Solomon Creek Ranch

May 10, 2025

I wanted to do some training for mountain season so I’d be in better shape for some peaks I want to hike this summer, and with the higher elevations still socked in by snow and the desert too hot, this trip fit the bill nicely. I hiked from Highway 72 at about 9,000′ elevation, down about 1,400′ and three miles into an old ranch along Solomon Creek. There’s a shorter route with minimal elevation change along an old road starting at Morrell Pond, but this way I could toughen up my leg muscles and follow what appeared to be another old and unused road leading to the ranch. I had injured my knee a week and a half earlier but it wasn’t bothering me much at home so I figured I’d be fine doing this hike–and I was sorely mistaken. 😉 I hiked nearly the first mile along an ATV/jeep road and then veered off at what I’d assumed, based on the aerial imagery, was another road but it turned out to be a ditch.

Starting down forest road 212

Henry Mountains through the haze

Factory Butte way in the distance

Water lines for livestock troughs

Budding cactus

Down the road

Curious deer

Old ditch

That ditch drained into a wash that eventually reaches Solomon Creek right near the ranch, so at that point I picked up what appeared to be a stock trail. I was surprised to see cut branches in a couple of places, indicating that somebody has been maintaining the trail relatively recently. I saw signs of human activity both old and new: a scraper and many lithic flakes, as well as bootprints in the dried mud.

Scraper

Vestiges of a trail and a trimmed tree

Footprint in dried mud

More traces of a trail

Flowing spring

Lithic flakes

Upon reaching Solomon Creek I joined the road coming in from Morrell Pond and followed it a short distance to the ranch. There was perhaps some sort of gate at the fence surrounding the ranch, and various relics hidden in the sagebrush. Some old aerial imagery shows three structures on the site but only one is standing now. Where the other two were I found stone foundations and some charcoal so I assume they burned down.

Old road to the ranch

Part of a gate?

Not sure what this metal hoop was for

A dry Solomon Creek

Unexplained pile of rocks

Wagon axle

View south from the ranch

Part of a stove

Pit below what once was a structure

Structure foundation

Pot on a fence post

Wagon axle

Ranch entrance

The one remaining structure looked like a cabin to me at first, but after looking inside I think it may have housed animals. There were two small rooms on one side with narrow entrances and low ceilings, and in the back was a small door opening. A hay rake outside suggests that they grew crops but I didn’t see any cultivated ground. Maybe the ranch is so old that the sagebrush has reclaimed any farmland.

Structure attached to the main cabin

Front of the main cabin

Interesting joints

Inside the cabin

Right side

Small opening at the rear

Collapsed shed structure

Hay rake

I took a different route back up toward the highway that appeared to be another trail that mostly paralleled the other one. I saw an incomplete arrowhead and more chert flakes all along the lower part of the trail. My knee had been hurting a bit on the way downhill but on the way up it really started bothering me. The last 1.5 miles it was pretty painful but I just limped along taking it slowly. It was a relief to get back to the truck not just to take some weight off my leg but also from the heat–it was a bit warm even at that elevation. Before going home I drove around checking out some potential spots for a late summer camping trip but didn’t find anything that looked good, which was a bummer because I really enjoy this area and would like to spend a couple of weeks there.

Arrowhead buried by cow crap