Deer Creek 45 - South Fork 46 Loop Photoset • joebartels • 2016-02-13 • HikeArizona.COM

Deer Creek 45 - South Fork 46 Loop, AZ

	2016-02-13
	15 by joebartels

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Deer Creek 45 - South Fork 46 Loop, AZ

Hiking	19.64 Miles	3,974 AEG

Hiking	19.64 Miles	11 Hrs		1.92 mph
	3,974 ft AEG	45 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Deer Creek Trail #45

South Fork Trail #46

Partners

partners

BiFrost

The_Eagle

Last traveled South Fork 7 years ago with a HAZ group of six. We went up South Fork and down Gold Ridge. It was a mess going up and a highway coming down.

Hit Deer Creek first so we could adjust as needed. It has received a lot of maintenance since the nightmare triplogs surfaced after the Willow Fire of 2004. I'd imagine any avid Arizona hiker would enjoy this trail. Alaskan & Colorado wanderlusts will yawn but this is pretty impressive 45 minutes from Fountain Hills. Our record Feb temps had the creek roaring like a river a good month earlier than typical.

The top half of South Fork was a mess in 2009 and it's arguably worse now. Trail or no trail, Deer Creek has a more majestic feel and towering views. Several vehicles upon arrival and more leaving. Some were hunters. We only passed one group lounging nearing the creek in South Fork.

17 seconds
https://youtu.be/Km ... PU8M

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] HAZ - Selfie HAZ Gear

	Deer Creek / Canyon - Mazatzal Wilderness	Heavy flow	Heavy flow
	more of a river than a creek

	Pigeon Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	catch was full with an inch of ice on top

South Fork Deer Creek

Heavy flow

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- joe

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