DESTINATION Badger Springs to Silver Creek Outhouse 1 Photoset
2014-06-21 | |
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| Hiking | 6.30 Miles |
727 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.30 Miles | 5 Hrs 7 Mns | | 1.95 mph |
| 727 ft AEG | 1 Hour 53 Mns Break | 20 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Summer Solstice wet/dry mapping trip for the BLM/Friends of the Agua Fria.This was the first year I took part in this event. Luckily we were assigned an area that we wanted to do a through hike. On the 14th we went to a 4 hour introduction meeting. We went over the area, process and equipment. All in all it was not rocket science. Basically dropping pins around water sightings.
We started early so we could drop off a vehicle at the silver creek outhouse and make our way back to badger springs before the sun came up. We were close enough as the weather was still cool. We expected 100+ weather and as the BLM guys told us, statistically the hottest and driest day of the year, woohoo! Badger Springs to the Agua fria is almost exactly a mile. Once you get to the AF it is ladies choice so we just started picking our way north. In this direction the rock hopping is only a few hundred yards. After that it is mostly flat open desert when the river is dry. When it is not dry you might have to do some route finding so you don't get wet and at times there are cliffs on either side so depending on the flow you might be getting wet.
Nothing extremely noteworthy other than the lack of water. From the data we seen from the orientation meeting there should have been more deeper pools. This is not a good sign. My very conservative hiking partner refuses to believe there is anything we can do and little cause for concern. I on the other hand subscribe to some, as he would put it, "suspect" science. We saw a few pools with a vast population of crayfish and bullfrog tadpoles and a few birds but not much else. There were signs of critters but actual sightings. On that note I wanted to make a point about bringing a dog. This trail would be pretty dog friendly. It is the heat and exposure that is not that friendly. Take that into account and what time of year your making your journey.
The real fun was about 100 yards from the end point when my hiking partner remembers that he left the shuttle cars keys in his shoes...in my truck...7 miles back that way. Good thing we were on official business. BLM came down from Cortes Junction and shuttled us back to badger springs. This added an hour to the trip easily. As this is our fist shuttle hike I will excuse the indiscretion.
I highly recommend exploring out this way in all seasons. I would also request that next year some more people join us on this adventure. Next year I am going to lobby for Badger Springs south to Sunset point through hike. Some awesome rock hoping in that direction. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
A few flowers around some of the pools. Much more between Baby Canyon and silver creek where most of the water was. |
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