Took Barnhardt up to the Divide and over to HCS this weekend. Lovely temps and even a little warm during the day. Saw a large group (~10) heading down to see the falls from below, not sure if they were HAZ folks or not. We explored around camp into the chain of smaller falls and pools that lead down to the big falls. At dusk we were joined by an AZT thru-hiker from Australia; he had just hit mile 424. We of course gave him a beverage and spent the night swapping stories around the fire. Great trip and can't wait to see more of this incredible area.

The planned route was an attempt to follow @Lizard's original Club Cabin description with two key differences: I wanted to reverse it and use Sandy Saddle to go up (instead of Half Moon / Rock Creek). However, things didn't go well and I ended up bailing on the last leg.

Barnhardt #43
First time heading up this trail in daylight. Starting to get a bit overgrown in sections, all friendly green stuff that never hurt nobody. Bumped into a yuge group (12+) from Prescott Comm. who were doing a 3-week trip from here to Fossil Creek. These would be the last people I'd see in... a long time.

Sandy Saddle #231
Good grief. Even getting to Castersen Seep involved trekking-poles-above-head wading through the manzanita. There are sections of defined tread and clear track, they are just few and far between. Castersen was okay, few tanks w/ skunky water. Had a hard time tracking trail over to the next wash, and that last climb doesn't believe in switchbacks. Made it to the saddle proper with the sunset, a solid hour behind schedule. This would make a decent camp, plus there were tanks few hundred yards to the west for water. Unsure of how dependable they are.

Anyways, didn't even try to look for tread coming down the west side, just dropped in the drainage and followed it down. The wash was easy enough to navigate in the twilight / moonlight and I made it to Divide Trail, then Horse Camp Seep, without needing headlamp. Rehydrated and snoozing in hammock by ten.

Mazatzal Divide #23
As usual, big views. Was cool to look down from the ridge above the Park and try to track where Willow Spring plays on 6351'. Trail is in great shape. Thought about pushing on to Pete's Pond to camel up and didn't - stupid mistake.

Willow Spring #223
Heh. That first mile is turrible. Deadfall wasn't really a problem, more the manzanita and loose rocks underfoot. Found no cairn or tread along the way. Got a gnarly bloody nose here too thanks to a face-whacking branch, took way too long to stem the flow. Things got better on the ridge, with old tread and game trails providing an easier way forward through the shorter brush. Views across Maverick Basin were ridiculously awesome, too.

The dance along the side of 6351' was annoying, with the trail fading in and out of existence and too few cairns to connect the dots, and a pretty steep hillside to work along. Short section of good trail on the drop until it faded out again and I ended up taking a rocky drainage down to wash below. At this point I was starting to run low on water and decided to stick to the sandy wash in hopes of finding water (and maybe to avoid the manzanita/deadfall mix that waited on the southern bank). Found a decent tank (though I suspect it was only there from last night's rain) and filtered up, spooked an elk while packing up, and then hacked my way back up to trail.

Things gradually got easier along the ridge and, by the time I bumped into the Midnight Mesa Junction, the trail was straightforward to pick out. Dancing along the side of Midnight Mesa was downright fun, and the rest of the hike to Mountain Spring was enjoyable as well. Reached the spring with two hours of daylight for camp chores and treated myself to some homemade thai curry mix and a quick trough-side rinse-off.

Aside from the second night: at about ten at night that elk showed up for a drink. Darn thing was less than ten feet away before I realized he wasn't another tiny nocturnal rodent. Seeing a giant rack upside down, looking down on you as you cowboy-camp, is a hell of a way to wake up. Spooked him off and then fell back asleep to his annoyed bugles. Elk sound silly when they're angry.

Deadman #25
Getting to the junction is easy to follow, and there is a good path w/ cairns that lead down to Horse Creek. And then it disappears. Tried going up and down the banks a few time to find where it climbs and eventually just hacked up the hill. It's frustrating, because there are two old barbed fences to cross, and one would think that there'd be a gate or cairn or something to mark where you're supposed to pass through them - nothing. Got to practice my Zeta-Jones skills squeezing underneath the wires, at least. Tread shows up at the next drainage crossing and is easy to follow for the next mile, then gets faint on the long drop to Deadman Creek.

