Today we are trying to finish another section of the Black Canyon Trail. We have hiked it for quite some time and finished multiple section but we have avoided this one till now as it is a target shooters paradise for some reason and it feels like you are in a war zone at least in the first section. Today we park on Table Mesa and start south and even though there is shooting it seems a bit more distant than last time when we hiked here.
We start on the official connector from the parking lot to the Black Canyon Trail (BCT). It is a short hike and soon we reach the BCT proper and start south on the trail. Here we notice that the trail has new trail markers, nice.
The trail passes Table Mesa Road which we have driven up to here, it is really a major dirt road so we are happy to cross it fast and be on our way. The shooting seems to be quite close and it is scary, it should be forbidden to do that close to trails. Surprisingly we quite soon find wildlife, a couple rabbits that longingly look at each other.
And then…well it happens quite fast and we have no time to give them privacy and then they run in tandem away. Wow, that was unexpected…
We are still talking about the mated rabbits when we see our first and surprisingly only white-crowned sparrow for today. It happily perches on top of a tree for a few seconds before flying away.
Soon afterwards we have the next fun wildlife encounter. Two donkeys are watching us from a wash hillside and they also seem quite bonded. We watch them for a while before continuing on.
As we continue to advance into the wilderness the gun sounds abate. The trail is climbing slowly but the views are quite good and we enjoy them.
There are also some flowers on the trail and we enjoy taking photos of them as we pass them on the trail.
There are also birds, not that many as we expected, but we see ruby-crowned kinglets and gilded flickers and a few other birds along the way.
There are some nice views along the way especially as we pass the twin towers of doom as we call them, or simply two impressive rocks formations along the way.
There is a cache on top of a hill with a scenic road going to it but we decide to try it only upon return if we have time (spoiler: we don’t). Even if our goal is only about 2.5 miles out it seems that it takes way longer to get there than we expected so we only stop for caches right along the trail.
One of the coolest parts of the trail is the saguaro forest. It is quite impressive and it seems there is even a fortification on top of it, maybe it is natural but still it looks cool.
Surprisingly there are few lizards out and about today but we enjoy seeing one relaxing near the trail. There are also a few spots with quartz that are always fun to see, we always wonder if someone mined and drop them here or if they are natural.
We now cross another road and then the trail starts again with lots of switchbacks. It really feels we make no headway towards the cache at the end of the trail and the miles pass and pass.
With the rains in the last week the ocotillos are all green and we like how the ocotillos forest looks when everything is green.
Finally we arrive at our turnaround point where we have to find two caches one at the bottom and one at the top of a hill. There is no trail to the top and we have to be careful about chollas but otherwise it is fun to walk in a healthy cacti forest. We reach the top find the cache and enjoy the views while we catch our breath before descending.
We take a different route on return and we pass some remains of human habitation. It seems there was a seasonal cabin here and a water source for cattle but that was a long time ago. In fact from here we take the road instead of the trail as it seems the road is actually the same road we crossed earlier and it looks a lot less switchbacky.
It is a nice walk along the road and much faster. It shaves about one mile of our total 11 mile hike so it is quite a good shortcut and it is easier walking for certain. The sunset is close so the light on the desert is magical so even though the distance is shorter we stop quite often to take photos and just enjoy the views.
As we reach the trail we now continue back towards the parking lot passing sights we have seen on the way in but now they are in a completely different light, very little light in fact. However we see a bat hovering over us so that is fun and there are no gun shots anymore and that is even better.
As it gets dark we switch to headlamps and enjoy the great views of Venus and Jupiter on the western horizon. It is dark when we reach the parking lot and we are the last car there but not the last car on the road. In fact it is quite busy in the evening with many ATVs and trucks moving around but none of them towards the exit. We however move towards the exit and soon are on the interstate and then back home after a great day out in the sun.
