DWTH Day 11: North Maricopa Mountains Wilderness

Saturday, Feb 8th 2025, 0510-1800
Maricopa AZ238 rd. to mm100.5, section 2.
26.5 miles.

I woke early in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. The noise from the railroad and highway really started bothering me, even with my earplugs in. Actually, they were bothering me too, causing my ears to ache. So I decided to get up even earlier than usual and walk an hour or 2 in the dark. This was a great way to get miles done and avoid the heat. I would have done it more in previous days, but I’d been cautioned against moving at night while I was traversing a known migrant route. Now that I was past I-8, it felt safer. A 4 mile road walk was the perfect terrain for night hiking. Plus, I hoped I might see some nocturnal animals.

I was certainly not expecting the animal I did encounter. Shortly along the road, I heard a growl and bark. I first thought it was a feral dog, but then realized I was passing by a BLM campsite with some boondockers in residency. The dog’s growls were getting closer, so I decided to call out, identifying myself as a person just walking down the road. “Is your dog under control?” I asked. Reply: “No, but he’s friendly!” Typical. The menacing growls indicated otherwise. I could see the dog’s eyes glowing in my headlamp beam, his hackles raised, tail not wagging. He tried to circle behind me, as they often do, but I turned to face him. “Please call your dog back, he’s acting very aggressive.” I pleaded. They did start calling him but not surprisingly, he didn’t listen.

I shouldn’t have added this last part, but I was a bit pissed and scared at the time, never having to fend off a dog in the dark before. “I don’t want to have to use my trekking poles to defend myself, but I will if I have to, please do what you can to get your dog under control!” The reply: “if you use your poles on my dog, I’m going to use a baseball bat on you!”

Since it was obvious no help was coming from the owners, I addressed the dog with my standard and practiced defense of waving my poles, clacking them together, and yelling “no!” Thankfully he backed down pretty quickly, proving that animals are much more amiable than people. The owners were still yelling all sorts of insults and threats, so I decided it was best to turn my headlamp off so as not to give them a target to shoot at. I walked off into the dark, anxious to get away from the road and back into the wilderness where it was safe.

I have kind of a traumatic memory of a dog attack from when I was a child. My mom was out for a run in the country when a dog came out from a farm, ran across the street and bit her. I didn’t see the attack, but I vividly recall watching the blood running down her leg when she came home. I was pretty terrified of strange and loose dogs for a long time, even though we had a dog of our own, whom I loved. Really, who is a fan of uncontrolled dogs? Ok, maybe when I see a friendly doodle running up to me, I generally get happy and excited. I can read dog signals really well, but apparently dog owners can’t! Pro tip: growling, barking and raised hackles are not signs your dog is friendly! Why is this so hard? I digress.

In short time, I came to a wash and cross country section, just as it was getting light. Whew, made it! I guess my strategy of walking in the dark wasn’t such a good idea after all. But at least I got a chunk of miles done before the heat of the day. I watched a beautiful sunrise from a pass, which made all the troubles of the morning melt away. The rest of the morning was more wash walking, cross country and most importantly, no people! I saw a barn owl flying in one of the canyons, so that was cool.

For a large chunk of the morning , I picked up an actual marked trail, Margies Cove Trail, and had the luxury of following cairns for many miles. The trail led through a pretty canyon with huge boulders. It was odd to find this trail seemingly so far in the middle of nowhere and the lack of footprints certainly suggested it doesn’t get much use. Sadly, I did see motorcycle and bicycle tracks along the way, even though I was solidly in a wilderness area where no wheels are allowed. Obviously no one is out here to enforce this rule, so people take advantage, per usual.

At the end of the trail, I came to another BLM campground. But first I took a long lunch break at a wildlife guzzler with a huge tank. The tank appeared to be full, so someone must have been actively filling it, either via a helicopter or truck. Interestingly, I saw a helicopter flying away just as I reached the area…it seemed to take off from the campground.

Gathering water from this guzzler was as easy as opening the valve at the bottom tank. This was the first decent and reliable water I found in this section…some 90 miles in, basically at the very end. I didn’t really need water, having carried 5 liters all the way from Maricopa rd, but I filtered a liter anyway. At first I thought it was a waste of energy to have carried my water that far, but the new water tasted rather alkaline, so then I was glad that I did. The biggest benefit I got from the guzzler was the shade that the tank provided.

After a nearly 2 hour long break, I braved the heat once again. I fantasized about a cold Coke or beer as I passed a camper van, but no such luck. Then I met some jeepers out for a Saturday drive. Doug was showing his friend Kathy “the wilderness” since after living in Buckeye her whole life, she’d never been to the mountains. These mountains were so incredible too, what a shame. Though admittedly, the harsh conditions don’t make access very easy.

Doug gave me his number and offered to help put out water caches in the next section. He’d done a fair bit of backpacking and was also a rafter. We compared notes on the Grand Canyon for a bit. It was nice to have someone to chat with this day.

Doug and Kathy

I continued for a few more hours, doing some cross country, over a pass, and wash walking. I passed by 2 more guzzlers, all with very little and pretty foul water. My goal most days is just to just walk until sunset and find a small wash to camp in. It’s been really easy to find these soft, protected campsites thus far, which has been surprising. I thought it would be harder. I left only about 12 miles to get into town the next day. This was one of my favorite days, despite the dog, or rather dog owners, encounter.