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| Gordon Creek Canyon and Falls, AZ | |
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| | Gordon Creek Canyon and Falls, AZ | | | |
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Gordon Creek Canyon and Falls, AZ
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| Hiking | 7.64 Miles |
702 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.64 Miles | 4 Hrs 4 Mns | | 2.14 mph |
| 702 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | 8 LBS Pack | | |
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| Partners |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | We had this hike planned for last month but then the Tonto Forest had the fire closure. With the re-opening last Friday we went on up today to take this one off our list. We followed the route shown on HAZ with the addition of some extraneous wanderings and explorations. Route is shown in photoset. My GPS was accidentally turned off 3/4 of a mile from the finish during a "rest break". 
Three of our hiking "guidelines" were broken on this trek...1) lots of off trail boulder hopping (Mrs. SloFolks no likey) 2) second half was uphill, and 3) over 90 degrees during the aforementioned uphill. Even with these lapses in our protocol we had a grand time. This shallow canyon is beautiful with many sheer and tall rock walls. Gordon Creek was running from recent monsoon activity and all the pools were full. If we do this again I'm bringing an inflatable!
Right off the bat we heard bugling Elk in the forest all around us. We caught a glimpse of one big guy but the photo didn't turn out too well. I'm a graduate of @Mountain_Rat 's school of wildlife photography. Not long after that we encountered the "wild" horses @kingsnake mentioned in his log and guide. Five in total...three friendly and two that couldn't have cared less that we brought carrots and apple as requested in the HAZ guide. One we named Joey Chestnut in reference to the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog eating champion. This horse knew we had food from 100 yards away and he wanted it all! Whenever Cathy tried to give food to another horse Joey would horn in and try to get it for himself. I've known many people like this.
Any other info on this trip I'll add by putting it in the captions of the photos. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
Lot's of Lupine, but the blooms are on their last legs. |
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| "If you wait, all that happens is you get older" |
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