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| Spring Equinox Spring Meander, AZ | |
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| | Spring Equinox Spring Meander, AZ | | | |
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Spring Equinox Spring Meander, AZ
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| Hiking | 4.60 Miles |
640 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.60 Miles | | | |
| 640 ft AEG | | 8 LBS Pack | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | To celebrate the spring equinox today my wife and I decided to go out and look at some springs. We found three on Google Earth in fairly close proximity to each other and headed on out. We chose Columbine, Kentuck, and Rackensack all of which flow east towards Seven Springs Road south of the Bronco Trailhead. We made it to the head waters of the first two but Rackensack was too far to go all the way. Plenty of water flow in all three I'm glad to report.
The first stop was the canyon with Columbine Spring. Some maps call it Columbia, but I like Columbine better. This spring had nice remains of an adobe homestead with terraced gardens, an underground kiln?, and lots of hand made rock stairways to access the creek and spring. Many purple Vinca (Periwinkle) flowers surrounded the structure. It appears it was vacated and left to decompose long before the big fire. At this point I should tell everyone that all three of these springs require 100% bushwhacking. There were no trails to speak of. First rule of bushwhacking club...don't wear shorts. Second rule of bushwhacking club...don't wear shorts. Yes, I wore shorts. The mall is open but many of the stores are closed. 
Second stop was Kentuck. This spring was a little farther to get to and is where my legs received the most damage. No signs of habitation but lots of evidence of people using the spring over the past century and building things to store the water when it was available. I'll include a photo of a woody bush we encountered that is new to me. The fragrance of honey about knocked you over from 20 feet away. No bees anywhere near it though. Very odd. I'll use Joe's guide to attempt to identify it. Also saw gobs of English Ivy here which was not expected.
Lastly was Rackensack. The spring proper would be a long day hike all by itself so we just headed west up the canyon a ways to see the pretty scenery and flowers. This wash was really flowing and crossing was a challenge in a couple of places. Driving back to Cave Creek treated us to great views of the Mazzies (still some snow on Four Peaks) and most of the west valley ranges were very clear. A nice no inversion morning for a change!
I'm choosing not to post our route as it looks absolutely ridiculous. Talk about going in circles! Kind of reminiscent of Chinese characters or Cyrillic writing that would most likely translate to "this idiot wore shorts". |
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| "If you wait, all that happens is you get older" |
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