"The Butterfield Stage Route"

The onset of the holiday season brought with it the cooler temperatures that we had been expecting since the beginning of November. Thanksgiving Day was the first day that the temperature dropped below eighty degrees, and the day after that was even cooler yet. That meant that it was time for desert hiking again! We had been planning to do some hiking during Thanksgiving weekend - of course, with the hubbub of preparing for the holidays, we did not make any definite plans until the night before. That was when John suggested that we hike the Brittlebrush Trail, which is one of the two trails that go into the North Maricopa Wilderness Area. Having been there before, while hiking the Margie's Cove Trail in February 2000, we knew that the wilderness area was very beautiful and was definitely one that we wanted to visit again. So, on Friday night before going to bed, John printed up the topo maps and tried to figure out how to get there. He then set the alarm clock for 5:00 a.m., in hopes that we could get an early start the next morning. Of course, it didn't happen that way. Although the alarm went off at 5:00, we didn't get up until 6:00, because we really needed that extra hour of sleep. We also didn't have anything prepared, with the exception of the maps, so we had to get all of our gear together before we could leave the house. As a result, it was nearly 7:30 before we left. After a quick stop to get bagels for breakfast and sandwiches to pack for our lunch, we finally hit the road. To get to the Brittlebrush Trailhead, according to the directions that John had found in our wilderness guide, the best way to go was to take I-10 to Maricopa Road then turn right. We would then take Maricopa Road for about sixteen miles, to SR 238 - the "shortcut" route to Gila Bend. We would turn right on SR 238 and pass by the Estrella Sailport (Skydive Phoenix) along the way (John remarked that he should have brought his rig). After that, we would find the turn-off about fifteen or twenty miles past the drop zone. John had the approximate location of the turn-off marked on the map, so that he could find it with help from the GPS - we had used the same technique to find the Margie's Cove West Trailhead, and it worked well. Now, to access the western part of the wilderness, there is only one access road - and, although it is difficult to find, we knew for sure that we had the right road, based on the description and its GPS coordinates. The problem that we had this time was that there were two roads: one went to the Brittlebrush Trailhead, while the other went to the Margie's Cove East Trailhead. The two roads were a few miles apart and could be found along SR 238. The first road required a high clearance vehicle only, while the latter required a four-wheel drive. Both of them, as we would find out later on, had Bureau of Land Management signs posted at the turn-off, but there was no indication which road was which. So, when we came to the first road, we were a little confused and did not know if we had the right road or not. Although the GPS coordinates indicated that we were in the right area, John was skeptical and suggested that we drive a little bit further, just to make sure that we were in the right place. When we didn't find the other road, John became convinced that we had found the right road, so we backtracked and turned off onto the dirt road. By that time, Mary was awake and needed to get rid of some of her pent up energy before we could continue - after all, it is difficult to keep a toddler in a car seat for that long without her becoming grumpy. After turning off of the highway, we stopped the Jeep and took Mary out of her car seat to let her run (or, in her case, crawl) around. While we were stopped, John consulted the map one more time to make sure that we were in the right place. The coordinates matched, so we were certain that we were on the right road. With that, we all got back into the Jeep and kept driving towards the trailhead. Upon leaving the pavement on SR 238, we entered into the Sonoran Desert National Monument, which was newly created by former President Clinton, as one of his last acts before leaving office. Although we did not agree with the way in which he handled the creation of the monument, we were very much glad that he had done it, because the Sonoran Desert is so beautiful, so pristine, that it needs to be preserved as such. It is one of those places that leaves you in awe once you first see it and draws you back there many, many times. It is an area that is not only rich with cacti but with history, too, as we discovered that morning. After several miles of traveling along the dirt road - which was, by no means a difficult road at all - we began to suspect that we were not on the right road at all. That was because we were heading in the wrong direction, according to the compass in the Jeep. Then, when we finally intersected with the historical Butterfield Stage Route, we knew that we were on the wrong road entirely. But that was okay! At least we had found something interesting along the way! We stopped at the intersection and parked the Jeep at the information kiosk, which was maintained by the Boy Scouts to preserve the history of the area. That gave us another chance to let Mary burn off some of her excess energy while we learned what we could about the Butterfield Stage Route. This route was once used by the Butterfield Stagecoach to deliver mail and transport travelers from Missouri to California prior to the year 1856. It was also used by the Mormon Battalion (www.mormonbattalion.com) during the Mexican War. On July 16, 1846, over 500 Mormon soldiers assembled in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to begin the 2,000 mile-long march to San Diego to fight in the Mexican War. Their journey took them through the Arizona desert, along what would later become the stage route. A roster of the soldiers who marched with the Mormon Battalion is posted on the kiosk. I was interested to see the name Pvt. Lisbon Lamb listed there. I had spent a considerable amount of time researching my genealogy over the past several months and had found the name "Lamb" in my family's history - my father's grandmother was a Lamb, and her family was Mormon. I wrote down the information on Pvt. Lamb to research him later, to see if he was related to me. (Although I did find his family tree, I did not find a connection to the Lambs in my genealogy.) While we were there, John consulted his maps and the GPS again, to try to figure out exactly where we were. We found that we were on the southern tip of the North Maricopa Wilderness Area and that we weren't too far from the Margie's Cove East Trailhead. He then discovered that, if we took the Butterfield Stage Route west for several miles (he didn't know the exact number of miles), we would eventually wind up on the road that we were supposed to take to the Brittlebrush Trail. He suggested that we do that, not only because it would be a fun side trip, but so that we could figure out where we should have gone. "Let's do that on the way back," he said, and I concurred. But first, we still had a hike to do. Even though we were in the wrong place, we