Russell's Ramblings: Through the BCT to My Front Door

It's been about a month now since Craig and I backpacked the length of the Black Canyon National Recreation Trail (BCT). We hiked from the north end to the south and then continued on to my front door. How cool is that?

We started in the late afternoon of Thursday, December 30 after making three water caches and being dropped off at Orme Road and FR68B where there was actually a trail sign pointing the way. We made our way about three miles to near the north end of the trail. We arrived at dusk and set up camp and had a Subway and a can of beer each. The real hiking would begin in the morning.

The hike naturally broke up into four pieces. The first three were about 23 miles each making for three full days of hiking with the short winter days. The last piece was about 14 more miles, allowing us to finish early in the afternoon of the fourth day.

The first full day, we hiked from the north end of the BCT to the corral along Government Wash and Crown King Road. There is dependable water at the corral in a couple troughs filled from a trick tank. It was near dusk and getting cold when we arrived. After changing into warmer clothes, I was about to get some water when our friend Jeremy and his family showed up. They brought wood for a fire, some beer, hot chocolate, smores, and fireworks for a New Year's celebration. Life is good.

After they left, we called it a night. It was breezy and cold out so we moved our camp to an area more sheltered from the wind. Thankfully it wasn't as cold as the previous night. I can't remember the last time I was in bed before midnight on New Year's Eve.

It was cold and windy when we started hiking on New Year's Day but after a few hours it warmed up for very pleasant hiking. We stopped for lunch at the first water cache at the Glorianna Trailhead just off I-17 and Bumble Bee Road. We didn't make the best time with the morning hiking but made up for it in the afternoon. It was dark when we arrived at the Agua Fria River near Horseshoe Bend where we made camp for the night. It was a calm and enjoyable evening and being able to set up camp on the sand made for a comfortable bed. The river had good flow with clear water too.

Following an old stagecoach line

Halfway Done!

By morning it was a bit breezy out and chilly too but the trail starts out climbing so we warmed up fast. By late morning it was warming up and became uncomfortably warm by the time we reached our second water cache near the Table Mesa Trailhead where we stopped for lunch. There was a lot of people out shooting so it was noisy.

After lunch it was warm hiking until we went over a ridge where it cooled down as we dropped to the south of the Table Mesa area. From there, the hiking was very nice. We ended the day at the Emery Henderson Trailhead after a beautiful Arizona sunset. I grabbed our last water cache and we had a nice last evening on the trail hanging out under a ramada in the picnic area.

Crested Saguaro

Agua Fria River

Sunset

The last morning we were on the trail around seven and enjoyed a nice sunrise and then a group of wild burros stood and watched us as we hiked past them. The trail is very flat south of Henderson as it crosses Biscuit Flats and we made good time. After a couple of hours, we reached the south end of the BCT at the Carefree Highway. We celebrated by sitting down and eating some food.

We crossed the highway and crossed old ranchlands to 51st Avenue which is a rarely used dirt road. We crossed over Loop 303 and the traffic was so low we didn't even break stride passing over both the east and west bound lanes.

From there, we continued following 51st until we crossed the CAP canal. Craig had been having foot problems so he stopped there and my wife picked him up. I continued into Deem Hills park and finished up at my front door ringing the bell, "Honey, I'm home!"