Deadman Creek seems to be dependable here, with lots of friendly trees and some reeds growing around the trickling waters. Trail was hard to track on the other side - I crossed, got to the corral, and then followed the fence east, and then lost it. Think I should have gone further east. Anyways, hacked my own way up some turrible brush and then picked a route up the hill. Found a few cairns but the tread wasn't trackable for too long. Felt like it took forever to climb up to the saddle. Once I reached the top, feeling a bit light-headed from the growing heat, I was immediately stung several times by a wasp. Made it down to the junction w/ Davenport Trail before the reaction started getting serious.

This is when things get a bit blurry. I reached out to wife (@klemerick) via inReach and let her know what had happened. I decided to head up to Club Cabin and rest for a while, took every ounce of energy to make it up that hillside - something was definitely off, either from heat or sting or both. Once I got there I remember wandering around, uncertain of what to do next, taking almost an hour before realizing that I should be drinking water given the 100+ temps. @klemerick was in constant contact and she decided that I needed to get out of there the fastest way possible, down Davenport, and that she and @reynchr would help me out along the way. Spent the rest of the day futzing around the cabin, not doing much of anything, mostly trying to get a grip on things. It was terrifying.

Davenport #89
Woke up the next morning feeling slightly better, still off. Those little climbs, especially near Rock Spring, kept knocking the wind out of me. At least the path was easy to track after the last few days - think I only lost it twice, and was able to quickly backtrack and get back on it. Don't know how I had such a hard time following it last year lol. Made it about halfway down that last mesa, outside the wilderness boundary, when a USFS truck showed up to give me a ride the rest of the way.

My rescuers, @klemerick and @reynchr, had spent the night at Sears Trailhead and left a water cache for me there while they went back and tried to find a way to get their vehicle across the Verde. By sheer luck they bumped into a ranger at the camp and explained the situation. He had access to the dam gates and drove over to save me the last four miles of hiking, which was definitely appreciated. Made it out of there in relatively good shape, though I was still shaky and weird from the day before. I have no idea how I would have gotten out of there without their help, though - trying to cross back over to Barnhardt would have been far outside my capabilities in my shape. Am very grateful for them.

Mazatzal Miles: 164.6/275 (60%)

Great overnight trip with a friend and the dogs to see the big falls. We hooked up with a solo backpacker and his pooch on the way to Horse Camp Seep and he hiked with us the rest of the way. Great camp company and a fantastic weekend. It was pretty breezy but the temperatures were cool and perfect.

Mazzie Waterfall Tour 2017. Slept at the TH Friday night and before the hike even started I spotted a Teva, a Tortoise & an Eagle on Saturday a.m. Nice to meet you fellas. Myself, Dallin & Bradley set off up Y Bar first. Looks like some work was done on Y Bar. Still rocky as ever, but some of the old deadfall was removed and replaced by new deadfall. No navigational issues here. Water flowing from every drainage. We hit the Divide and set out for Bear Spring and a lunch break. Essentially, all we did was add 2 hours of snow plowing by adding this trip. Good times, though. There was plenty of new deadfall along this stretch that we have previously cleared. Bear Spring was not the oasis it usually is during warmer months. It's currently still snowed in. There were a couple of 'unnamed' falls along the Divide between Y Bar and Bear Spring. The Divide Trail was a real treat this weekend. Patches of snow and plenty of water. We didn't even carry any water. Get thirsty, drink from the next drainage. We arrived at Horse Camp with wet feet, set up, and me and Dallin took off for Deadman Falls by following the creek there. Truly, a spectacular sight. Cacti and pines below a huge waterfall and neat geology. We ran into a group of backpackers I had chatted with at the TH. They were camping right at the edge of Sandy Saddle Falls. Back at camp, we enjoyed a very comfortable night, huge fire & an early a.m. sprinkle or two. Sunday a.m. we were off and headed up Rock Creek Trail. Not much of a trail to begin with. We followed the path of least resistance until finding cairns and the actual 'trail' which still requires pushing through manzanita. The other side of Rock Creek Trail is pure beauty. Perhaps one of my favorites. A snowy, pine covered hillside to the North meets a rocky, cacti & manzanita covered hillside with a raging creek in between. The views of the Mazzies, Tonto Basin and beyond are amazing, as well. After some steep downhill, we were cruising and missed the Half Moon junction. A quick uphill bushwack straightened us out. Half Moon Trail was the biggest unknown for me on this trip. Turned out the be in much better shape and more scenic than I imagined. Where the trail disperses, cairns are there to guide you. The 2 big seas of catclaw are impressive. We finished back at the Barnhardt TH just as storms moved in. Ended a great trip with the first thunder/lightning show of the year.

