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| Hiking | 2.00 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 2.00 Miles | | | |
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| no partners | | The road down to the Corral near Clay Spring has been much improved since we were here in 2009. It is still steep and narrow but a lot of the big rocks are out. If dry a 2wd HC would be fine. We drove down after our car camp to the bottom wanting to see if we could be above the 4 bars and the Salt. We did a traverse around a hill and saw a little wash that went right to the area above the mouth at Blackjack. Once we drove down to the corral we saw a gate in the fence--probable cow trail. You could be at the 4 bars and the Salt in slightly over a half mile and with not much elevation either. It does look brushy. From the corral at the beginning of the business with Clay Spring canyon, which has some of the prettiest rock anywhere-http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=9649; we drove up a quad trail to a gate in a fence. Lots of pinstriping. The road looked not friendly so we parked and hiked. This route is not on TOPO but heads toward a saddle which would allow you to look over into the lower part of Yankee Joe Canyon.
The quad trail also got us very near one of the White Ledges. At the top we lost the trail but looked over and low and behold coming out from an earthen tank in the drainage below us was a quad trail, and it headed over toward Yankee Joe, but up high. Now I think about what we thought was a trail above us coming down the canyon--perhaps associated with this.
We traversed over to the White Ledge. Rockhound delight! Brilliant white quartzite with some crystal veins. A neat grassy seep watered Charlie where the rock contact occurred. Lots of little almost fern like areas where water is held as the rock is non porous. Brian checked things out here as I went over the lower part of the ridge and out onto a rounded point. From here I could see where Yankee Joe got to the Salt, not impressive, and could see a nice stretch of river, looking blue and placid. I could also see a hint of where the canyon broke through the White Ledges. This would be my preferred route I think to get to the lower part of the canyon we did not see. The Sierra Ancha rose in an impressive line of cliffs with hints of snow in the distance.
I had to get back home so we retraced our steps and marveled at the beauty of this area. I thank Hank with his posting of Blackjack canyon to reawaken my interest. I have so much to do but this area is one of the special ones. |
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