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Well my buddies Sean and Lisa and I went on an over-nighter to Bluff Springs in the 'Supes. We followed the Dutchman's trail in but lost the Bluff Springs trail about 1 mile out and never found it again. We hiked for 7 hours Sunday, 6 of which probably weren't even on a trail. Running out of water and out of day light we FINALLY found our way back onto the Dutchman's. The ironic thing is we had topos a compass and both Sean and I are Eagle Scouts .. guess we're a bit rusty in our navigational skills, eh?

Anyhoo, here are some photos from the trip you may enjoy.
http://homepage.mac.com/scottmackey/PhotoAlbum14.html
http://homepage.mac.com/scottmackey/.Pi ... norama.jpg

I also happened upon a rattlesnake as we were lost which scared the BLEEP out of me, you can see my footprint only about a foot from the snake in this video I shot .. sorry for the shakyness!
http://homepage.mac.com/scottmackey/iMo ... ter15.html (5.6 mb)

Nice shots Scott! Saturday was a spectacular day for hiking in the deserts around Arizona. I happened to be in the White Tanks, but just as great. Also I recognized the OS X interface right away. Looks to me like that Apple product is working well for you.


Who needs butter?

After looking at your photo's, I know exactly where you camped. You camped in the "wooded" area near the bluff spring/dutchman junction. If you would of traveled another 1/4 mile or so up the dutchmans trail you would of seen a small use trail going towards Bluff springs mountain. This is where the spring is at.

Ahh jeez, I scouted up probably half a mile from the point we camped at but didn't see anything .. although it was getting dark and I was pretty content on sleeping where we had stopped. We're going to try the hike again probably in the Spring, but we are going to start at the Bluff Springs trail and try to determine where we initially lost it this hike. I'll definately try to find the actual Bluff Spring next time, thanks!

Scott- the juncture of the two trails is actually Crystal Springs, which rarely runs unless a wet year. As Tracker commented, the Bluff Springs is actually a concrete tank about 300 yds north and 100 yds west of the junction. The Tank is hidden by a large grove of Sugar Bush (Rhus Ovata) which are the large dark green trees around the junction.

The trail is very apparent from the trailhead until it crosses Barks Canyon. It follows the streambed of Barks Canyon for a ways, it is usually wet here, and then climbs up away from the drainage to follow along the east side of the canyon about 200 feet above the level of the drainage. At a saddle, it drops back downhill to the junction with the Needle Canyon Trail which is cairned, and possibly signed. I seem to recall a post with a missing sign. Maybe the Forest Service has replaced it. Immediately past this junction, the trail turns sharply east and follows the creek bottom to Crystal Springs. There are a number of crossings of the watercourse here, and the trail meanders from side to side until climbing up to a fairly level bench just before the junction with the Dutchman Trail. The old Sims Ely trail climbs up Bluff Springs Mountain here, but it is hard to spot for the first few hundred yards.

If you are using the old 7.5 minute USGS, (1927 field check, I recall... ) it labels the USFS "Bluff Springs Trail" as the Dutchman Trail and the USFS "Dutchman's Trail' as the Miner's Trail, due to its route around Miners Needle. It also erroneously switches the Crystal and Bluff Springs labels.

It is not surprising to scare up a herd of javelinas or a few mule deer east of the junction along the Dutchman Trail. -Randy

Great photos!
Pretty scary, running out of water in the Supes, isn't it!

Great photos! What camera were you using?