Wildflowers
Saw a few small species of blooms. The show is just getting started.

Went out for a night under the stars. Morning rain had just ended when I started so the road was a mess but I had the place to myself. The hike up Barnhardt and over to camp was awesome. A couple of locust patches on Barnhardt but nothing terrible. Had some overcast and generally cooler temps with not a storm in sight all day and night. The Divide is in great shape through this stretch. Made it to camp and found plenty of water and had time to set up and gather firewood before dinner. The noseeums and mosquitos were nearly unbearable. Fell asleep to frog songs and some kind of blue fireflies. Planned on sleeping in a little but got a 5am thunder wake-up call so I packed up and got moving. Watching lightning strikes through Deadman Canyon was an amazing sight. Before reaching the Barnhardt junction the skies opened up and deafening thunder rumbled all around. The intense stuff only last 30mins before turning to a light rain. I was soaked from pushing through wet vegetation and stopped at Big Kahuna for a minute once the rain let up. Ran into Dallin and Alex coming up the trail. We watched as blue skies emerged and I decided to join them on a trip back up to the Divide and return to the TH on what turned out to be a gorgeous day in the Mazzies with some good company.

* Back-posting for the memories *

After an ...interesting... introduction to the Mazzies a month ago it seemed right to give the eastern side a try. After all, the eastern side sees more traffic and thusly would have better trails. Armed with lighter gear, new boots, and wide-eyed optimism I concocted a hair-brained plan to hike up the Divide, descend down Davenport, swing over to Deadman, and then do something Willow Springs or Wet Bottom. LOL.

Y-Bar Trail
This is a fantastic trail. It climbs steadily and easily and goes through a wide variety of flora. This was my first time on any eastern trail and my biggest issue was keeping my jaw from dropping with all the fantastic scenery. Trail was in good shape, only a few deadfall to step over, and I made it up to Windsor Spring in good spirits and good time. Even watered up at an unnamed spring above Y-Bar Tanks and successfully used the Sawyer Mini.

Mazatzal Divide (from Windsor to Horse Camp Seep)
A brief break at Windsor and I set down the divide trail in a half-trot. Passed a group of backpackers heading southbound and shared the water situation w/ them. They told me Barnhardt was overgrown (this was 2016, after all) and they had the cuts to prove it. After them I cruised past the Barnhardt junction, thankfully oblivious to the Brody Seep 'shortcut', and watered up at some tanks before Chilson.

It was about noon by now so I made a half-attempt at finding then eastern end of Davenport. Half because my heels were starting to hurt from the new boots and because the brush was thick. After wandering right into a giant anthill I called it and went back to pout at the picnic table. Then I went up to check on Chilson Spring and came away disappointed. Morning momentum was gone and afternoon frumps were setting in. I didn't want to bail so early so I meandered aimlessly down the Mazatzal Divide without a clear plan. Some portions were clear, some portions stabbed at my shins. A few of the Deadman tributaries had stale pools of water with bees circling around them. When I reached Horse Camp Seep I was drained. Plopped down next to the tanks and enjoyed a long lunch and lots of water. While I was resting an AZT thru-hiker came in and we had a good long chat about life.

Still optimistic, even with my heels starting to bleed, I decided to push on to Hopi Spring and maybe The Park. I could try to turn this into a Rock Creek Loop or maybe reverse direction from my original plan. Once I made it to Hopi, though, I was done. Checked out the water source, lamented the condition of Rock Creek Trail on the eastern slope, and balked at the climb left to The Park. Retreated to Horse Camp Seep to see two AZT thru-hikers instead of just one (is that how that works?) and then set up camp for the night.

Camp
This time I was armed with a lighter sleeping bag (Sea to Summit 50°F) and a mosquito net, plus an Eslit solid fuel stove. Saved some serious weight. Stove worked okay and the temps dropped well below 50. Ended up using a tarp as a blanket, which got me through the night just fine. Overall a better night than out by Club Cabin. Woke up with a sour gut and limped out with the sun rise.