were still going to make the most of it by hiking the eastern portion of the Margie's Cove Trail, from Margie's Cove East to the junction with the Brittlebrush Trail - a total of six miles round trip. We would then have completed the entire length of the trail. After a half an hour at the kiosk, it was time to go. We got back into the Jeep and kept driving along the dirt road - which, at that point, was becoming more rugged, but was still not bad - until we finally came to the turn-off for the Margie's Cove Trailhead. The turn-off was marked with signs and warnings to stay on the road, as the wilderness boundaries were on either side of the road. Much like the access road to the west trailhead, the road cherry-stemmed the wilderness area and dead-ended at a gate. There, we found a large parking area that was completely empty - we would have the whole wilderness to ourselves. It was almost 10:00 a.m. when we arrived at the trailhead - for us, that is a late start, but we knew that we could complete the six-mile hike in three hours or less, because we were already familiar with the terrain. (When we did the western portion of Margie's Cove to the Brittlebrush junction, we covered twelve flat, easy miles in about five hours.) Once we had all of our gear together, we began our hike on the Margie's Cove Trail. The trail started out on what looked to be an old jeep road, which, like the access road, cherry-stemmed the wilderness area until we reached the trail registry, a quarter of a mile later. From there, the trail continued into the wilderness along the old jeep road, which wound through the pristine Sonoran Desert. Another quarter of a mile after the trail registry, we came to a large fenced-in area, in which we found a stock tank, maintained by the Game & Fish Department, to provide water for the wildlife in the area. Once we passed by the fence, the trail kept going on the old jeep road until it entered into the wash. Like the western end of the trail, the parts that lie in the wash can be very difficult to follow, if not for the cairns that mark the correct path. The trail did not stay in the wash for very long; it soon left the wash again and headed up and over some small hills. Again, had it not been for the cairns, we probably would have gotten lost, because the trail was very faint as it traversed the desert floor. Eventually, we found ourselves back in the wash, where we remained for the last part of the hike. Unlike other trails, which involve hiking in a wash, this one in particular was not so bad, because the sand that lined the bottom was not as soft. That enabled us to keep going at a good clip as we made our way to our destination. Just after 11:30 a.m., we reached the junction with the Brittlebrush Trail, which was marked on our GPS. Of course, once we saw it, we recognized it immediately, because that was where we had stopped to turn around the last time we had been there! Upon our arrival, we stopped and laid out a blanket on the sand so that we could sit down, eat our lunch, and enjoy the solitude. Although we had planned to stay there for an hour, since we had the time, we decided to stay only a half an hour, because it was starting to get cold out there. High clouds were gathering, and there was just enough of a cool breeze that we were concerned about Mary. We had just managed to keep her healthy for two months, so we were trying to do everything in our power to ensure that she stayed that way for a little while longer. We started our return hike around 12:15 p.m. This time, I carried Mary, in her carrier, on my back, as I had not done so in a long time. At first, she was very excited to be on my back, and to let me know just how happy she was, she played with my hair. About halfway back, though, she fell asleep. The return hike passed without event, and we reached the trailhead at 1:30 precisely. After sharing our end of trail kiss, John handed me the keys to the Jeep and indicated that it was my turn to drive. Cool! I was going to get my chance at a real four-wheel drive road! Although the road going to Margie's Cove East was not as bad as we had thought it would be, we had no idea what we were in for along the Butterfield Stage Route - it could be better, or it could be worse. I couldn't wait to find out. We returned to the information kiosk at the junction with the stage route and immediately turned right (west). As we skimmed along the southern end of the wilderness area, we traveled through some of the most interesting and beautiful desert that we had ever seen. Along the way, we passed by a sign indicating that this also was part of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail (http://www.therapure.com/anza-trail/), which runs from Sonora, Mexico to San Francisco, CA. John pointed it out to me, and we both wondered what the historic significance was. (A week later, while driving to Los Angeles, we discovered the same sign along I-10, just before entering the Los Angeles area!) For the most part, the road was not bad and could have been passable in a high clearance, two- wheel drive vehicle. However, as we approached Butterfield Pass, that all changed. The route became very rocky and rutted - even steep in some parts. Then, when we reached the pass, we came to the steepest section of all. When I saw what lay in store for me, I stared at it and chuckled. "Yeah, right!" So, I put the Jeep into low gear, put it into first, and stepped onto the accelerator…to no avail. I did not give it enough gas, so I ended up spinning the tires in the dirt. For my second attempt, John got out of the Jeep to guide me up the hill…and since I failed once again to give the Jeep enough gas, I spun the tires again! Finally, on my third attempt, I stomped on the accelerator and got the Jeep up the steep hill! At that point, I was laughing, half out of enjoyment and half out of insanity - what fun that was! Coming down from Butterfield Pass, the road was just as rocky and rough, so I left the Jeep in low gear and let it crawl down the mountain until we reached the bottom, at which point the road flattened out again. After that, the rest of the trip passed without much difficulty. Soon after we came down from the pass, we came to another information kiosk and a circular rock wall that was surrounded by a wooden fence. The wall surrounded what used to be an old well, that would supply travelers along the stage route with much needed water. We stopped there to read the information on the kiosk and to let Mary play for a while before we continued on. Finally, we arrived at a junction, where we located the road that we should have taken to get to the Brittlebrush Trailhead. Now that we know where it is, we will one day go back and complete that trail, too! It was after 3:00 p.m. when we found ourselves back on SR 238. Instead of returning the way we had come, we decided to keep going towards Gila Bend, so that we could stop there for a snack before heading home. With a couple of ice cream cones for us and a box of animal crackers for Mary, the three of us drove home along SR 85. Another adventurous day was over, and though it didn't go according to plan, we still had a great time.

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