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| Canyoneering | 12.78 Miles |
2,094 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 12.78 Miles | 9 Hrs 52 Mns | | 1.82 mph |
| 2,094 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 50 Mns Break | | | |
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| | Canyon Hiking - Non-technical; no rope; easy scrambling; occasional hand use | | A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit | | I - Short 1-2 hours |
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[ show ]
| partners | | The plan for the day was a lasso loop to see Pedestal Arch and Triple Arch, then continue clockwise through Black Glass Canyon. We started at Willow Springs Trailhead around sunrise, and there were already three or four vehicles in the lot, with a group hike or run getting started. I'd never started from Willow Springs and wasn't sure what to expect from the route given the lack of official trails, but the first three miles to the loop portion were fast and easy along jeep roads and unofficial trails.
We took a left at the intersection onto Packsaddle Trail and left the road/wash soon after that, heading up toward a saddle as we started to loop toward Pedestal Arch. Great views of the Superstitions and Weaver's Needle as we gained elevation, but our pace slowed as the terrain got steeper and rockier. The wasn't any exposure or fall risk, but traversing the steep hillside with a lot of loose rock was taking a lot of time and was not ideal for everyone in the group. We were a few tenths of a mile from Pedestal Arch, but the route was taking so long that we decided to ditch that plan and backtrack to hike the loop counterclockwise, hoping we still had time to see Black Glass Canyon, Triple Arch, and some of the caves.
So we made our way back to the wash and headed the other direction at the intersection. The geology was fantastic in Rough N Ready Canyon, though we started to see the red spray painted arrows others have mentioned in triplogs...obnoxious, and especially ridiculous when route finding was a non-issue in the wash. We passed the group we'd seen in the morning hiking out along that stretch on our way to the cave/tunnel. I'd seen a few pictures of the cave, but it was better than expected. It had two openings and an upper chamber with a window overlooking the wash ~15-20 feet off the ground.
[ youtube video ]
After spending some time exploring, we stopped at a smaller and less impressive cave near the entrance to Black Glass Canyon before heading into the narrow opening. That area was a lot rockier and had more brush and catclaw than we'd seen all day (and more red arrows ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") ), but the landscape was stunning, and scrambling through the boulders was a lot of fun. There was a Goldfield version of Fat Man's Pass that was a little too narrow to us, so we had to climb up and cover. Farther into Black Glass Canyon, we scrambled past some areas with beautiful pools and dry falls and massive boulders.
[ youtube video ]
We were approaching our turnaround time but, but ishamod and I were able to make it through the brush and boulders to Triple Arch, and we followed the faint trail up to the top and took some pictures in and around the arch before starting back down. It's very impressive, with two small windows in the arch that put give Triple Arch its name. We stayed up there a lot longer than planned, but once we hiked back out of Black Glass Canyon, it was fast and easy hiking along the washes and trails back to Willow Spring Trailhead.
We'll have to come back and visit Pedestal Arch another day, and our planned lasso-loop turned into more of a weird lasso-two-pronged pitchfork route since we backtracked on the way to Pedestal and left a gap in our planned loop. But even without completing that part of the route, the hike exceeded expectations, which has been my experience with just about all my hikes in the Goldfields. This was an incredibly scenic hike with a lot of great geology and interesting caves/formations, some of which we didn't have time to explore today...definitely worthy of another visit. |
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