Cooper Trail - Weaver Mountains • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Nov 07 2024

DixieFlyer

Guides 99
Routes 1,484
Photos 16,072
Triplogs 1,374

male

Joined Jan 07 2017
Fountain Hills,

Peak 4520 - Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness, AZ

Hiking		Nov 07 2024
		DixieFlyer • Triplogs 1,374

Hiking	8.85 Miles	2,109 AEG

Hiking	8.85 Miles	6 Hrs 47 Mns	1.52 mph
	2,109 ft AEG	57 Mns Break

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Cooper Trail - Weaver Mountains

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Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

This was a hike to Peak 4520, the highpoint of the Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness. This wilderness area is a few mile NE of Wickenburg.

I made the slow drive from Wickenberg to the BLM parking area near the Williams Ranch. It is about 16 miles from the McDonalds in Wickenberg, and I imagine that the drive from there took about 1.5 hours. The road has recently been graded, and the drive is about as good as it will ever be. I'd still recommend a 4WD vehicle though.

At the first part of the hike we crossed the Hassayampa River, which is bone dry right now, so getting across it was obviously no problem.

We followed the Cooper Trail (such as it is) almost all the way to the peak, which is a bit south of Seal Mountain. I doubt if any maintenance has been performed on this trail in years, if not decades. If it wasn't for cows walking on the trail, it would likely have been reclaimed by nature long ago. You could follow the trail fine in some places, but in other places it was difficult to see where the trail was.

We eventually made our way to the west side of the peak, and went off-trail to the summit. There are nice views up there so we hung out for a bit. There is a large cairn at the summit, but I did not see a summit register. We returned to the TH the way that we came.

It is a nice area out there -- once you get above the river into the uplands there is lots of chaparral, palo verde, saguaro, and other desert vegetation. My prior hike in the area was in the spring, and there were lots of wildflowers; there were no flowers blooming today though.

The slow drive to the TH and route finding issues on the crappy trail made for a long day.

You are almost guaranteed solitude while hiking in this area.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Harquahala Mountain Hassayampa River at Williams Ranch Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness Seal Mountain Wades Butte

	Hassayampa River at Williams Ranch	Dry	Dry
	the river is bone dry right now

_____________________

Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there

5 archives

Apr 20 2023

DixieFlyer

Guides 99
Routes 1,484
Photos 16,072
Triplogs 1,374

male

Joined Jan 07 2017
Fountain Hills,

Wades Butte, AZ

Hiking		Apr 20 2023
		DixieFlyer • Triplogs 1,374

Hiking	13.78 Miles	3,230 AEG

Hiking	13.78 Miles	9 Hrs 41 Mns	1.60 mph
	3,230 ft AEG	1 Hour 4 Mns Break

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Cooper Trail - Weaver Mountains

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Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

This was a hike to the summit of Wades Butte (elevation of 5,344 feet and prominence of 1,257 feet). Wades Butte is in the Weaver Mountains, about a mile NW of Seal Mountain. If nothing else, Wades Butte is the peak with a superlative name!

I started the hike at the Williams Ranch BLM Parking Area. Shortly after beginning the hike I had to cross the Hassayampa River, which had water about halfway up to my knees. I was glad to have brought some water shoes.

I followed the Cooper Trail to a saddle between Wades Butte and Seal Mountain, and then went off-trail to Wades Butte. The Cooper Trail was overgrown and hard to follow in many places. I had to look at my GPS numerous times to make sure that I was following the trail.

It was a warm, cloudless day with no shade anywhere, which along with all of the route finding made for a much slower than normal hike. It is typical desert vegetation with no trees other than some palo verde.

The area is scenic and there were nice views at the summit. The warm weather kept me from enjoying the hike as much as I otherwise would have.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Hassayampa River at Williams Ranch Lane Mountain Seal Mountain Wades Butte

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
There was a variety of wildflowers, with lupine meeting the one that I remember the most.

