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| Hiking | 10.81 Miles |
2,049 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.81 Miles | 7 Hrs 41 Mns | | 1.63 mph |
| 2,049 ft AEG | 1 Hour 2 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Started off from triple arch/willow springs Trailhead at 8a. There were about 6 other cars in the trailhead. We decided to do this loop clockwise. The initial bit is on 4wd drive roads (FR12) before heading off onto footpaths (Javelina Willow Springs connector, Willow Springs Upper).
Early on, we encountered a sign that said historical marker with an arrow. We followed this sign but found no historical marker, so what is the historical marker and what it is for remains a mystery! In this area, there is a criss cross web of trails, so maybe the marker is on one of the others, but we decided to continue on. This is the only trail sign we saw all day, as nothing is labeled in the Goldfields, and I was surprised to see the marker sign at all.
By this point, the scenery just gets better and better. The Goldfields are truly beautiful with majestic rocky ridges with a multitude of golden colors, many covered with striking neon green lichen, and many majestic saguaros. A veritable feast for the eyes and soul!   This beautiful section is the Golden Eye Mine trail.
Moving on,we dropped into the willow springs canyon sandy wash for just a short moment before climbing out south on the willow springs rough N Ready connector over to rough N Ready canyon. We were hoping to see no people on these trails, but it was not to be. We saw two couples and 5 solo hikers, one of whom was complaining that triple arch is not triple and not easy to get to  .
We left rough and ready canyon to head up the drainage to black glass canyon and triple arch. The drainage looked doable, but there is a rather well-established and cairned use trail on the right side of the drainage that we ended up taking which worked well. It is a climb and a little steep but not too bad and with no exposure. It goes high, but eventually meets up with the route we had downloaded through this area. Looking down from above, the drainage way looked viable, but we took the use trail and opted for less scrambling as we knew more of that was to come. As you ascend the views just get more spectacular. The area just before dropping into black glass canyon has many trails crisscrossing and all basically headed to the same place. As you start descending into black glass canyon, triple arch is already visible down Canyon. It is a large and majestic arch, definitely worth seeing. We headed down black glass canyon (where indeed there are lots of black glass rocks that are striking) toward the arch. Just past the arch there are a couple of obvious trails up to the base of the arch, and we headed up. There is a nice place to sit and observe the arch just south of the arch itself, so we took a lunch break. We did go into the arch itself, and the guy that happened to be up there when we were also went on top of it, but that isn't for me.
After enjoying the views, we headed back down into black glass canyon and continued on our loop. Up until the arch, the way was more traveled with an established trail. Heading down the canyon now, the way was slower going in the brushy rocky black glass canyon wash. Before too long, the canyon starts losing elevation on the way back to meet up with rough N ready Canyon. This way would be not fun if the water was flowing. Yikes. Some of those downclimbs would be downright scary in water. I would say, for me, if water was flowing in any major volume, I would not have felt comfortable taking this route. However, all was dry, so we headed down over a bunch of dry falls and rocks. Down down down. There were a few sketchy areas, the worst being near the end where black glass canyon meets up with rough n ready. The section of concern was a large boulder choked drop-off where you can't easily see down cliff. Fortuitously, at that moment a couple was coming up canyon as we contemplated the obstacles and our best path dowm. As it is so much easier to see the path up from below, the one guy headed up a tunnel/hole in the rock easy peasey, so we went down through the same way down. There was slight exposure, but not horrible. And when we got down this main obstacle and looked at our potential paths down from below, we saw we indeed could have downclimbed where we were originally, but we weren't able to see the angle from above. We kept on going down through the catclaw until the drainage dumped out onto rough N Ready Canyon. Out of the shade of the narrow canyon, and into the hot dry sandy wash in full sun.
Lots of evidence of ohv activity in the sandy wash, even though we climbed up a 2.5 foot high abrupt rock step that was unavoidable. I don't know how vehicles navigate that. Just drop down? Just before that obstacle, you can see where a majority of the tracks turnaround but there were at least a few tracks that show people get down it somehow! We continued walking in the sandiness for half mile or so until we picked up the largely cairned willow springs trail east on the left bank. It was so nice to be on a trail again after the sand. 
This is the trail all the way back to the Trailhead. I read a triplog on haz about it going up and down and up and down, and this is a very accurate description. The beauty is that we saw no one the last half of our hike, not a single soul on this trail. As we neared the Trailhead, we saw a couple solo horseback riders, but they were on the trail one ridge over, as there are a number of east/west trails in this area. In haz, this was the northern most route, but there is another trail or two that are north of this one that are easily seen. I plan to head back and check those out this winter! Right now it is already getting warm out. Full sun on this entire section made it warm, but thankfully there was a nice breeze on the ridge. After a while, the power lines and AZ88 with all its cars come into view, and the end is near. It was so nice to have no people since black glass canyon, and the scenery is beautiful.
I would definitely do this loop again, but just do black glass canyon and triple arch as an out and back using the established, easier path. Another fanastic day spent hiking, yippee!  |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Few blooming shrubs along the way. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
I guess I'll be putting that pack back into hibernation! We left the parking lot with a handful of cars in it just after 8, heading out on FR12 before peeling off to much more comfortable walking along established trails. There appear to be a number of use paths in the area, none of which are signed....so if you're heading out for a Goldfields adventure, make sure you have your route downloaded, ideally showing other paths in the area in case you need to make changes on the fly.
We opted not to go for a closer look.
Route 
This beautiful section is the Golden Eye Mine trail. 
Lots of cool rock formations and stuff to see. Only saw a hand full of people all day!
The trails are unnamed and there are many spur trails as nice as the one you are on but I did end up where I planned to go so that was good. One more loop on Sonoran Trail #306 and I'll have a complete route. The longest hike we'll have to do is 7 miles so I think the turtle can muster that. 
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