Retreat down Barnhardt
Was tempted to check out Sandy Saddle and then wasn't when I saw the 'junction'. (Yes, I was bad at researching trail conditions in 2016. I'm slightly better now.) Trundled back past Chilson and had breakfast at the lovely giant tree W of Barnhardt Junction. Even saw some deer while I was sipping coffee, first ones I've seen in AZ. Then it was down Barnhardt. It was somewhat overgrown, not as bad as I expected, and the scenery was lovely. My heels were not. By the time I reached the trailhead my socks were half red.

And that was the last +5 mile hike I used Keen Targhees on.

Mazatzal Miles: 30.4/274 (11.1%)

I had some PTO to burn & Kyle was interested in spending an overnighter at Horse Camp Seep in the Mazatzal Wilderness. Everything came together quickly & we headed out Friday morning.

We arrived at the Barnhardt TH around 9am to an empty parking lot. We geared up & headed out. We cruised up the trail & took a short break at Big Kahuna. From there we made steady progress & continued north on the Divide Trail to Chilson Camp where we took our lunch. The camp has a water cache of at least ten gallons without a note or a date. After lunch we hiked the last few miles to Horse Camp Seep & settled in for the afternoon. We set up camp & then gathered additional firewood & then hiked over to the two waterfalls over Deadman Canyon. The falls were still flowing but were much lighter compared to last month when another HAZ group visited. We spent some time exploring the area & returned to camp for sunset. I brought a foil dinner loaded with steak, onions & potatoes. It was delicious cooked over the fire coals.

We woke on day two & took our time as we ate, filtered water & tore camp down. We started hiking around 9:30am & headed north on the Divide Trail & connected onto the Rock Creek Trail. We were prepared for heavy Manzanita & ongoing route finding issues. I constantly checked route scout for the preloaded route & this kept us pointed in the right direction. We eventually topped out & started our descent on the east side. The route is more discernible as we headed down. A few minutes later we saw a person hiking up. It turned out to be Haz member Mr14ner. It was good meeting you!

We continued down & had a few more sections with route finding issues but no significant issues. We eventually dropped into the drainage and admired the waterfalls that had a good flow coming over them. The rest of the descent flew by as there are obvious signs of trail clearing completed in the past year or so. We hit the Half Moon trail and continued on taking a few breaks to rest and giving time to Lily to drink water from the creek. We were back to the Barnhardt Trailhead around mid-afternoon.

This was a tough and rewarding hike! The Horse Camp Seep area is fantastic and I’m glad we stayed there for the night. The Rock Creek Trail has some tough sections but is fantastic overall! Thanks Kyle for organizing this one. The Mazzies never disappoint!

I've done this loop a few times but never as a backpack so me, 9L, and Lily decided to go for it while the water and waterfalls are plentiful out there. This is definitely one of my favorite loops. We started up Barnhardt and quickly made it to Chilson Camp for lunch. Then we headed to Horse Camp Seep to set up camp. After a short rest, we backtracked to the north fork of deadman canyon falls. I headed back the same way with Lily and 9L decided to take Deadman Creek back to camp though he eventually got forced out and bushwacked along the west side.

We had a nice fire-- wood is plentiful. What we assumed was probably a maintenance crew left quite a few nice big logs cut there. 9L is a nice guy so we only burned one and left the rest for future campers.

We didn't really rush around the next morning and probably finally started hiking around 9:30ish. We forced our way up Rock Creek. There's very little sign of the trail on that side. We'd pick it up every now and then but mostly we just pushed through manzanita. I didn't make Lily wear her pack for this trip because I figured that would make this stretch near impossible for her. Closer to the saddle, the trail does become more obvious and then its pretty clear the whole rest of the hike. Whoever has been doing maintenance out there the last couple years is a god. We also ran into our only fellow hiker on Rock Creek who recognized Lily from HAZ-- nice to meet you, Roger.

We finally hit Half Moon which at this point was a bit more challenging than I remembered (even with Chumley's makeover)-- possibly because it was getting a little toasty and I was ready to be done. I was also breaking in a new pack which is much bigger than my normal one. Half Moon is actually pretty annoying-- up and down, in and out of drainages the entire way, successfully and unsuccessfully dodging cow pies. Lily was obviously getting tired and hot too but luckily water was flowing in a couple places the last mile or so and that really got her going.

Still lovin' those mazzies!

