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| Blue Wash and Camp Creek Falls, AZ | |
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| | Blue Wash and Camp Creek Falls, AZ | | | |
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Blue Wash and Camp Creek Falls, AZ
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| Hiking | 3.47 Miles |
557 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.47 Miles | | | |
| 557 ft AEG | | 6 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Having an underlying illness that COVID-19 seems to like making trouble for, I've been self quarantined for a while. Had to get out so thought I'd head over to Camp Creek Falls. I haven't been yet this year, and with the recent rains it promised to be nice. Driving out Cave Creek Road the turn off to Bartlett Lake was backed up several hundred yards with cars. Looked like lots of family units with small children. The Marina and Rattlesnake Cove are closed so I'm unsure of where they all were going.
When I arrived at the parking area near Blue Wash the usual assortment of horse trailers were present along with more cars than I've ever seen at this location.  I gave thought to turning around and returning home but decided to give it a shot. A large sign at the gate stated groups of 10 or more were prohibited due to social distancing guidelines for the virus. All the times I've been here we've always had the falls to ourselves. Everyone is outside now though!
The hike down to Blue Wash to Camp Creek Wash was beautiful. About 1 inch of running water that would disappear then come to the surface again to make some noise over small rock cascades. As I approached the turn I could see that lots of folks missed the turn and kept going south while others mistakenly went up the Maricopa Trail turnoff just past Camp Creek. What a cluster muck. I cut the corner at one of the Fresco mine claims so as not to be seen and headed up to the falls. The water was really flowing down Camp Creek so I knew the falls would be roaring.
There were some people at the falls with small children and a couple of doggos. No one was up top so after a couple of photos I held my breath and climbed past the vectors of disease for some solitude on top of the falls. It was great till they saw me up there...now everyone was pointing and heading my way. I climbed up some rocks till they went by then I descended and started the trip back. On the way back up I ran into two large groups coming down. Apparently the 10 person limit didn't apply to them. I queried the second large group about if they saw the signage and the "leader" said "we're a church group". Oh, I didn't know Lutherans couldn't spread the virus. I suppose they are exempt from National Forest regulations also.
Oh well, this little trip was great none the less and it felt wonderful to get out. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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| "If you wait, all that happens is you get older" |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
