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Anyone been in the Powers area of the Gailuros and know of the best hiking spots? Any other tips about the area?

Recent? I am no help there. Main route in is Deer Creek, tortilla trail down horse canyon to Garden. Should be pretty easy to follow. If you base camp Garden you can hit up the old cabin and mine area to the south; go up Field canyon for a glimpse on the West Divide, or down to Pipestem and check out Rattlesnake up toward Power Hill ( that access is closed).
Water-- shouldn't be a problem now, Spring near Powers garden is pretty reliable and there can be water at Pipestem Rattlesnake confluence and in Rattlesnake canyon before you climb the hill to go to the cabin and mine. Of course Holdout spring is reliable.
Second access option is via East Divide via High Creek and down Rattlesnake to Garden and or cabin and mine. The cabin and mine area does not have water readily available.
Adventure access Jackson cabin then up and out Redfield past Echols spring to divide past Long Tom mine into cabin and mine area. Expect route finding and poor trail conditions on this one.

@azdesertfather You're not new here, so I won't go through the basics of hike descriptions and triplogs, as I'm fairly confident you know how that works. There's plenty of answers at your fingertips.

I do recommend calling or emailing the district office for a list of trails that have been maintained in the last few years. They've had some crews out there and the maintained trails are in great condition ... the ones that haven't seen work recently might be less enjoyable. @jacobemerick may have the most recent explorations out there.

If you basecamp at the garden, the Shootout Cabin is must-do day trip. Don't miss he miner's shack and ball mill along the way. If you have enough time to stretch it out, go for the Holdout Spring.

Some have reported that there is no longer a trail through upper Rattlesnake canyon that leads to Holdout Spring due to the fire and flooding/erosion that followed.

The garden area, cabin, and spring are nice to visit. I believe Letty has provided the most relevant trail info for easy access. The trail to the Hilltop trailhead is in relatively good shape, and lower rattlesnake canyon is a nice place to visit, but the Hilltop trailhead itself is no longer accessible due to private landowner concerns (per my understanding.)

nonot wrote:Some have reported that there is no longer a trail through upper Rattlesnake canyon that leads to Holdout Spring due to the fire and flooding/erosion that followed.

If the trail isn't evident, it seems like there should be a findable route, since that was previously wide and not too densely forested. I wonder what the approach is like from the south. That used to be heavily overgrown in places and required some literal bushwhacking.

@big_load Good to know, hitting up Holdout Spring as part of a larger loop through the Galiuros is on my bucket list.

nonot wrote: ↑Feb 27 2024 7:55 pm @big_load Good to know, hitting up Holdout Spring as part of a larger loop through the Galiuros is on my bucket list.

@nonot FWIW, here's a link to my Holdout TR (from the South). It's probably not too useful given how long ago it was, but it certainly was memorable. What I didn't mention was that I had pneumonia throughout that trip, which added somewhat to the unpleasantness of the bushwhacking.

Anyone camped out around Powers Cabin? Is that possible with the terrain there?

Need to do this in 2 days, and doing the big loop with the Garden and also going down to the cabin/mine won't be possible.

@azdesertfather
There is enough flat space for a few tents on the north side of the cabin, but there's no water in the area. If you're willing to walk an extra 3/4 mile or so, there's an outstanding campsite in Kielberg Canyon, and as of now there's water in that area.

nonot
It's interesting reading this having just hiked all of Rattlesnake trail this past weekend. I think reports of there no longer being a trail through upper Rattlesnake are greatly exaggerated, to say the least.

azdesertfather wrote: ↑Apr 17 2024 7:21 pm Anyone camped out around Powers Cabin? Is that possible with the terrain there?

Need to do this in 2 days, and doing the big loop with the Garden and also going down to the cabin/mine won't be possible.

Powers Garden has reasonable spots for tent camping. The cabin is on a sloping meadow down towards the normally dry creekbed, with flatter sites down near the creek. Not as many good options for a hammock. There are some tent options near the cabin and many other options within a quarter mile around. Water is available from a spring in the creek about a quarter mile east and slightly north.

The area though is a cold sink, so plan on bringing an extra warm sleeping bag.

From some recent triplogs, looks like it's currently the perfect time to backpack if you are prepared to deal with segments with poor trail conditions.

ShatteredArm wrote: ↑Apr 17 2024 8:34 pm nonot
It's interesting reading this having just hiked all of Rattlesnake trail this past weekend. I think reports of there no longer being a trail through upper Rattlesnake are greatly exaggerated, to say the least.

Good to know that you found that the trail through upper Rattlesnake to Holdout Cave is in better shape that previously reported. Although even recent triplogs appear to disagree on the topic. Perhaps it is a matter of whether one can find the trail or not? I recall a similar argument on Frog Tanks trail a decade ago. Many people reported no trail existed, but I found a good trail on my visits. Seems that some parties would just miss an important cairn or two and therefore missed a few miles of trail.

Rattlesnake Trail is overgrown between Holdout -> Powers Garden, but I don't remember too much spiky stuff. As a semi-experienced hiker of this area, my biggest surprise about this trail is that it "seems" pretty popular and well-traveled, yet is about as overgrown as some of the more remote trails. The upper portions of Rattlesnake are great (except for that small washed out section, that's sketch), the first descent down to Holdout is great, and then it just gets leafy and hard to track and you may curse a few times. IMO, a mile or so of pushing through leafy brush is a small price to pay for easy access from High -> Powers Garden, with a year-round water source at Holdout, and some epic views at the top.

nonot
It's definitely overgrown for stretches, but in my book there's a vast difference between "overgrown" and "no longer a trail". I'm pretty sure we were on it at least 95% of the time.