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| | F'in Awesome Falls Loop, AZ | | | |
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F'in Awesome Falls Loop, AZ
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| Backpack | 10.95 Miles |
4,567 AEG |
| | Backpack | 10.95 Miles | 1 Day 3 Hrs 56 Mns | | |
| 4,567 ft AEG | | 35 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | One day this summer, while hiking in the Catalina's, I saw a waterfall off in the distance in the remote backcountry. When I got home, I did some research and found that it wasn't marked on the map, plus the drainage it was in had no name. That got me even more curious. I started plotting gps routes and dreaming. A couple weeks later, I enlisted a friend to do some reconnoitering and decided on what seemed like one of the best routes to the waterfall. Joel and I had an empty weekend so we invited our most hardcore hiking friends who also had rock climbing and/or canyoneering skills along on a backpack. I keep waiting for the day that they tell me I'm crazy and refuse to go, but that hasn't happened yet.
Day one was entirely off trail (11:06 total time, 6:50 stopped time). We started down a ridgeline that was pretty steep. We did some rock hopping, down climbing, crawling, sliding, tumbling, etc. At one point, I even jumped over a rattlesnake without ever knowing he was under me. At times we were probably traveling .25 miles an hour!
Not only were we fighting the jungle-like vegetation but it also rained on us a few times making things really slippery. The rain seem to come down whenever we were trying to snack.
We followed the ridgeline until the brush choked it and then we made a beeline for the drainage. Not that the brush heading down into the drainage was any less choked. Little did we know that our trip through the brush was going to be more like a pinball game than a walk down hill.
Finally we got to a nice rock slab for lunch. Joel emerged from the brush and asked, "Is anyone interested in looking for the pull cord?" Almost all of us jumped up and started into the brush to search. Luckily, it was only a few minutes to find so our biggest drama of the day so far was short lived.
From there we managed to get into the drainage and our progress was slightly faster. Oddly, when we got in the drainage there wasn't any water. We knew from above that we had heard water so it must have gone underground. After a bit of scrambling down the drainage the water came flowing out into the creek bottom.
Finally, the moment of truth happened! We were at the top of the falls! In my research, I had used my GPS software, Google earth, and a photo I had taken the first time I saw the falls to try to estimate the length of the falls. I also had some input from another canyoneer who was unable to make the trip. The entire falls were estimated to be somewhere around 220-250 feet. We only had a 200 foot rope and a pull cord. Based on this we figured out a way to get right above the second set of falls that we had seen on my photo. From there, we were able to extend the webbing to the cliff's edge to help with length of the rope. Since it was my idea, I wanted to go first. I suited up in my harness, chest harness, Croll, hand held ascender and foot loop, and an ATS. I also clipped the rope bag to a cows tail. We tested out our hand held radios since we didn't know if we'd be able to hear down below. Then I stepped over the edge not knowing if our rope would successfully reach the bottom of the drop. 
The rope bag and the cows tail kept twisting up so I was constantly fighting them on my way down. However, since I was going pretty slow, I had plenty of time to look around. It was absolutely amazing. I hit a couple of short overhangs and enjoyed the freedom from the rock face. The rope bag kept getting lighter and lighter so I knew the end of it was coming soon. Even though I had the ascending gear, I really didn't want to have to shimmy up almost 200 feet! Once I could see the ground, I disconnected the rope bag and let it fall. I remember that I was holding my breath and the relief I felt when I saw the end of the rope hit the ground. At that point, I was able to really enjoy the rest of the journey.
I got to the bottom and radio'd up a quick "Off Rappel" to alert them that I made it.  Then I took some pictures of the waterfall. It was f' in amazing!!!! I was so jacked up on adrenaline!! As the others came down, I had very little else I could say except how nerve racking it was to wonder about the end of the rope and how f'in amazing that waterfall was!
Light was starting to escape us so we continued on our way. We needed to go up and the contour over to the trail we would use to get out the next day. We finally stumbled into camp after dark. We could hear the creek near by and saw a flat area so we deemed it good.
Day two (5:06 total time, 1:45 stopped) we got up shortly after sunrise. All of us were scratched, bruised, and sore. We were all thankful to be on a real trail for the entire trek back to the cars. We were all pretty soggy from the previous days rains plus the sweat. But at least the temperature was nice. The only incident we had was when I thought something was biting me and found a caterpillar hanging off my elbow!
During one of our breaks, it was decided I should name the falls. I didn't really want to name it after myself, so I choose "F'in Awesome Falls" as that is what I said over and over right after the rappel.
We all agreed that this was a most awesome trip even though it was probably the toughest bushwhack to date. Now we'll be able to stop talking about Wrong Mountain and talk about F'in Awesome Falls instead!
The real drama of the trip happened after we got home. Joel was hanging up the rope to dry out and discovered a huge bulge where the core had come out a cut! Talk about an eye opening moment...  |
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