First Water Basin Loop Photoset • AZLumberjack • 2021-03-18 • HikeArizona.COM

First Water Basin Loop, AZ

	2021-03-18
	5 by AZLumberjack

First Water Basin Loop, AZ

Hiking	3.10 Miles	499 AEG

Hiking	3.10 Miles	1 Hour 43 Mns	1.81 mph
	499 ft AEG

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The weather's changing again so it's time to knock a little rust of the solid-state knees. I drove to the horse lot on First Water Road and headed out the back side to hit the narrow canyon heading towards First Water Creek. The sand and gravel was damp most of the way, must be leftover from the brief rains we had earlier in the week. Once down at First Water Creek, I headed through the narrow canyon towards the old corral and windmill. The Canyon had pools of water that had filled from the rains and a couple of them were slightly overflowing, but not enough to call it a flow.

Once out of the canyon, it's now into the burnt section and it's still pretty saddening, but there's some life showing as the grasses are growing and offer some green color to the blackened landscape. I did see some Desert Holly sprigs starting to grow but none of the other bushes are showing any life.... not even the Catsclaw

I did see a couple of hikers as I neared the old ranch site and met a couple more as I was heading up to the First Water Trailhead and the lot had several cars proving that it's a nice day. I followed the extended section of the Dutchmans trail to the horse lot and, once again, several vehicles were parked there.... must be the Spring Break crowds.

This short hike is just about right for that quick outing where there's good scenic views and very few hikers along the way. Only problem is that you're going to get a charcoal pinstriping if you bump into some of the burnt branches lying on the ground.

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On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip.