Hiking in Dead Horse Ranch State Park and Coconino National Forest

Today was our first day camped at Dead Horse State Park.  Dead Horse Ranch State Park is located adjacent to and across the Verde River from Cottonwood, Arizona. Calvin “Cap” Ireys purchased Dead Horse Ranch in 1950. “Cap” told State Parks Director Dennis McCarthy that his children named the ranch. The first time the family looked at the property, they saw a dead horse lying in the field, and after looking at a number of properties “Cap” asked them which one they liked the best. The answer was the one with the dead horse. After they acquired the property, they named it Dead Horse Ranch.

Since this was our first day here, we looked for a hike to get to know the park, as well as the adjoining Coconino National Forest.  We found a 9-mile loop trail right from our campground which led around the high country in the former ranch, across the state park and through the national forest.  It led up Quail Wash, across a ridge and mesa, and back down Rattlesnake Wash before circling back around to our campground.

Our loop took us up the Lower Raptor Hill Trail.  At the trailhead, Kathy looks for the trail:

Our total elevation gain during the hike was only about 500 feet (we DID have to do that elevation gain and loss over and over again, so it seemed like a lot more).  However, that 500 feet took us through many layers of geology, including thick layers of rhyolite (tuff), white sandstone, red sandstone, chalk, riverbed sediments and volcanic rock.  Our first clue that this was a very dynamic landscape occurred early in the hike when we encountered this exposed face showing multiple layers of rhyolite and sandstone or conglomerate:

This history of this area as a ranch was evident throughout the hike.  Early in our walk, we encountered old fencing:

More modern fencing marks the boundary between Dead Horse State Park (where grazing is not permitted) and Coconino National Forest (where grazing is theoretically permitted, but where we saw no present evidence of active grazing.  Below, David examines the cattle gate and makeshift metal cattle guard stile at the border between the state and federal lands:

The spring bloom is still abundant everywhere.  Whether due to elevation, geology, region, climate, or some other factor, we saw lots of desert flowers we haven't seen elsewhere:

As we circled back past our halfway point, we were hiking along one ridge and saw a spectacular red sandstone rockface across a large wash below us:

We decided we had to examine it more closely, so as our trail eventually descended and crossed the wash, we hopped off-trail and bushwhacked up the wash toward the sandstone cliff.  Along the way, we encountered some gorgeous red sandstone or rhyolite ledges which would make dramatic cascades whenever water flows in the wash.  Here, Kathy sits on one of the ledges with a second red sandstone cliff behind her:

Because washes are unique environments within the surrounding area, they often have plant life that differs from the hills and ridges right around them.  We encountered this pretty little isolated grass peeking up from underneath a rock in the gravelly wash:

Soon, we reached our red sandstone cliff.  In the photo below, Kathy poses under it for scale:

As we climbed out of the wash on the other side, we heard two locals on mule-back approaching from behind.  We stepped aside to let them pass:

Back up on a large grassland that graced the large mesa near Rattlesnake Wash, we happened upon a beautiful young yucca plant, which Kathy couldn't resist tickling behind the ear:

At the 6-mile mark, we were ready for lunch, and we found our spot at the Rattlesnake Wash Overlook, about a quarter mile off the main trail.  Here we are huddling in some precious shade of a palo verde, with Rattlesnake Wash in the background:

And here is a view of Rattlesnake Wash itself, which we found very dramatic:

This region boasts many copper deposits, and the nearby town of Jerome was the center for copper mining during the later part of the 19th Century and during the 20th Century until 1953.  As we continued down the Lime Kiln Trail, we saw abundant evidence of copper in the soil or waters.   Anything exposed to either was stained a coppery blue, including this bleached piece of wood: 

The Lime Kiln Trail is aptly named because an old lime kiln is located alongside the trail down near the far trailhead where we would return to our camp.  The Lime Kiln was constructed during the mid-1880's to burn limestone and create lime for the mortar used in the construction of the Willard House and the Strahan house, two notable historic mansions in nearby Cottonwood.  We climbed a side trail and peered down inside the core of the old lime kiln:

Today, the kiln is about 6 feet high but it originally stood as high as 20 feet and had a solid cap.

The Lime Kiln Trail we were hiking is what is left of the old Lime Kiln Road, constructed at the same time as the kiln to bring lime from the kiln to the Willard and Strahan house construction sites. Eventually, the road continued beyond the Lime Kiln to connect into the Oak Creek Road, connecting Cottonwood to Sedona to the north.  The current trail still connects them, and, while a very long day hike, could be hiked between the two towns today. This route became a favorite route for early settlers of the upper Verde Valley because it was considerably shorter than the main road. The road was constructed for horse and wagon use and was abandoned by the time automobile use became popular.

Having completed our trek through history, we weary two returned to our campsite and cooled off with some lemonade before shuffling up to the shower house to get clean after our dusty hike.