El Camino Del Diablo
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
El Camino del Diablo at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge boundary
Nearest city:	Lukeville, Arizona
Coordinates:	32°4′20″N 113°23′12″W / 32.07222°N 113.38667°W / 32.07222; -113.38667
Built/Founded:	1699
Governing body:	AIR FORCE
Added to NRHP:	December 01, 1978
NRHP Reference#:	78000560 [1]

El Camino Del Diablo is a historic Spanish colonial trail, originally from Caborca, Sonora to Yuma, Arizona, and on to the Spanish colonies of California. Jesuit Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino pioneered the trail from 1699-1701. The most difficult stretch of the trail was the 130-mile stretch from Sonoyta, Sonora to what is now Yuma, Arizona. In summer, temperatures here soar to 120 degrees F and people require two gallons of water a day just to survive. Many travelers lost their lives here. Most of the graves line the last 30 miles of the trail to Yuma; by one count there are 65 graves near Tinajas Altas. ^[2]

In recognition of its historic significance, El Camino del Diablo was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The heart of El Camino still can be followed by visitors to the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1939 to protect desert wildlife. The section of El Camino between Las Playas and Tinajas Altas remains virtually as it was and always has been.^[2]

[edit] Tinajas Altas

The historic campground at Tinajas Altas (Spanish, "High Tanks") features nine cup-like pools perched one above the other on a steep granite slope. When full, these tinajas may hold 20,000 gallons, but many wayfarers arrived to find the lower tinajas dry and only a few hundred gallons left in the higher pools. Some travelers, finding the bottom tanks dry, and too weak to climb to the higher tanks, perished within a few yards of water. ^[2]

[edit] El Camino del Diablo today

A four-wheel-drive trail crosses the southern edges of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. The trail is close to the US-Mexico border. A permit is required from the Cabeza Prieta NWR office in Ajo, Arizona. ^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• William T. Hornaday, 1908, Campfires on Desert and Lava. Reprinted Tucson; University of Arizona Press, 1985.

[edit] External links

• Trail guide and photo gallery
• El Camino Del Diablo at Desert USA

US Border Patrol helicopter along El Camino del Diablo, 2004

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