Page 64 - Walks In The Black Range

18. Black Peak Trail/North Wicks Canyon
Sometimes things don’t go as planned, sometimes it doesn’t matter. The trail mapping application I was using didn’t work on this walk (on August 5, 2016). But the trail finding is really easy. Park at the pull out (13 S 263873 by 3647239) for North Wicks Canyon east of Hillsboro and walk up the main old mining road until you are just below the summit of Black Peak (13S 263334 by 3649508) - about 4 km from the parking area - then scramble upslope until you reach the summits. The elevation at the parking area is roughly 1,673 meters and at the summit it is 1,896 meters, for a net elevation gain of about 223 meters or 670 feet (there is a bit of up and down along the route so the gross gain may be in the order of 250 meters). The detail from the 1909 USGS Hillsboro Quadrangle, right, shows the mining road as it then existed, now it continues up the mountain to just below the peak.
The map detail shows several mines in North Wicks Canyon, now there are many more - taking the form of adits, shafts, and trenches. The mine shown about a quarter of the way up from the bottom and right of center (with a road leading up to it from the main mining road) is the Wicks Mine.
The trail follows the old mining road, which has many forks and turns - but the general direction of the walk - up and north - will suffice for route finding. This is a typical walk on an old road in this area, loose stones, uneven surfaces, various critters like rattlesnakes and possibly larger fauna are in the area so exercise due caution. Be aware that the mining locations are, in themselves, generally dangerous and are subject to cave-ins and slips. Yucca is very thick on
some slopes, that and loose rock can make travel up or down the slope both tedious and potentially dangerous.
Additional photographs are available from this area at www.blackrange.org - see this photo gallery.
North Wicks Canyon, Black Peak at the center horizon.