The area on the west side of I-17 between the Bumblebee and Bloody Basin exits is an area that we explored multiple times using both established trails such as the Black Canyon Trail as well as just going offtrail to whatever point of interest captured our attention. Today our goal is to explore the Black Canyon area, an area crisscrossed by trails and dirt roads.
From the maps it has roads entering it from both north and south and it also shows quite a few mines on the topo map. We try first the access near Bumblebee however there are lots of people in the area ATV-ing and we prefer a quiet hike so we drive around to the other entrance near Cleator. While Cleator (especially the bar) is busy as we leave the main road and drive away from Cleator there is no one around. After driving for about a mile we stop and decide to hike in the rest of the way (high clearance needed up to our parking spot but 4WD necessary when descending in the canyon. After leaving the car as we follow the road on the crest the views are very nice and typical of this area with mountains on both sides.
However after a mile the road starts descending into the canyon and after arriving at the bottom, about 400 ft descent, there are different sights and sounds. The trees are changing color, there are pools of water and birds are singing on treetops.
We really enjoy walking through the Black Canyon River wash and exploring, it is a very scenic location and there is no one else around.
The vegetation both on top and at the bottom of the canyon is interesting and varied with reeds and desert brooms being common near the wash.
Further up the hill the vegetation is typical of the desert with chollas, saguaros and prickly pears. Looking carefully we make one of our major finds right next to the road, a crested saguaro which is a relatively rare mutation.
But nature is not the only thing that we see in the area. There is evidence of human presence especially through the many mines we see dotting the canyon walls. We even hike up to one which actually didn’t seem that old but it also didn’t seem to be in use anymore.
There are also some nice views and everywhere there are remains of human activity mostly metal detritus from mining.
We also find proof that it is still an active mining area or at least there are a lot of claims staked on both sides of the road but there is no one out here and we do not see any evidence of recent mining even though somebody was nice enough to maintain the road.
As it gets later during the day we decide to turn around and we find a good point to do this as we discover stone remains from houses probably during the mining or ranching time of the area. We have hiked 4 miles to this location and it is getting late so we start back after examining and enjoying the historical area.
On the way back it gets chilly as the sun is not falling anymore in parts of the canyon and a cold wind starts blowing strongly at times. Still the views are beautiful and the walk in the canyon is level so we make good time back to our car and arrive right before sunset so we can turn around and leave the area.
Overall this area was beautiful at this time of the year and very quiet when arriving from Cleator. There are both natural and human made attractions so it is worth a visit if in the area. We intend to try to access it also from the opposite end sometime in the future to see if it matches in beauty with the area that we hiked through.
