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| Canyoneering | 17.00 Miles |
2,500 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 17.00 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 2,500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The mileage and elevation gain are only estimates, as I did not bring my GPS. We didn't do this entire section of canyon, just hiked a maze of dirt roads above cash tank and then a mile or so of canyon.
The original plan was to park my truck as close to cash tank as I could get it, and then mountain bike the rest of the way to the trailhead, then hike down and work our way downstream to hanging gardens for the campsite. Camp 2 nights at hanging gardens and head back Monday. Well, this was immediately thrown off Friday morning when I woke up to find my catalytic converter stolen off the bottom of my truck. They could offer me a small SUV for a rental, and figuring the ground clearance was about the same, I accepted. Later I realized we couldn't fit two mountain bikes in it, so that idea was scratched. We would be hiking the roads.
Fr144 degraded really quickly, basically right at the turnoff for the Calloway trail, so we ended up having to park there, leaving a pretty significant hike to Cash Tank. I won't get too specific, but during our hike on the fs roads we missed two turnoffs, due to a combination of me leaving the forest service map in the car and the roads not having signs. We did a lot more hiking than we needed to and almost ended up back out at the 260 at one point. We finally made it to the bottom of the canyon by about 6:30 PM and there were no flat spots big enough for a tent to be found. We eventually ended up just throwing our sleeping bags down between rocks on a beach. I let Andrew sleep in the best spot because all he had was a sleeping bag and I also had a sleeping pad to add some comfort. That evening we were completely beat, but still had enough energy to have a small fire and some camping "drinks".
The next day we decided to just daytrip to the hanging gardens and camp at the same spot, so after breakfast we waterproofed and headed off. Swimming the white box was probably the coolest thing I've ever done. The water temps were absolutely perfect. Chilly when you first jump in, but very enjoyable within a minute or so. We actually swam into one of the side alcoves where there was a deep cave and climbed up the small cliffs and dove into the water for a while. A great swimming hole! We never explored the cave because there was quite a bit of scat leading into it  As we left the white box, dark clouds rolled in and thunder started booming. We talked about it for a minute and decided to turn around. It seemed a lot like monsoon and, although the chance for rain was rather slim (10%), i know those storms can be pretty unpredictable in the high country. It started raining while we were swimming back. Once back at camp, I drank two and a half liters of waterr, filtered a couple more, packed up and hiked out. The hike back to the car took about 3 hours.
Overall it was a fun adventure but somewhat of a disappointment. Now I know the area, so I will be back again very soon. Especially after Toddak's recent set... I need to see those gardens! |
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"Arizona is the land of contrast... You can go from Minnesota to California in a matter of minutes, then have Mexican food that night." -Jack Dykinga
http://www.joelhazelton.com |
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