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| Hiking | 6.00 Miles |
1,678 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.00 Miles | 3 Hrs 15 Mns | | 1.85 mph |
| 1,678 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | With the heavy rain overnight and forecast for more and possibly even some snow, I was eager to see if the falls would actually be a falls. Of course, due to just those inclement conditions I went solo. (see my The Cabela's/Bass Pro Tour for 12/29 for more insight)
I parked at the Jacob's Crosscut TH, got out to see just how cold it felt, added another layer (making it four) and set off. I started as I usually do, heading up past a memorial and more-or-less straight for the mini-Weaver's Needle along the original trail. (Before the Forest Service decided the trail need to be longer, or some such thinking I guess) I followed the ridge for a while but instead of following all the way until the ridge curved east and bushwhacking toward the base of the needle, I cut across to the new well-cairned trail. After climbing up to the point where the new trail cuts east across to the original trail head at the Maricopa/Pinal county fence line, rather than doing that I turned southward and followed a straighter toward the needle, slightly less cairned route.
Part way up the first climb past the needle I debated on taking a layer off, but the moment I cleared the saddle and felt the full brunt of the wind again I said to myself, no way! The next part was easy enough so I was fine but once I started the steepest part of the hike up toward the east I took it slow enough not to heat up too much because I knew once up on the mesa and in the open again it would be COLD! It gave me no thrill to find out I was right. From there I could see the light dusting of snow on the Supes, figuring if it warmed up a bit on the coming days there may be more flow over the falls.
Rather than continue up through the muddy/rocky area I kept close to the edge of the ridge until I reconnected back to the the trail near the huge boulder. From there on it was easy enough. I skipped going out to the Massacre Grounds overlook and headed directly for the falls. A ways before I noticed someone on the rocks above and east of the falls, and just as I was ready to go into the brush just below that point, almost right behind me here is the hiker who had been up above. At the falls we chatted a bit, and it wasn't until I was home before I realized we didn't so much as introduce ourselves.  Whatever, once I logged back onto HAZ I found out it was a fellow HAZ'er, azpride. Belatedly, it was great to meet you!
Anyway, the falls were flowing reasonably well so I took a bunch of photos, getting close enough to get my camera lens wet more than a few times. When I started to follow the wash down from the falls I was a bit surprised there was NO flow at all. It must have been going underground right away, so I skipped that and with the sky turning an ominous dark gray I hit the trail on the return trip.
As I continued the conditions all around were in such a state of flux that there were some cool sights to see. I didn't hold back taking pictures ending up with well over a hundred for the day along with 18 videos. On the return trip I stuck to the original trail all the way to the original fence line trail head, hanging a 90? left to follow the well-cairned route back to the car. Within .5 mile of the car I got snowed on, although being from Minnesota it was a poor excuse for snow. Just little tiny balls of sleet, melting within seconds of hitting the ground. But all in all, I suppose it was appropriate for my last hike of the year.
I still haven't had a chance to go through and pick out the best photos to post so that'll have to wait until next year. I'm not one to ring in the new year being hung over or over-tired, ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") so I turn in early... better to prepare for a bright and early first hike of a new year. 
I posted 20 of 100 photos on HAZ and all 100 on my own web site:
http://www.changephoenix.com/10/2010-12-30MassacreFalls.html |
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