Route Editor
Route Scout
| Crucifix Canyon, AZ |
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DESTINATION Crucifix Canyon 17 Photosets 2025-01-11 2025-01-08 2024-02-17 2023-12-19 2023-05-09 2022-12-18 2022-03-04 2020-12-06 2020-04-04 2019-02-10 2019-01-19 2019-01-19 2018-12-31 2018-07-28 2012-01-29 2012-01-25 2010-12-18 |
| HAZ Member jillyonanadvent's 193 Photosets 2021-01-24 2021-01-24 2021-01-18 2021-01-16 2021-01-09 2021-01-03 2021-01-02 2021-01-01 2020-12-30 2020-12-27 2020-12-26 2020-12-25 2020-12-20 2020-12-19 2020-12-16 2020-12-13 2020-12-12 2020-12-09 2020-12-06 2020-12-05
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I should note that I’ve been a bit sick (not covid!) and am still recovering so I wasn’t at my best, but damn this one was tough for me! We explored the spire and surrounding area before making our way towards the cave. So much cool geology right in the beginning so I was excited! The “trail” is pretty much non existent so it’s slow moving and just kept going up up and although it was only in the high 60’s, the sun felt really strong in a few spots. I had to take a break in the shade to cool down and apply sunscreen. Alas, we kept moving up until we finally reached a Ridgeline; the views from the Ridgeline were gorgeous and we had flat terrain for a bit 
We saw the cave in the distance and the approach looked super easy, so we headed over there to check it out. The cave was shallow but went deep in on both sides, where you could possibly continue by crawling on the left. There was remnants of a dead deer in there, so who knows what would have been lurking back in that tunnel. No thanks! We continued on until it was time to descend into the canyon area. Holy crap, the descent was a nightmare. Just tons of loose rock, catclaw, foxtails and boulders to downclimb... plus tall grass. It was slow moving and nerve-racking {for me at least!}. It took a while to get down into the canyon and we had to stop and pick out all the foxtails before continuing on. I’m sorry Andy, but I definitely cursed your name at this point 
The canyon had such cool geology and so many interesting rock formations. We had a bit of a late start so did not have too much time to spare in exploring much around. We did admire some cool arches and alcoves from afar though! There was one particular arch that looked huge that’ll be exciting to visit at another date, but no time today. It was nearing sunset and we still had a good stretch of canyon to go. It was completely dry so I’m sure that made it easier but the constant rock hopping, maneuvering around boulders and light scrambling were pretty draining for me. It appeared that Andy’s route left the canyon and went up to the left, but when James went to scope it out, he ultimately decided it would be safer for us to continue in the canyon instead. We were losing light quickly and it’s tricky terrain in the daylight, so that was certainly a factor. The end of the canyon had some more challenging scrambles and required some climbing. Definitely not my favorite thing to be doing by headlamp. 
Thankfully, James was very patient and helpful in all the tricky spots and we made it out {mostly} unscathed! It ended up being closer to 6ish miles, not under 4 so it was much harder than anticipated. The plus side is that we saw no one (except two guys target shooting towards the beginning of the hike). The solitude was amazing and I wish we had a bit more time to explore all the cool geology in there. I’ll be excited to revisit once the scrapes and bruises heal 
Overall, it was a nice type 2 fun day in the Supes!