G.E.T. Guidebook

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Segment 12: Gila Valley North  17.9 miles

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Segment Length	from PHX	to ABQ	Segment Status	Season
17.9 mi.	227		finalized and accessible	fall, winter, spring
Resources
OVERVIEW MAP ELEVATION PROFILE 4 G.E.T. Topo Maps 35-37 4 Town Guide: Safford 4 Water Chart 4 Image Gallery: Album 4				Additional maps: Safford 1:100K Topographic (BLM) visit PLIC website Land management agency: BLM Safford Field Office (928) 348-4400

SEGMENT OVERVIEW

The Grand Enchantment Trail ascends gradually out of the Gila Valley and into the Gila Mountains on our tour of this segment. The Gila Mountains of Arizona are, of course, not to be confused with the Gila National Forest in New Mexico, farther ahead on our route. This comparatively low-elevation mountain range is fault-block in origin, a colorful, rock-studded upheaval that defines the broad Gila Valley for many miles on its north.

The geology changes markedly as we enter this high-desert range. Gone from the surface are the sturdy granites, gneisses, and schists that form the heart and character of the Pinalenos, Santa Teresas, and other sky island ranges, replaced instead by the cobbly sedimentary and volcanic rock of the Gila Conglomerate. As is common throughout southeastern Arizona, copper is particularly abundant in this area, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by mining interests over the years. In 2005, the Phelps-Dodge Corporation (now Freeport-McMoRan) secured plans to develop a pair of open pit mines in the Gila Mountains west of our route and only a few miles north of Safford, an almost certain boon to the rural economy here, if indeed a permanent transformation of the town's very soul. And so our route looks on from afar, offering vantages from this range of the distant past, the heady present, and an uncertain future.

In essence, this segment is a lead-in to the historic Safford-Morenci Trail which we explore in Segment 13. Along with Segment 14, these three segments - collectively the G.E.T.'s "mining miles" - make for a good 3-5 day section hike physically linking the Safford area with Morenci and the historic mining town of Clfton. Segment 12 here offers the fewest water sources of the three. Be sure to carry an adequate supply out of Solomon, as Rattlesnake Tank, Boo Tank, and Bear Spring are all undependable. (Boo Tank is the most likely of these to have water.) Overall, the hiking route in this segment, a mish-mash of roads, jeep tracks, and drainages, is quiet and sufficiently remote-feeling, although it remains to be seen whether the new mine and attendant exploration activities will have an effect on traffic patterns along roaded portions of our route.

ROUTE DETAILS

From the junction of US 70 and E Sanchez Rd in Solomon, head north on paved E Sanchez Rd. Traffic is generally light, while bordering cotton fields lend a bucolic air. At 0.8 mile, the road spans the Gila River in its wide flood plain (el. 2950'), with river access available. The Gila River low water alternate route (Segment 11) heads west here, following the river's floodplain, an option for westbounders en route to downtown Safford.

Continue north to the road junction at 1.4 and take the left fork onto Airport Road. Leave Airport Rd at 1.7 (waypoint 12030), and follow the obvious drainage of Tidwell Wash north to 3.3 (waypoint 12040), where a 4WD road crosses it. Here, turn right (east) on the 4WD and continue to 4.3, where a powerline and its service road cross.

At the powerline, turn north onto the dirt 2-track service road. Pass around the east side of a substation at 5.3, ignoring roads that head west, and continue north. At 6.1, (waypoint 12060) leave the powerline service road at a 4-way junction and turn left (west) onto another 4WD track, now in BLM land where camping is allowed. The road ends at a t-intersection with Solomon Pass Rd, at 6.7 (waypoint 12070). Turn right (northeast) onto graded dirt Solomon Pass Rd. Vehicle traffic is generally light. (Westbounders note that the 4WD turnoff is located about 150 ft beyond a brown wooden sign.)

