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| Hiking | 13.21 Miles |
1,608 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.21 Miles | | | |
| 1,608 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Back to Tortilla TH or a few more things. I usually hike with goals in mind like things I am interested in. My first goal was to check the water level at the original Tortilla Well. This is the 1928 well at the Tortilla Ranch, not the water tank that everyone knows about. Tortilla was a cattle ranch (not a gold mine) so there is no reason for anybody to risk going down into shafts like this. If you were to fall in, there is little chance anyone would find your body for a really long time. As far as I can remember, the level is somewhat lower than before. I didn’t think to have a phone app that could measure the depth, but I estimate water level to be 25-40 feet down? The staining on the side of the walls shows that at one time it was quite a bit higher. It’s been a brutal summer and pretty dry fall thus far. In early days this was a shallow well.
My second plan was to locate the remains of the “First Windmill”. This is not the windmill at Peters also called the “Second Windmill” or upper windmill. I'm talking about the Fist Windmill (lower windmill), which stood above the 1928 well behind the iconic T Frames at the Tortilla ranch site. The last I remember it was around 2005 and the blades were off but tail attached. If anyone knows what happened to it or has photo after 2005, please post it. I couldn’t find any part of it except a mounting bracket.
My third task was to look into what’s going on with Night Hawk spring in Cedar Basin. The problem with water report during wet months is that it’s difficult to tell the difference between spring activity and normal runoff. I found no water anywhere during my trip to Night Hawk spring and surrounding area. There also is zero chance that spring-fed water would ever be in the lower spring box or in the upper spring box (the one with the 7-30-37 date on it). The reason is because the water transfer system has been severely compromised. There are a half dozen breaks in the lines running from the spring source (1/4 mile up the canyon) down to the boxes.
As far as I could tell, the “spring” has nothing but damp sand and no standing water. There appears to be a pipe at the source (like the pipe at the McDowell Mountain spring) coming out of the rock but this one without water. There is a large cairn on Hoolie Bacon near the apparent source. (HB111 is loaded with other large cairns that have no connection). Would need to go back for better look to validate this, but I don’t plan on returning anytime soon. Back in the day, this would have been dealt with immediately. Water was literally life or death to the beeves.
I hiked the 13 mile trip from Tortilla TH down FR213 to JF to Hoolie and back. No expected water resupply so I packed it. Temperature was 90s and cooling. catclaw and Mesquite are creeping over the trails. I did light trail maintenance. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
Three Hackberry Trees at Tortilla Ranch |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Chuparosa in Cedar Canyon |
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Night Hawk Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| |  The spring source is up the canyon from the boxes and the pipes are broken. The spring does not appear to run year round. | | | |
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