Butterfield Stage Route

 The Butterfield Overland Stage Route was a mail & passenger route between St. Louis, MO and San Francisco, CA in the mid-1800's. My buddy, Kris, has been wanting to ride the route, or at least as close as he can, between Maricopa and Yuma. He had knocked out a section west of Maricopa last year and invited me to join him on the 60 mile stretch between Sentinel and Antelope Hill a bit west of Tacna. The route would generally parallel I-8 on the north. It was a flat route, but the big question was sand. Kris thought we'd be fine without fatbikes which was good since I don't have one. 2.6 tires would have to do.

Our finish would be at Kris's Mom's house at Antelope Hill. Kris's wife, Cheri, would drop us off and pick us up which really helped out on logistics. All we had to do was ride there.

It was about a 2 hour drive out to Sentinel across the Sentinel Plain, then dropping a short ways into Hyder Valley. We'd be starting on a remote dirt road somewhere in proximity to the Butterfield Stage Route.

It was a luxury cruise in Kris's big red van to the start.

And we're off!! Great riding conditions right out of the gate.

After navigating through and around a ranch we found this less traveled 2-track leading to the West Gila Ditch. It can be seen in front of the hill, the small embankment.

Our first side excursion: Sears Point.

Wonderful display of petroglyphs.

I'll have to come back here and spend some time hiking around the surrounding hills.

More info.

Steam rising from the Palo Verde Generating Station back towards the Phoenix area.

Brief history of our route today, part of our route anyway.

Theme of the day: Flat and some vague 'roads' or 'no roads at all!!'

Kris dropping in on one of the few downhills on the day out near Howard's Well.

Sandy 2-track in Park Valley. We'd be riding around the distant Mohawk Mtns. on the righthand side. It was a long range visual goal most of the day.

Our second detour of the day was near here. We stopped for a minute and noticed a kiosk a short bit away. We rode out to it half expecting a trail or some other historical tidbit, but it was just a random kiosk literally in the middle of nowhere with the same signage as the placards earlier in the post. It was odd that someone took the time to erect elaborate signage that had no real access or specific point of interest. 

Skirting around some private property.

It's not the prettiest desert out here, but you could feel the solitude.

This was another odd find. Not sure what's going on here, but it was off the side of the road. No structures nearby.

Our route curved north towards the Gila River channel, but before dropping down, we hopped a fence to continue heading west. There was some grading going on down in the river channel and we weren't sure what the goal of the project was.

Mohawk Mtns. grow a bit closer as the tarmac speeds up a bit.

Nearing the end of the San Cristobal Valley, we found this shell of a building at the end of a dry aqueduct channel. Palomas Mtns. to the north.

Nearing Texas Hill.

A short bit of overland riding and bushwhacking led us here.

On our approach to Texas Hill and the Gila River.

Kris crossing the mighty Gila River, aka: sand wash.

Up on the river bank, the riding sped up considerably.

Officially entering the agriculture belt north of I-8 fed by the diverted waters of the Colorado River.

South bank of the Gila River.

Early in the growing season here.

Miles of leafy vegetables.

Lettuce, spinach and alfalfa fields galore!!

Colorado River water up against the finally attained Mohawk Mtns.

The famed blue-green hue of the Colorado.

 A gravel grinders dream out here.

Our end point is near!! Antelope Hill.

Jagged Baker Peaks ahead.

Final approach to Antelope Hill.

Not a bad place for a Sunday service.

'A' marks the spot along with the red luxury van!!

We were treated to cold beers and delicious burgers, what a day!! Thanks for letting me tag along, Kris and to your Mom for the post-ride hospitality and to Cheri for the logistics so we didn't have to shuttle. Another piece of my AZ mental atlas filled in. Hard to believe we didn't crack 800' of gain over almost 58 miles.

This route would make a cool loop with the El Camino del Diablo route to the south.

Strava link.

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