Overnight from Peralta TH

[morg]

Considering an overnight loop of Bluff Spring Canyon to La Barge to Boulder Canyon. Has anyone been recently that can describe how much walking in water this route includes…or recent low temps.

Cheers, thanks.

[nonot]

Are you intending to go off trail, or stay on trail? This will make a difference in regards to the water question.

You may want to look over this triplog/photo album, which involved off trail travel through LaBarge canyon and on trail travel via the Cavalry and Boulder Canyon trails:
[ photoset ]

[morg]

@nonot
Was planning on trail.

[nonot]

If you stay on trail I would anticipate about 5-6 crossings of streams which may still be flowing depending on how soon your trip is and the amount of rain we get until then. Whether you can keep your feet dry will depend on the location of rocks in the stream and how nimble you are. In each case It would be perhaps 20 feet to cross the stream, except the final crossings of Boulder and LaBarge which is likely closer to 50 feet each, though other people did report they were nimble enough to make those crossings and stay dry. It may be useful to carry some alternative shoes/sandals for crossing the streams if you are concerned about getting your feet wet. But in general you will want sturdy hiking shoes due to the rocky nature of the terrain.

[xsproutx]

You'll be able to keep your feet dry to Boulder Canyon without any real issue. Are you taking La Barge to Cavalry to Boulder or a different route? I went up Cavalry this past weekend and there was one crossing that there was no real way to keep dry; just took my shoes off and crossed. Outside of that one, it was easy. Low temps this past weekend were in the 40-42 range at the lower elevations except for Sunday morning when we had a cold snap and it got colder. Just posted a trip report with more details

[morg]

@xsproutx
Was planning: Peralta TH > 235 > 104 > 102 > Peralta TH.

[xsproutx]

@morg
You won't have any issues then. I think you have to cross La Barge twice on Dutchman there between La Barge and the Cavalry junction, both are easy to get across right now with rock hopping. On Sunday there were a fair few crossings of things on Dutchman between the Cavalry junction and Peralta, but most are pretty narrow 2-4 feet wide. If you have trekking poles, you'll be fine and for those ones specifically, I imagine they'll be much much lower than when I did it on Sunday anyway.

[wallyfrack]

Crossing La Barge Creek near the confluence with Music Canyon can be a bit tricky at times . I've had to hike up toward Music Canyon a little to stay dry in the past.

[morg]

Thanks for the great information.

Does anyone have recommendations for camp sites near Black Top Mesa +/-?

[nonot]

There are lots of good camp sites where Dutchman's trail passes near Black top mesa. There are campsites very near the intersection of each trail (0.1 miles after Lost (the old Dutchman's trail), 0.1 miles before Terrapin, 0.2 miles before Dutchman, 0.1 miles before Bull Pass). My favorite is actually near the cavalry trail intersection a little bit before you get to Black Top Mesa area.

[xsproutx]

My favorite is actually near the cavalry trail intersection a little bit before you get to Black Top Mesa area.

Yep, this is a really nice one. There's also one maybe .15 miles East of this below the trail that you have to look out for that's pretty epic. In general there are many fantastic camp sites between the Dutch/Cavalry intersection and Charleboi. There are several along Dutchman once you start going South of the Cavalry junction but, generally, aren't as inspiring/nice. Tend to be smaller, as well, which is a consideration if you're going with more people. Here's a snippet of some of the better camp sites in the area. This isn't all the established ones, but some of the better ones that are visible right off trail.