, I headed to the Loma Verde Trail to catch the Monument Wash Trail. At the Loma Verde Trail and Monument Wash junction I read the sign that indicated the Monument Wash Trail and noticed it was pointing in the wrong direction for the Monument Wash Trail, it had me heading south. I was smarter than the sign I knew the wash headed north so I went the other direction. After about 100 feet I noticed I was going uphill and that’s when I decided to check my GPS. Sure enough the Monument Wash makes a big “S” shaped bend and that’s why the wash heads south before heading north again. I really need to trust the signs (I would make a terrible pilot flying by instruments). Monument Wash had not run the night before and there would be no sign of it running until I got to the junction with Wildhorse Creek (Deer Valley wash). It was dry by the time I got to that portion of the wash but there were indications that it had been running earlier in the morning. The water I saw in Deer Valley Wash had receded or sunk in the ground before reaching Monument Wash. Monument Wash is an interesting trail, it changes a couple of times from easy walking along a sandy wash to more difficult walking along rocky portions until the lower portions of the wash where it is just sand. Hiking this after a good rain is definitely advisable because it makes the walking easier in the sandy portions. I continued on down Monument Wash to the Speedway Park entrance and then followed Speedway back to the car. |
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