KENTUCKY CAMP LOOP

MOUNTAIN RANGE: Santa Rita HIKABLE MONTHS: NOV thru MAR

TRAVEL MILES: 95 ROAD CONDITION: 2 (paved and graded gravel)

TYPE OF HIKE: C – Easy                                       HIKE MILES: 6.0

TRAIL CONDITION: 2 ELEVATION GAIN: /MAX. 800/5,226 FT

ROUTE TO TRAILHEAD: Take I-19 north to Duval Mine Road.  Turn right and take Duval Mine Road/Old Nogales Highway to Sahuarita Road.  Turn right onto Sahuarita Road and head east to SR 83.  Turn right and go south on SR 83 to Gardner Canyon Road.  Turn right (west) onto Gardner Canyon Road (FR 92) and go 0.7 miles to FR 163.  Turn right and follow FR 163 3.3 miles to FR 4085.  Park at the intersection of FR 163 and FR 4085.

Alternate route to SR 83 is over Box Canyon Road off Whitehouse Road, but this is dusty, sometimes very bumpy, and possibly unsafe with the sun rising in the driver’s line of vision.

PARKING AT TRAILHEAD: There is ample parking on both sides of FR 4085.

HIKE DESCRIPTION: The trailhead is the intersection of FR 163 and FR 4085.  Follow FR 4085 west for 1.2 miles to the intersection with the Arizona Trail.  Turn right and follow the Arizona Trail through a gate in the fence and until you come to a Forest Service Information Board on the left side of the trail.  A faint trail leads off to the left past the Information Board and along the wash/gulch.  Follow this trail of use through Boston Gulch for about 0.75 miles until you see a large pile of rocks on the right about 50 yards up the slope of the hill.  These rocks are residue from one of the hydraulic mining pits excavated in 1906.  Take the hikers up to see the pit.  On the ridge directly across the gulch from this pit are the large gate valves that mark the terminus of the pipeline which brought the water to the project.  Return to the trail and continue following it up the wash and through the gate in the fence.  After passing through the gate, the scenery in the gulch will become more spectacular.  Remnants of the pipe used in the hydraulic mining operation are found in the gulch.  Sometimes the trail will be in the wash and sometimes out of the wash.  Continue following the trail up the wash to where the wash forks.  Take the left fork and in a few yards you will see a faint trail off to the right.  You will shortly come to the slope where a miner’s tent camp once existed and there are many artifacts scattered about.  Retrace your steps back down the wash and through the gate.  After passing the pit you stopped at earlier, watch for a cairn along the left side of the trail.  At the cairn, bushwhack up to the top of the ridge to your left.  Look for the fence and head for the point where the fence makes a 90-degree turn and heads toward Kentucky Camp.  Follow the fence up the hill for about 200 yards until you come to the remains of an old water tank located just inside the fence.  There will be a cistern in the ground about 20 yards to the west of the tank remains.  Follow the fence line back down the hill to the 90-degree bend and then continue following the fence line down to the gate and the Arizona Trail.  Turn left and follow the Arizona Trail into Kentucky Camp for lunch.  After lunch, leave Kentucky Camp via the Arizona Trail out the south exit back to FR 4085 and follow FR 4085 back to the vehicles.

COMMENTS: An alternate route to return to the vehicles is to take the road out of the Camp up to FR 163.  Turn right on FR 163 and follow it back to the vehicles.  The hike gives a good overview of the history of Kentucky Camp.  This is a cool weather hike.  Refer to the Kentucky Camp History in the Library Reference link.

BULLETIN DESCRIPTION: This hike visits the sites of the historic hydraulic mining experiment which took place in the Boston and Kentucky Gulch areas in the early twentieth century.

DATA SUPPLIED BY: Bob Lund 3/1992; Updated by Tom Johnson 4/1999

LIBRARY REFERENCES: Kentucky Camp History; Arizona Trail