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| Hiking | 8.83 Miles |
2,180 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.83 Miles | 6 Hrs 38 Mns | | 1.41 mph |
| 2,180 ft AEG | 22 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | For our hike, we took Boulder Canyon trail from the Canyon Lake trailhead, out to the junction with Second Water trail, then back. Very delightful. And not too bad in terms of creek crossings, at least on our trip that New Year’s Day of 2020.
Boulder Canyon, from our start point, began with a leg up and across a ridge line on the crest of a moderate mountain bordering La Barge creek. This section provided a nice elevation change, invigorating but not tiring.
Awesome vistas opened up from along the ridge line. To the north we caught Canyon Lake as the sun rose, and to the west the valley of La Barge Creek and the mountains ascending from that valley. Out eastward, Four Peaks poked up above the nearby mountains and cliffs. Further along, Battleship Mountain came into view to the south, it sheer sides rising starkly from the broad canyons holding Boulder Canyon Creek to the right and La Barge Creek to the left.
From there, the trail descended down to two creek crossings (La Barge then Boulder). On the day of our hike, the creeks ran strong, not overwhelming, but swift and deep enough to overtop our boots to our ankles, even with careful rock hopping. Now, I had traveled to AZ from my home in New York, and did not bring poles. I generally find them not needed, but had not anticipated running creeks. So we had just one pair between my daughter and I (her set), and we ended up with one person using the poles to steady their creek crossings, then unceremoniously tossing the poles back to the other person.
We stopped at the junction of Boulder Creek trail and Second Water. The spot proved restful, with the broad, scoured rock of the creek bed of Second Water creek providing a resting place, and many pleasant views and photos.
The junction and its scenes seemed a nice end point for our outbound journey, so we headed back. We had done a good stretch – nice views, a look at Battleship Mountain, creeks and creek crossings, good but not exhausting hike. With that, and two re-crossings before us, we headed back. And once back we knew we still had the somewhat annoying drive through rather curvy road out from Canyon Lake. |
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