Route Editor
Route Scout
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DESTINATION Devil's Canyon Hike 39 Photosets 2012-02-11 2011-10-08 2011-02-26 2010-11-07 2010-09-12 2009-11-07 2008-04-27 2007-08-04 2006-03-18 2005-10-22 2005-05-07 2004-09-26 2004-04-25 2003-06-07 2003-06-07 2002-10-13 2002-09-14 2002-09-14 2000-05-19
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| HAZ Member Vaporman's 229 Photosets 2010-12-31 2010-12-30 2010-12-30 2010-12-26 2010-12-26 2010-12-24 2010-12-19 2010-12-18 2010-12-18 2010-12-12 2010-12-09 2010-12-04 2010-11-26 2010-11-20 2010-11-14 2010-11-12 2010-11-07 2010-11-06 2010-10-21 2010-10-02
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The mining operation appears to be back in full swing and operating 24/7 but that also means the road is being maintained and I was able to my car about a mile from the windmill. I camped the night in the area and had to space myself in between the drilling sights so that the constant noise & bright lights wouldn't keep me up all night. 
Didn't feel like trying my luck up that rocky hill just before reaching the TH. Made short work of the road walk to the TH and started down the dry Hackberry Creek while admiring all those sweet climbable spires. 
Climbing down those water/dry falls in Hackberry was much easier since it wasn't flowing and made it down to lower Devils Canyon fairly quickly. Now a year ago, I remember that rock hop/bushwhack down Devils Canyon to be rather rugged & slow going but I guess a year of canyoneering has broken me in because this time it seemed much easier, no rattlesnakes to dodge, and most of the Poison Ivy leaves have already fallen to the ground. 
Made it those sweet 5 pools in about two hours from the TH and suited & geared up from some adult play time. 
The canyon had been lightly flowing and I was crossing my fingers hoping it'd also be flowing over the waterfalls of 5 pools and was super excited to find that to be the case. 
The next drop is a sloping 40ft section of slickrock followed by a 30ft drop to the final 5th pool and it's safest to just rappel the whole thing from a anchor on the left side and swim across that final pool. The views down there are mind blowingly amazing of that canyon surrounded by hundreds of rhyolite spires, multi-colored oaks in the creek below, and ferns lining the side of the canyon where a spring or seep is leaking out... 
Scrambled up the north side of the canyon back to that 3rd pool and soaked up some more sunshine before swimming across that pool and hooking up my ascender to my fixed line get back up to the 2nd pool. Climbed up that slippery slope and swam across that 1st pool again to climb up my handline. Dropped all the gear & shorty wetsuit to soak up some more sunshine & grab lunch before making the rock hop & bushwhack back up canyon. Make sure to look for all the cairns so you don't hike past Hackberry Canyon, which again was much easier to hike up since it wasn't flowing. Admiring all the spires again when I ran across & chatted with some friendly climbers. "Are you canyoneering by yourself?" Maybe... 
After a day of canyon hiking, road walking is such a piece of cake and made it out of there with plenty of daylight to spare. 
