Box Canyon and the Search for the Woodpecker Trail.

 

Getting There.

Around 9:00 Patti and I met the group at their motel.
From there we drove about 15 miles to Price Rd. just north of Florence; it is paved for about 5 miles.

A short distance after the pavement ended we stopped to air down.

A little further along, Price Road becomes Box Canyon Road.

We cruised along enjoying the scenery…

the cactus’s,

and the wildflowers along the way.

The scenery in this area is pretty spectacular.

Box Canyon.

Here we are approaching the Box Canyon.

This is entering the narrows.

We were following another jeep through the canyon. This picture will give you a little idea of the scale of the canyon.

The ride through the canyon just keeps getting better as you proceed.

Unfortunately the canyon is so narrow and there is enough traffic going through that with 7 jeeps we could not stop.

Here is a tenacious Saguaro holding onto the cliff side.

Once out of the canyon the desert changes color from the pink and red rock to the grey rock and brush.

A Wrong Turn.

I was looking for a wash that turned off to the right. Eventually I found one and turned right. There is a large obstacle that one has to get over to continue along the rail. There is a by pass but what fun is that?

After going up the wash a ways I started to think that this was the wrong wash.
About the time I had decided that we were on the wrong wash and was about to turn around when an ATV with some people came by.
I asked the driver if this was the trail to the big obstacle and he said that it was. We followed the ATV up the wash a little further.

The wash started getting a bit rougher than I remember from the last time I was here.

I had to do a little guiding for this spot.

We eventually got to the end of the wash. By end I mean that we couldn’t go any further.

Dennis M. tried it but even he had to give up.

As we were approaching the end, the ATV that we were following had turned around and was pulled off to the side. As it turned out they had poked a hole in a front tire and didn’t have a spare. I used my air pump to inflate the tire while the guy plugged it.

Eventually the tire got fixed and we headed back down the wash to the main trail.

Lunch.

Once on the main trail we drove a couple hundred yards and found the wash I was looking for. We stopped at the intersection and had lunch.

The Obstacle

After lunch we drove up the wash to the obstacle.

There was a couple guys in a Toyota pickup coming down the wash so we waited for them to clear the obstacle.

Next, it was our turn. Of course Dennis M. took the hardest line and made it look easy.

The rest of us took the easier route; the way the Toyota came down.

We all made it with no problem and we continued along the trail.

Looking for the Woodpecker Trail.

The trail climbed out of the wash, up the mountain.

You can see all the trails crisscrossing the hills all around.

Some how we missed the Woodpecker Trail in all that mess, and before we knew it we were on Cottonwood Canyon Trail heading for Hwy 79.

Oh well it was probably too late to do the Woodpecker Trail today anyway.

We headed back to Coolidge and had supper at Bubba’s Barbeque.

It was a good trip and we all had fun.