HikeArizona.COM

Im looking to go to devils chasm. Was wondering when is a good time of year to go and how well is the trail marked?

When I go to the trail page and click on "Weather" it shows the 50 recorded triplogs by month. Most go in Nov & Jan.

Any suggestions or advise for the trip ?

Get a good vehicle, don't go when Cherry Creek floods, be prepared to get dirty, respect the ruins, go in the winter.

Great thanks for the advise!!!

Bring a headlamp so you can check out the cave below the ruins.

After blowing up @phlak's triplog http://hikearizona.com/x.php?I=1&UID=55 ... 07_______1 with comments/questions about road conditions to the TH, I also have a question about the camping spot near the TH. How big is it, and are there alternatives close by, if the spot is taken?

I'm driving up Friday afternoon with my daughter, with the idea of camping at the TH and doing the hike the following morning. Given the road conditions, I'm not excited about the prospect of making it to the TH only to find no camping spot available--and having to backtrack for camping, and then take on the rough road again the next day to get back to the hike.

ddgrunning wrote:I also have a question about the camping spot near the TH. How big is it, and are there alternatives close by, if the spot is taken?

Driving this--> http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ID=486009 ??
Friday is not a good day to arrive at the TH vehicle camping location (~with two adjacent campsites for 2-3 vehicles total space) and have much guarantee you will have a vehicle camping space. You will not have any privacy there, but I think most who camp there are willing to accept that. Drive backtracking to find an alternative campsite is really not possible and driving your present vehicle further up Cherry Creek Rd could be a big problem as the road gets much more rocky and rutted heading up toward the Cold Springs Canyon area. However, Oregon Hiker did find a nice camp location I was not aware of just a couple of weeks ago here--> http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=568150 (see his pic geocode location). If you safely make it to this location, then of course you will need to drive or hike back and forth to Devils Chasm to hike it.

One thing that will be guaranteed for this weekend, you will not have to worry about the H2O being too high at the last FR203 Cherry Creek X at Ellison Ranch.. it will be a non-issue.

@Grasshopper
Thanks. I'm thinking of hedging my bets by camping somewhere much earlier on the drive in, and just completing the drive to the TH in the morning. From satellite view, it looks like there are decent camping spots where FR203 crosses Coon Creek or even a bit before that point where the powerlines cross the road.

There is a lot of Space around the 1st Cherry Creek Crossing if too many RV's aren't there. Hard to tell right now what that will be like, but it's a pretty Area next to the Creek....