Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cristate saguaro on your left—it's about 50 yards from the trail, so keep your eyes
open to see it.
Still going gently downhill, you'll very briefly intersect the national-park bound-
ary, marked with a wire fence and a sign telling you it's 0.9 mile back to El Camino
del Cerro Road. A few hundred yards beyond, you'll reach the Gila Monster Mine,
one of the biggest in the area and marked on some maps. Copper, lead, and zinc were
the major minerals extracted here from two shafts roughly 10 yards apart. It's closed,
as are all the mines in the area.
Several trails converge on this mine; you'll need to turn sharply left (northwest)
just before the mine entrance and hike on a narrow, ascending trail. Soon the trail un-
dulates up and down, one person wide, crossing minor washes, with saguaros of all
sizes everywhere. About 0.5 mile from the Gila Monster Mine, the Brittlebush Trail
diverges to the left (west) but is easy to miss. There is no sign, though there might be
a pink plastic ribbon tied to a branch or a tiny pile of rocks marking the turn.
Our trail continues north and then north-northeast to a clear junction marked with
a small pile of rocks. This is the unheralded end of the Thunderbird Trail, and if you
look left (west) you'll see a sign less than a hundred yards away. It indicates the be-
ginning of the Cactus Canyon Trail, your route to the Coyote Pass Trail 0.7 mile away.
The Cactus Canyon Trail soon crests a small saddle, and as it does you get lovely
views of Panther and Safford Peaks (to the left and right) on the horizon about 3 miles
to the northwest, with Picture Rocks Road in the valley below. Dropping from the
saddle, you'll note more signs of mining activity and then reach a sign pointing out the
beginning of Coyote Pass Trail, with Gila Monster Trail 0.8 mile away to the north-
east and Picture Rocks Wash Trail 0.2 mile to the northwest. Turn right here.
The Coyote Pass Trail is fairly flat, following and occasionally crossing an
almost-always-dry stream bed—to my mind, the least enjoyable part of the hike.
Toward the end of this trail are several Trail Closed signs; stay on the sandy creek bed
until the intersection with the signed Gila Monster Trail. This is the lowest part of the
hike, and you'll be gently climbing most of the rest of the way.
Turn right (roughly south) on the Gila Monster Trail, following a dry wash about
15 feet wide. After 0.1 mile, a sign on the left of the wash says “Windmill.” Tulips
abound. A short side trail, maybe 300 yards or less, leads to a small, forgotten wind-
mill perched over a concrete tank. One of the windmill blades reads “Aermotor USA.”
