Maricopa County, AZ

Gila Bend - Expedition Camps #26-28

Expedition Campsite

At about one in the afternoon on November 7, 1775, the expedition left their “Lake of the Hospital” and made a tardeada west to a dry arroyo (Camp #26). A tardeada was two short marches between two places that had water that could not be made in one normal day’s travel. The encampment for the night between the two spots (in this case, Camp #26) was without water other than what they were carrying. Anza remarked that their camp was in the neighborhood of the Pass of the Cocomaricopas. Today, west of this camp and somewhat parallel to Highway 238, the Sonoran Desert National Monument (BLM) has a trail where one can hike a portion of the second stage of the tardeada. On the 8th of November, the expedition camped at a village they called San Simón y Judas de Uparsoytac (Camp #27). They rested here until November 11, in part because a woman who had a stillborn baby (on November 2) needed rest. This gave the colonists time for some needed chores, as recorded by Font, “…Since we were camped on the bank of the river, the people were able to wash their clothing.” While there, and again further on, Anza noted seeing more American Indians than during his first visit (1774), and attributed this to the peace with the Yuma people (Quechan) he helped secure during that time. Expedition Camps #27 and #28 were most likely located within the Gila Bend Indian Reservation, home today to the San Lucy District of the Tohono O’odham. Fortaleza, an important spiritual site, is located on top of a volcanic escarpment on the reservation in the vicinity of the town of Gila Bend. The site was probably settled about 1200 A.D. by migrants from the Tucson area, and contained three large reinforced adobe ceremonial chambers and rooms grouped in social units of two or three houses.

Petroglyph Site - Expedition Camps #29-31

Expedition Campsite

The expedition continued west camping at three villages of the Maricopa peoples the last they called Agua Caliente, for the hot spring of water there. Here, Anza selected a native, he called Carlos, as Governor of the Cocomaricopa tribe (Maricopa) who later traveled with the expedition to verify the peace with the tribe in Yuma. Today, the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site (BLM land) is within the expedition’s historic corridor. The site, on the National Register of Historic Places, offers a fine example of early petroglyphs etched on a small mound of black rocks. It also includes interpretive panels on the Anza Trail, as well as camping and water. Many other trails were near the petroglyph site, including those of the Mormon Battalion and the Butterfield Overland Mail. Near expedition Camp #31, an Interstate 8 roadside rest stop at Sentinel provides an opportunity for visitors to reflect on the Agua Caliente camp and to orient oneself to the Gila River camps.

Painted Rock Petroglyph Site

Other

Sonoran Desert National Monument

Other

Today, west of this camp and somewhat parallel to Highway 238, the Sonoran Desert National Monument (BLM) has a trail where one can hike a portion of the second stage of the tardeada.