Hassayampa River at Williams Ranch

Medium flow

_____________________

Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there

1 archive

Apr 08 2017

joebartels

Guides 264
Routes 2,797
Photos 14,494
Triplogs 5,894

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Cooper Trail - Seal Mtn - Hassayampa Loop, AZ

Hiking		Apr 08 2017
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,894

Hiking	19.19 Miles	3,136 AEG

Hiking	19.19 Miles	10 Hrs 43 Mns	2.00 mph
	3,136 ft AEG	1 Hour 8 Mns Break

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Cooper Trail - Weaver Mountains

Seal Mountain - Weaver Mountains

Hassayampa River Trail

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BiFrost

The_Eagle

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!

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Penstemon Astragalus Canaigre Claret Cup Cactus Mariposa Lily Unidentified Flora

Wildflowers Observation Substantial
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, Dichelostemma capitatum, cliff fendlerbush, rattlesnake weed, london rocket, desert tobacco, chia, canaigre

	Cherry Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	Good and clear

	Cottonwood Creek	Medium flow	Medium flow
	keeping your feet dry is not currently an option

	Hassayampa River at Williams Ranch	Heavy flow	Heavy flow
	appears it will be running for months

	Oak Creek	Light flow	Light flow

	Seal Tank	76-100% full	76-100% full
	Large tank looked full from a quarter mile away. Appears mostly dry on satellite view so that may be more typical.

Spring Creek

Medium flow

_____________________

- joe

Apr 08 2017

BiFrost

Guides 4
Routes 491
Photos 10,890
Triplogs 1,257

55 male

Joined Nov 20 2012
Phoenix, AZ

Cooper Trail - Seal Mtn - Hassayampa Loop, AZ

Hiking		Apr 08 2017
		BiFrost • Triplogs 1,257

Hiking	19.19 Miles	3,136 AEG

Hiking	19.19 Miles	10 Hrs 43 Mns	2.00 mph
	3,136 ft AEG	1 Hour 8 Mns Break

no routes

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Cooper Trail - Weaver Mountains

Seal Mountain - Weaver Mountains

Hassayampa River Trail

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joebartels

The_Eagle

Bruce put together this loop and it had just about everything. Good trail, bad trail, off trail, cool summit, variety of wild flowers, scenic creek along Cottonwood and Hassaympa, and rounding out the list an impressive assortment of mining ruins. Starting from the Williams Ranch area with one of the ranch dogs named Lucky we hiked upstream along the Hassaympa to the turn off for Cooper Trail. We proceeded to gain about 2500 AEG on the climb up to the first objective Seal Mountain. We were surprised to see that Lucky was still with us and made it within 50 feet of the summit and waited for us to finish lunch.
After lunch we headed down the other side of Seal Mountain and picked up an old road which eventually led us toward Cottonwood Creek. Really surprised by the scenery in Cottonwood with nice rock slabs and plenty of water. Finally we hit the Hassayampa for the dreaded 9.5 mile walk back to the Williams Ranch to close out the loop. Although it is was very scenic along the Hassayampa I think we all agreed it was about 4 miles too long of river slogging than we wanted. However, Lucky seemed to really enjoy the walk and kept looking back at us wondering what the hold up was. All around nice temps all day and most important Joe made it out of the sink hole! [ photo ]

Wildflowers Observation Substantial

_____________________

2 archives

Apr 08 2017

The_Eagle

Guides 41
Routes 1,626
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,760

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Cooper Trail - Seal Mtn - Hassayampa Loop, AZ

Hiking		Apr 08 2017
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,760

Hiking	19.45 Miles	3,079 AEG

Hiking	19.45 Miles	10 Hrs 43 Mns		2.00 mph
	3,079 ft AEG	1 Hour Break	16 LBS Pack

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Hassayampa River Trail

Cooper Trail - Weaver Mountains

Seal Mountain - Weaver Mountains

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BiFrost

joebartels

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 :next:

[ 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.

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Height of Light Miscellaneous Survey Marker

Wildflowers Observation Moderate

	Cherry Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	Light flow to Cherrt Creek. Hassayampa flowing well here

	Cottonwood Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	Goo flow the entire length. Hassayampa flowing well here

	Hassayampa River at Williams Ranch	Medium flow	Medium flow
	Flowing as strong as I've seen

	Oak Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	Slow flow out of Oak Creek. Hassayampa has a real good flow here

	Seal Tank	51-75% full	51-75% full
	Plenty to filter from or let your dog drink from.

	Spring Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	Plenty of water.

_____________________

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

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.

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