Bitter Creek in Hell's Canyon Wilderness

Lizard · Post by **Lizard** » Oct 22 2003 3:03 pm

Westcliffe's Guide to Arizona's Wilderness Areas mentions that there are "spectacular narrows" to be found along Bitter Creek in the Hell's Canyon Wilderness near Lake Pleasant. This naturally intrigued me. I've been scouring the internet and haven't found any info at all. The topo map looks like this might be worthing check out. Has anyone visited this area? Input appreciated.

Lizard

mttgilbert · Post by **mttgilbert** » Oct 22 2003 4:26 pm

No, but you can be sure that if its called "bitter creek" and its found in "Hell's Canyon" that its got to be good!

hikeaz · Post by **hikeaz** » Oct 23 2003 8:58 am

You might not want to drink the water.... see > http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/phelpscp.pdf

hikeaz · Post by **hikeaz** » Oct 23 2003 9:25 am

Seriously......You might try 33 59.102N by 112 22.21W as a starting point and work WSW from there. Other areas that look promising (for narrows) are 33 58.54N x 112 25.231W, and 33.58.733N x 112 23.84W.
It appears to be about 4.5 miles (one way) to explore all three sections.
I'm game to go give it a whirl.

pfredricks · Post by **pfredricks** » Oct 24 2003 7:51 am

Kurt-
That link to the suit was a good read. Thanks for pointing it out. How did you come across it?
-Pete

hikeaz · Post by **hikeaz** » Oct 28 2003 8:47 pm

Pete..... just searched around.....

re. Bitter Creek.......
Nearby to Bitter Creek is Castle Creek.
In a book by Pancho Doll , "Day Trips with a Splash", there is a description of a terrific swimming hole @ 33 58' 57"N x 112 22' 19" W.... just east of where (on the Forest topo map) you see the words "Crater Canyon".
Park off the road @ CHS and head due west into the canyon about 3/4 mile.
Cowabunga !

kurt

Lizard · Post by **Lizard** » Oct 29 2003 1:04 pm

Thanks for the info HikeAZ. Reading GPS coordinates is like reading Sanskrit to me, but I'll get my buddy to help me interpret them. I'll have to go check this place out sometime.

hikeaz · Post by **hikeaz** » Oct 29 2003 1:20 pm

If you have "Topo" software, you can move the cursor around & it will give you the coordinates as you move it.

O/W you can "ballpark it", as the topo maps have the rough coordinates on the sides, top & bottom

If you PM me, I'll send a custom Topo of that area in the mail.....

Daryl · Post by **Daryl** » Oct 29 2003 2:24 pm

Most topo's have the coordinates on the side, you just have to look for them.
If you have a GPS, just punch the coords into it and it will guide you there.

mttgilbert · Post by **mttgilbert** » Oct 29 2003 4:20 pm

Heres a map, red dot marks the spot. You can click on the map for a bigger picture.

(See Joe, you said you wouldn't mess around with the newst version of TOPO, but does the old one allow you to save the maps as images?)