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My wife and I are heading up to Maxwell/Tramway loop this weekend. From looking at the writeup and maps, there is less than two miles in the creek itself. We'd like to see if we could add another mile or two, to that distance. Going in at Willow Valley looks to up that to around 6.5 miles of creek time and would have some bushwacking, which we would like to avoid.

So wondering if there is a trail that drops down into WCC from the North side that is either a mile or two up from Maxwell or a mile or two down from Tramway. I see there is an FR that dead ends at the canon about a mile up from Maxwell, but don't know of a trail down there. Topos make it look pretty steep.

If not, I guess we'll make part of the hike an In & Out.

Any help is appreciated.

you can go upstream into Clover creek and then do a lasso loop to Pivot rock and back.
i think you should go in to the start of Clover creek, and then turn around once you reach the wcc confluence. see this tr for info: http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=2110

Clover Creek - HA! We tried that one last weekend. Too much of a bushwack for us, unless we missed something. Like I said, I'm just trying to add another mile or two to the MAx/Tram hike inside the canyon/creek. We loved the Hanging Gardens hike and would just like to add some more of that type of canyon hiking. Thanks for the help though.

There are "trails" that run alongside the creek in the entire upper part. It is also fun to swim/wade/hike right up the middle of the creek. You can easily go a mile or two upstream and downstream from Maxwell and Tramway. May encounter a few stinging nettles and such.

In the upper section both ways should be pretty nice if you are equipped for getting wet. Doing the "Willow Valley" loop as it is written up on the site adds quite a few miles.

I'd avoid Clover if you are wanting to avoid a bushwhack and are bringing the wife.

http://hikearizona.com/location_g.php?GPS=7016

Right now we plan on doing the Maxwell/Tramway loop, including the road walking( or we may follow the canyon edge back). I was wondering if there was another trail that starts from the top of the canyon(on the north side) and drops down into the WCC, just like Tramway and Maxwell, but is a little further upstream of Maxwell or downstream of Tramway. This would then make the loop a few miles longer, with some of that in the creek. There are a lot of forest roads out there, and I was thinking there might be a different way down thats not on any maps.

I think you could go down Willow Crossing #38 and make your way downstream to the Maxwell then on to the Tramway. I have no idea how many miles it would be, if there are dropoffs, or other particulars. If someone has done this, let me know.

fotogirl53 wrote:I think you could go down Willow Crossing #38 and make your way downstream to the Maxwell then on to the Tramway.

There's swimming http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=614

Xiled1 wrote:So wondering if there is a trail that drops down into WCC from the North side that is either a mile or two up from Maxwell or a mile or two down from Tramway.

Judging by your responses it sounds like you're looking for either a maintained or well traveled trail without bushwhacking or swimming that connects to Maxwell/Tramway. I don't think it exist.

If you don't want to just head upstream a ways and then turn back around to add some extra creek miles, I think your best bet is the standard Willow Valley route entering at Maxwell Tank. I did it last weekend and yes the initial drop-in is nasty, but I didn't bushwhack for more than 100 yards before I was thru the gnarly stuff. Plus this puts you into Willow Valley at just the right spot where the good water and canyon rockscapes are.

I don't know of any other entry points in the vicinity. There probably are some, but your only hope would be to study the topo map and googleEarth and hope to get lucky, and the odds are probably not real good.

Thanks for the help guys, think we'll stick to the basic loop plus some exploring.