November 11, 2022 - Hieroglyphic Canyon Hike

Hieroglyphic Canyon Hike 

Friday, November 11, 2022

A beautiful hike on Veterans Day. We had seventeen hikers for our first hike of the season. It was great to see past hikers and welcome new hikers this season. A special thanks to Jerry for leading the hike. Parking on Baseline Road by the Golf Course was a wise choice today especially because of Veterans Day as we found out later the main parking lot for the Lost Goldmine Trailhead was full. 

We walked along E. Baseline Road until it changed to South Blackhawk Road. We kept walking a short distance and crawled through a steel gate. We took Cougar Trail and followed it until we saw a sign for the parking lot. We kept walking to the Lost Goldmine Parking area, where we walked through a steel gate to the bathroom facilities. Back through the gate, we turned left onto Hieroglyphics Trail. Saguaro, prickly pear, cholla and chain link cactus grow on flats and the slopes of the mountain. Winding our way up the mountain, first was rocky with small rocks on the trail, then became bolders as we continued to a scenic viewpoint. Looking down we can see a pond and hieroglyphs. We climbed through and around the bolders as we observed children jumping, climbing and generally had fun on the rocks of the hieroglyphs as we ate lunch. This was an out-and-back hike. 6 miles. 

What is different about this picture?

 We parked on the corner of King's Gate road and  Baseline (by a golf course). We walked along Baseline to Blackhawk. Continued on Blackhawk until we found a steel gate to crawl through. Then continued on the Cougar trail to the Lost Goldmine Trail trailhead-parking area where there were washrooms. We turned left to Hieroglyphics Trail.

Parking Lot

Summary: This is an easy hike along a ridge to the base of a canyon that contains water pools (most of the time) and a nice set of petroglyphs. 

Directions, Distance and time to Parking Lot: From Casa Grande, we travel the back roads to Florence Junction and west to Phoenix on Hwy 60 to the 2nd or 3rd light at King's Ranch Road and turn right. Continue on King's Ranch Road for approximately 3.5 miles to Baseline. Here we will leave the vehicles as there is parking on the northwest corner adjacent to a golf course. No restrooms are available here, but they are up the trail a short distance. We have a short walk through a residential area to get to the start of the Little Cougar Trail. It is 5.5 miles and took approximately an hour and five minutes.

Hike Description:  The Little Cougar Trail is fairly flat and through typical upper Sonoran vegetation. In about 25 minutes, you come to the intersection with the Hieroglyphic Trail and restrooms are available here. The trail widens and we head east for about 5 minutes to a steel gate and sign urging visitors to respect the pools and petroglyphs in Hieroglyphic Canyon.  A short distance later, the trail bends north and begins climbing gradually to a signed intersection with the Lost Goldmine trail. (about 5.5 miles to the Peralta Trailhead Rd.)  We continue on the Hieroglyphic upwards toward the prominent drainage to the Superstition Mountains that are above. As we enter the mouth of the canyon, there is an area of pink slickrock with (perhaps) small pools. The petroglyphs line the rocks around this area. We will have lunch here!

Hike/Distance: Easy and approximately 5 miles.

Weather Conditions:  Sunny and a high of 68 degrees.

See ya on Friday morning 7:30-7:45a.m. at the central mailboxes!