Coffins Springs - Turtle Mountain Wilderness, CA

Overview
This hike follows an old prospector road up a wash to two natural springs. Going up the wash is a bit of a slog, but the changing scenery and rock formations are worth the effort.


Hike
This hike starts off following an old road into the Turtle Mountain Wilderness. After about 0.4 mile the trail then follows a braided wash up the canyon. Actually, there isn't really a trail once you're in the wash. You simply continue along the wash, headed due south, admiring the various rock formations and geology along the way. I would be remiss not to point out that Mary Jo made a great effort to build cairns along the way to point out the most direct route.

Hard, dark jagged fins of rock were juxtaposed with creamy white, smooth stone. Small gray birds and phainopepla flitted around. At about 1.5 miles into the hike a side drainage comes in from the left. Follow this drainage, headed now southeast, to search out the two springs.

On the way in we stayed to the left of the canyon and attempted to locate water in the somewhat dense vegetation. We finally found a small seep that didn’t show any real perceptible movement. We continued climbing up to a shady spot for lunch and a brief rest, noticing that sheep also found this a good place to hang out.

On the way out we kept to the other (south) side of the canyon and stopped to check out a water tank and trough. The hike back through the gravel was much easier. All in all, it was a good workout and pleasant scenery.

Check out the Official Route and Triplogs.

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2018-02-11 Steph_and_Blake