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| Hiking | 6.73 Miles |
980 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.73 Miles | 2 Hrs 44 Mns | | 2.46 mph |
| 980 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Early morning hike in the Goldfields. The plan was to do a short, intro hike in the Goldfields and then drive over and do a quick hike in the Hawes system. I don’t get to hike in these systems very often due to the traveling distance, so getting short intro hikes into both areas would have been ideal. However, a wrong turn in the Goldfields torpedoed this plan.
I got to the Tomahawk Mine TH around 7am. Had the huge TH to myself. I screwed up from the beginning. I didn’t download the route or even look at the map at the TH, I just assumed follow the road (Tomahawk Mine Trail/fs1356) and I would be good. There are two roads that take off from this staging area. One heads west and the other north. I knew the road (fs 1356) I wanted to follow came (upon fs 3512) from the west so I assumed that the road departed the staging area in a westward direction. Wrong!
I followed the westward road for about .8 miles before I began to second guess my route. I had hiked a couple of steep up and down hills and checked out a convenient bolder out cropping when the road brought me to the remnants of several cement features of unknown purposes. These structures were well made and still in good shape. Maybe 30-40 years old. I always enjoy coming upon things of the past and trying to envision how they were used. Not sure about these. From here, the road seemed to head to the south. Not what I expected. I followed road and it quickly petered out into hill. By this time I had figured out that I was probably not on the Tomahawk trail. Not wanting to admit defeat, I decided I would try to catch the Tomahawk trail from the back end. I knew approximately where it connected to the PaddleSaddle trail/fs 3512), so I decided to hike in that general direction.
Initially, I ended up trail blazing and following a couple of unnamed roads. This brought me to an either older, or perhaps less well built cement basin and stairs. The weathering was more noticeable, which made me wonder about its age. Kind of weird seeing cement steps (with a railing) going up the side of the hill. Didn’t really seem to lead to anything. Though there was an interesting stone structure built into the side of the hill. (The stairs seemed like overkill for such a small structure). My trail blazing eventually lead me to a series of user trails that tied into the Gold Miner’s Daughter trail (#311). (I came across this trail system (Sonoran Desert Trail System) a few weeks ago at the Hackamore TH. There are 9 trails displayed on the map, trail 311 being one of them. Sounds like there is more to come. The Goldfield closure that is in the news is probably going to tie into this). They are going to have their work cut out for them, if they are going to try and control and maintain this area. I used at least two user trails and saw a third in getting to #311. I imagined the more use this area gets the more the social trails will develop. Speaking of social trails, I followed 311 to the PaddleSaddle trail/(road) and then followed a social trail that took off to the west almost directly across from where the 311 ended. This user trail ended up paralleling the PaddleCreek and tying back into about .5 miles later. A nice alternative to the road that is the PaddleSaddle trail. Shortly thereafter, I came upon the back end of the Tomahawk Mine Trail/fs 1356.
Following the Tomahawk back to the TH was somewhat anticlimactic after my adventure to reach it. There were some initial steep ups and downs but it calmed down after that. I kept my eyes open for potential user side trails. I identified 3, one I think is Frankie Goes to Hollywood. With the exception of a couple of off-trail photographers I hadn’t seen anyone. However, on the way out I was passed by 4 jeeps showcasing their skills on the Tomahawk and then, as I neared the end of the hike I encountered a number of horse riders. They were having some sort of a memorial and they were sending out riders in groups of 7 or less. The TH that seemed huge when I got there seemed very small now with the dozens of trailers lining the area.
What was suppose to be a quick in and out turned out to be neat exploration at the edge of the Goldfields. There are quite a few official and use trails that need exploring! Not much wildlife, though I did see chipmunks and 4 deer. |
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