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| Hiking | 3.30 Miles |
730 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.30 Miles | 2 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.89 mph |
| 730 ft AEG | 1 Hour Break | | | |
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| partners | | Randy was kind enough to set up a weekend at one of his favorite spots  in southern Arizona. Despite the forecast, we went for it arriving at a very nice campsite up from the main campground, setting up and sitting under the tarp while it rained off and on for an hour. Then we put on our day packs and headed toward the main campground via the creek before heading up to the Spring Tree on the Mormon Canyon Trail.
It's always delightful when you get to hike by a stream and hike with someone that is so familiar with the area. This part of the Chiricahuas had only been open a little more than a week so Randy was particularly curious to take a deeper look after his drive by earlier in the week. And indeed, the water per the erosion from the fire, had caused the creek to do all sorts of things besides running the banks by cutting deeper ravines, changing curves and getting down to the bedrock creating newer cascades of water and obliteraing others; though three main little waterfalls in the area were still pretty much in tact.
We made our way past one of the old camping sites and then turned around and decided to walk up the creek to the dam to try and get a better angle on the waterfall just to its south. We were able to climb above the dam but our efforts didn't pay off as we couldn't get closer  to the waterfall. We decided to scramble up the very tall rocked bank to get back on top which ironically took us to the spot where we had taken photos from above.
We then came to the new intersection with the Mormon Canyon trail and headed up that way to go check out the remains of an old saw mill and Mormon Spring. This starts off as a fairly nice walkable old logging road but soon deteriorates, once again due to the intense erosion caused by the water flow due to the fire. You can see where the fire has burned a lot of the trees but not completely.
You basically follow the drainage as you make your way up the trail. Off in the distance, Randy spotted what he thot was the spring box but it was actually an old cattle trough. Randy didn't recall seeing it in the past either because it was covered by vegetation or he had just not paid it any mind. This trough was obviously fed by the spring further up. To see some of the rain action at our campsite, our walk along the creek and up the dam before making it to the trough, check out this video: http://youtu.be/CWdC0Jkd3ss/
From here we soon came upon the spring and the box, all pretty much in tact. We got back on the trail for a little while before going down a bit to explore the old sawmill site. Randy says a lot more of the bricks have been exposed since the fire and erosion so it was fun to wander around a bit and explore  . After our curiosity was satisfied, we got back on the trail and headed to the Spring Rock and Tree. Randy says the spring used to flow out of the tree (you can see the hole in the bottom of the tree) and now comes out of the rock (though very little flow).
This was as far as would go on the Mormon Canyon Trail. Randy decided we would not be taking this trail up tomorrow. We headed back to camp and actually walked past it to another area of the creek where there were some cool rocks and another little waterfall  . Fortunately, the rain held off for the most part so this was good.
We got back, had a beer and a snack, altho I decided it was too cold for beer so asked Randy if we could have wine (which happened to be from a local vinter and it turned out to be quite good ). Randy got a fire going using a paraffin match  system (since it had been so wet earlier) and using some of the logs he had brot along. Earlier we had also covered up some of the logs by the fire pit to keep them dry. It was good to have the fire; though once a little wind came thru, it seemed to warm up a bit. Anyway, I shared my banana  cold fried chicken and potato salad for our supper. (I had stored a banana in the cooler with the chicken).
It seemed a short time after we had retired to the tents, the rain came down in droves along with some occasional lightning and thunder  . One time when I rolled over, the brightness of the lightning flashed right before my eyes; that was a bit startling. I did find the rain on my tent (never experienced that before) and the babbling creek soothing. I still didn't get much sleep but at least it was nice to be awake and listen to all of that. I was also trying to adjust to my new sleeping bag arrangement with the Agnes Gilpin where you have the pad inside the sleeping bag. Both items were new and seemed to work well.
Here is the video as we hike in the area of the spring, the old sawmill, the spring rock and tree, back down and past the campsite to an area further up Turkey Creek: http://youtu.be/Vh1LO6mzSpU |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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