An overnight backpack down to the Verde River to camp and fish.
5 of us headed out at about 11 on Saturday to hike down Towel Creek trail to the river. Trail is fairly underused and quite picturesque.
Cone Mountain where we parked - no parking at trail-head itself - about 1/2mile away.
beautiful rolling rough country as we approached the high-point before we plunged to the river
right at the top the ATV tracks stopped and we started down on a really untended trail to the Verde
bear track near Towel Springs - courtesy Dave.
photo by Dave
down, and then up
cowboy line shack
neat and tidy on the shelves, the rest? not so much.
Sinagua cliff dwelling ruins
on the way down some of us deviated off trail and followed Towel Creek itself to the flowing water in the Verde
frustrating day with cameras. First battery runs out in good kit and the phone pics are all over the place.
on the way out - on the right trail this time - photo by Dave
Trail was pretty good. Rather well marked with cairns but clearly it is little used. We saw 2 backpackers that went in about 2 miles, but after that, nobody. I like the changes in the vegetation from the top to the bottom. Lots of wildlife. We saw a peccary of about 15-20 – they were very healthy looking.
Our next idea is to get on the Verde itself and float it down a ways.
Should be good.
