Agua Fria National Monument was established by executive order in 2000 and at 70,900 acres contains over 400 archeological sites and four major prehistoric settlements. It has one of the highest concentrations of archeological sites per square inch of any national monument in the country. Located only 40 miles north of downtown Phoenix, the wilderness is a sharp contrast with the nearby urban center. The most famous of the prehistoric sites is Pueblo de Plata with between 120 and 160 rooms or Black Mesa ruins with its 15 foot tall walls of stacked black rock. In particular, Agua Fria Monument is famous for its rock art sites. My favorite of these rock art sites is Badger Springs.
The snow storms which visited the state on New Year’s Eve and day this year have fed canyons with snowmelt, canyons which have suffered from drought the last few years. The other day I turned off Interstate 17 at the Badger Springs Exit between Phoenix and Prescott, immediately north of the Sunset Point Rest Area and drove the 2 miles of mildly rugged roads to the trailhead. The trail is relatively easy, a one mile stroll through a sandy wash, water appearing and disappearing as it meanders across the sand. The water trickling across the flat expanse of sand means walking back and forth across the wetness, getting one shoes slightly damp and muddy. Like the water, what there is of a trail appears and disappears as we cross back and forth across the wash. Badger Springs Wash is a beautiful, fragile riparian zone with desert willow, hedgehog and pincushion cactus, and many different species of bird life. In fact, if you happen to be in Badger Springs Wash during the cactus flower blooming season consider yourself lucky as the steep rocky slopes are adorned with yellow prickly pear blossoms, pink pincushion blossoms, and the brilliant scarlet petals of the hedgehog cactus. The wash drops ever so slightly in elevation as it nears the confluence of Badger Springs and the Agua Fria River.
The petroglyphs are on the northeast wall of the confluence. There are about forty symbols drawn onto a few boulders, the rock images include hunters holding bow and arrows and lots of animals, mostly deer. The large number of anthromorph and zoomorph symbols in the rock art gives a general reckoning date of much later, maybe somewhere around 1200 to 1400 AD. These rock writings are six to eight hundred years old and I cannot help but stand in front of this letter written into the stone and try to decipher it. What were the authors trying to tell me? What does their written inscription tells me about the authors? Most likely the people who etched these petroglyphs onto the rocks were members of a culture that archeologists call the Perry Mesa Complex, a group somewhere between Hohokam and Salado. One of the hoofed animals carved into the rock has a bigger and more solid set of antlers than the rest. To me it looks like a moose. My friends tell me I am crazy.
The Agua Fria River does not usually run year round and our last few mild winters have meant this canyon was drier longer stretches than usual but this year’s early snowstorm means the narrow winding canyon should be beautiful all spring. This year, at the confluence of Badger Springs and the Agua Fria the water rushes over boulders, forming small cascading waterfalls and large swimming holes. There is something unmistakably soothing about the sound of a desert stream. Perhaps it comes from the fact that water is so important and so valuable in the desert. Perhaps it comes from the temporal nature of the stream, knowing that next time I come here the stream might be dry. It has happened to me before, enjoying a dry walk down the wash only to reach the river and realize there is no flow. The last time this happened to me, only the large pool right at the confluence held any water and my approach scared up both a cooper’s hawk and a blue heron.
This day the water is moving freely, many of the boulders it flows over have been gently rounded and smoothed by centuries of the river carving stone. I rock hop to cross the creek and wander down along one side of the stream, before rock hopping again to reach the other side. I follow the sound of rushing water, the wide shallow stream cascading over smoothly worn boulders. Swimming hole follows swimming hole, deep wide pools framed by rock, the sunlight shimmering as the ponds ripple. Badger Springs is a glorious hike when the river is running like this. Over the years I have taken many friends hiking at Badger Springs and many of them have curled up on a sun warmed piece of granite and fallen asleep. It is just that mind of peaceful place. On the hike back my guests are always startled when they hear the sound of traffic and realize just how close this piece of paradise is to the highway.