ALAMO CANYON PASSAGE TRAIL

By: Ron Mc Coy

ALAMO CANYON PASSAGE TRAIL

I had made a resolution late last year that I wanted to ride as many new places as I could in the upcoming year. New challenges were needed in that I’ve ridden everything locally so many times that they had become old hat. Inspiration had also come to me by my good friend Greg Hersberger who several years ago said he planned to ride every horse location in the state of Indiana and since has done that.

Here in Arizona where I live there are numerous trails within an hour's drive from my home. The San Tan Regional Park is only 10 minutes from my house and the 10,400 acre is one of the most beautiful places to explore in the area. On short notice or during the hot summer days this is a natural destination. Right now, however, I need some new experiences.

The Alamo Canyon Passage Trail is near Superior Arizona just off highway 60 and is a part of the Arizona Trail system. I had my sights on this ride for some time and now was the time to pull it off. I’d contacted Harriet Georgopapadakos, who I’d been riding with lately, and after a couple of false starts due to illness and some bad weather that included some ice and snow at our destination, finally got this trip together in January. That Tuesday really was cool, almost cold as I dragged my gear down to the barn to saddle up my horse Lefty, knowing the almost always wrong weatherman who reported good weather had missed again. I’ll admit that the longer I live in the southwest the more cool weather makes me pull on more jackets, vests and gloves, seems I’m always cold.

Soon we were on our way on the 40 mile drive to the trailhead and a climb of 2000 feet. The trail head is off route 60 going to the town of Superior. There is a very interesting windmill and set of corrals just as you leave the highway and is picture quality. The trailhead had plenty of room for several trailers and is quite nice with vault toilets and a campground host. We were using my stock trailer, so we traveled with our horses saddled, cowboy style. That allowed us to get in the saddle sooner and on our way.

The immediate scenery was extraordinary. Picket Post Mountain rose to the East at impressive 4375 ft. and the snowcapped Superstition Mountains were to the north. The winds whipped down upon us imposing a chilly departure. The guide book and signs directed us to a south exit from the trailhead. However if you should ride here there is a hiking trail that allows horses leaving the trail head to the east and though this route is a little longer it avoids a lot of the rocky wash riding. It is very newly built or perhaps rebuilt with a constant long range view of the beautiful purple hued mountains and canyons. We however started out following the signs and guide maps. This part of the trail is a part of the Arizona trail which starts on the southern end at the Coronado National Monument which is just south of Sierra Vista and ends in the north at Coyote Butte which is between Page and Fredonia.

My guide book stated that you “clatter along rocky washes”. I like that word “clatter”. My horse Lefty and Harriett’s horse Gabby are the same age of 23 and are compatible in that they are very calm and travel about the same speed. Slow. Well they didn’t clatter along; they fumbled and stumbled through the large slate rocks that sparkled with brilliance in the sunlight from the high content of mica they contained. This rocky wash riding was a far cry from the normal sandy wash experience normally encountered. We traveled so slowly that we were off our normal mileage pace quite a bit and we were a little unsure of where we were. Feeling that perhaps a turn some where had been missed. None the less the Rock formations and views had us calling out
“look at this” and “did you see that”. I noticed much more Prickly pear cactus and far less Saguaro than what I’m accustomed to. Seemed like there were a lot more bushes and the Palo Verde and Mesquite trees were pretty dense. Perhaps because of the higher elevation we were at which may have been 2000 feet or so.

We missed our first destination and arrived at the second which was a set of corrals with a dismantled wind mill. From the numerous cow pies we saw I knew this was still cattle country. The roundups that I have ridden on before made me realize rounding up cattle here would be an extreme challenge in such a rugged area. After a brief stop we continued on our way and began to see some of the most interesting Cairns marking the way. Most were very artistically created and some were five or six feet high, one even looked like a man standing along the wash.

A group from the Arizona trail system was working on the trail and we were routed into the wash again. We did notice an alternate route back, however, that appeared to miss a great deal of the wash riding. A wind mill appeared before long and this marked our turn around point. Harriet had brought along a lunch and made herself comfortable on a rock and consumed it with great relish after offering to share it with me. For some reason I almost never pack any food. This has been a bad habit with me and one that I have resolved to change. We here in Arizona always pack plenty of water. One trick is to carry a one gallon zip lock bag which with a little practice you can give your thirsty horse a sip of water especially on those hot summer days or on one of those long rides that will revive them to some degree.

We were soon on our way back and I’ll admit the weather usually warms by this time of day, but we remained pretty well bundled up with the winds still blowing a chill down on us. Upon arriving at a newly reconstructed trail that we saw earlier, we left the wash and headed up along the base of Picket Post Mountain. The trail lead us all the way back to the trail head. The views of the Superstition wilderness lay in the distance of forty miles or so and occasionally Weavers needle would pop up. The late afternoon sun played all kinds of tricks with the colors displayed in front of us with some golds and purples on the mountains and sky constantly changing as the sun began to retire in the west. This was one of the most spectacular ride I’ve ever made proving that life is truly an adventure.

Ron McCoy
rksmccoy@earthlink.net

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