I joined Chumley, Joel and Karl for an overnight trip into the Mazatzals this weekend. It took me until 9 in the morning on Saturday to determine I wanted to go, so I got a pretty late start, but that was part of the plan if I was going to meet them up there anyways. I knew Chumley and Joel planned on chasing waterfalls, but I was just happy to get out for an over-nighter and stay at the nice campsite near Horse Camp Seep that I had passed so many times before.

Hike Arizona had the parking lot on lock down with three of four vehicle sporting HAZ stickers, as not only were Chumley and some of his followers in the area, but Bruce and Dave1 were also rumored to be in the area. Barnhardt Trail is saturated with water water right now as nearly every drainage and secondary wash nearly from the start of the trail to the divide is running right now. As one might expect, Barnhardt Canyon is rocking and rolling with picturesque falls and cascades in places I have never seen before. Then there were some pretty significant trudges through snow during the last few miles to the divide. I ran into Dave and Bruce about a mile or so from the divide, but our exchange was short, as I was starting to feel worried about hitting camp before dark. That snow slowed my pace down some and fatigued me a tad. But, I learned there were favorable trail conditions ahead from Bruce and Dave and this picked me up some.

The Divide Trail pretty much signaled an end to the worst of the snow and the hiking was pretty smooth going. A little muddy in spots and some overgrown sections as usual, however, the running water really had the surrounding country in rare form. I reached the boys during their falls photo shoot. Joel was standing on top of Deadman and I could hear Karl and Chumley scrambling around somewhere else. I took my obligatory photos and headed to camp about 45 minutes ahead of the sunset.

It was good times at the camp fire as usual. A little windy, but overall a perfect night for winter camping. Woke up around sunrise with Karl and Joel. Karl and I made coffee and enjoyed the fire, while Joel went off to shoot. I took my time getting ready and left camp for the trailhead sometime around 9:30.

Beautiful hiking on the way out with great view after great view. Did not start seeing people until the Big K. There was one group rappelling down the falls and another group passing. I should note that I observed two backpackers very far off trail and deep into the drainage paralleling Barnhardt after the divide. I know there are some abandoned trails down there and Sandy Saddle Trail, but they seemed to be pretty far from either of those areas. It seems unlikely anyone could walk off trail that far with out trying, so I hope they were just some hard core backpackers. Barnhardt was a little slick in spots coming down, but that did not deter a pretty big Sunday crowd along the trail. The trailhead was pretty full when I got back just after 2 p.m.

A very nice over-night hike. I am glad I was able to catch up with the guys. A great time to be in the Mazzys right now.

Absolutely killer weekend in the Mazzies.

Thanks to @knmurphy for the recent triplog that confirmed that the snow had sufficiently melted to get up there. With another foot or more forecast for Monday, we decided it was a good time to try and capture the falls running.

The upper part of Barnhardt was tedious due to snow and overgrowth. The divide was more exposed and only a few short stretches were snowy. Ran into Bruce and Dave, a low-level flyby from our armed forces, one strange clap of thunder, and an otherwise perfect weather weekend (until the last hour).

Lee was a couple hours behind us and Karl and I were on the west side of the canyon exploring when he arrived. It was neat to see him across the way. Joel was out and about looking for good photo opportunities (which he obviously succeeded at finding ... if you haven't seen his photos, click here).

After a pleasant evening where we learned how to build a fire that maximizes smoke and minimizes warmth, we were all happy it was not nearly as cold as a January night in the Mazzies might be! In the morning we all had different objectives, but Karl and I headed for the base of the real falls, which are much taller than the top falls and which you can only see from the west side of the canyon (or from the bottom!)

The descent is a steep Arizona minefield of pointy and prickly things and loose rocks. Ultimately though, it appears to be much better than the two routes than Joe, Eagle, JJ, LP, and Dave had previously done from the east side. The top was a little overgrown, but only with pleasant plants. No catclaw, mountain holly, or manzanita.

It was great to see these falls running. It's about 500 feet from the rim to the bottom of the canyon, and it looks to be about 200 feet and 300 feet for the two sections of falls. Pretty impressive drops. It's amazing how much water is running right now for something that is dry most of the year. I'm glad we squeezed this one in in January!

The hike out took a long time, the snowy section was especially difficult, and I was happy to have microspikes on the steep trail of packed snow below the falls with the odd Hawaiian name. It began to snow a bit, and then sleet in the last couple of miles, but we managed to get back to the car without the weather getting too inconvenient.

Horse Camp is a great spot. I need to get back there this spring.