A windmill and corral appear at left, at the road bend near 8.3. In fall of '06 and spring '07 the corral contained a trough with some water, but this is probably often dry. Cross a cattle guard here. Just beyond, a lesser road heads right. Don't take it, but instead continue on Solomon Pass Rd to the next junction, at 8.4 (waypoint 12080), where a 2-track roads heads off at the 2 o'clock position (northeast). Take this 2-track, which parallels Solomon Pass Rd on the opposite side of the drainage. The rocky swath is essentially unused by vehicles, and is safer than the main road to Solomon Pass, where the two roads again meet. (Westbounders turn left just beyond the pass onto the 2-track.) Far-ranging views from Solomon Pass (9.5, el. 4540') include the Gila Valley, Pinalenos, and Santa Teresas toward the south and west, while in the opposite direction lies broad Turtle Mountain beyond Bonita Creek, both destinations northward along our route.

Proceed north once more on Solomon Pass Rd, descending among diminuitive high-desert ground cover to a pair of corrals near 10.2. The second corral, on the left (west) side of road, has a trough with float-valve and was full in fall '06 and spring '07. (The stock pond of Rattlesnake Tank itself was not visited.) Soon a 4WD track forks left (waypoint 12110), but continue on graded Solomon Pass Rd to 10.9 (waypoint 12120). Now take the left fork onto (likely signed) Salt Trap Road and continue north to 12.2 (waypoint 12130), where the obvious, gravelly wash of Bear Spring Canyon crosses. (Here the Spring Canyon Alternate route follows Salt Trap Rd another half mile, then turns left onto a 4WD road to reach the Safford-Morenci west trailhead in 3.5 more miles. This is the vehicle route to the trailhead, shorter but less interesting, and with less likely solitude and water, than the main GET route.)

The main route turns left (west) to follow the braided wash of Bear Spring Canyon (not Spring Canyon, mentioned above). Negotiate a wire fence across the wash near 13.5. Ahead, the drainage forks. Our route follows the left fork, remaining in Bear Spring Canyon, while the right fork leads to Boo Tank. (This is the farther of two earthen ponds in the drainage; the first often has water, and sometimes good pools just below it in the rocky wash. Camping is possible nearby in Bear Spring Canyon.)

Along the GET, reach a road junction in the drainage at 13.9 (waypoint 12140). Continue cross-country in the wash, soon ignoring another road that heads left back to the junction. (Westbounders (heading east here!), ignore the road that leaves the wash at right, which could lead you astray toward Burro Saddle, shown on the map.)

The next mile and a half or so generally follows the hackberry and juniper-lined wash of Bear Spring Canyon, with occasional stretches of 2-track road alongside the wash. The canyon gains an air of seclusion here, yet remains open with good views, especially toward Weber Peak on the southwest. At 15.5, pass an old gate in the wash, a cable draped between a pair of metal posts. In a few tenths of a mile, join the 4WD track that definitively leaves the drainage at left. The track soon contours through a shallow side canyon. Avoid side roads at left (which climb away). Rejoin the main drainage of Bear Spring Canyon near an earthen impoundment.

Keep straight where another 4WD road joins from the left (waypoint 12160) (westbounders take the left fork, staying in the drainage). Momentarily reach the head of the canyon at an ocotillo-blessed pass (16.7, waypoint 12170, el. 5100'), with commanding views of the rugged Gila Mountains all around. An abandoned homestead is visible in the canyon to the north. Our rocky 4WD track now turns west to another outlook, back toward the sweeping expanse of the Gila Valley and, closer, the San Juan and Dos Pobres open pit copper mines now in development. Follow the road northeast, downhill. Bear right at a fork, then soon right again (17.5, waypoint 12180) (westbounders take the left fork and stay left).

Our road crosses the wash containing unreliable Bear Spring. Turn left down the wash a short ways to look for pools in the bedrock channel. If unsuccessful, turn left again in less than 0.1 mile and walk up a short side drainage which occasionally has pools of water near its cliffy head.

The 4WD road reaches the recently improved Safford-Morenci west trailhead on the left at 17.9 (el. 4700').

3Segment 11

Segment 134