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| Aztec Edward's Devilish Eye, AZ | |
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| | Aztec Edward's Devilish Eye, AZ | | | |
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Aztec Edward's Devilish Eye, AZ
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| no partners | | 2022-01-20 to 2022-01-22
FR487
More melted out than the week before. Still seems to be a mix of vehicles making it up and bailing. Falls a little fuller.  Snow firm and crunchy for the most part.
Abbey's Way Trail #151
We cut off the trail and explored this area by daylight. Found what could be a low wall of ruins near an old well, then followed a path up from the weather station to a cut log and barbed wire where it dead ended. Decided to head back to the trail (easy enough luckily) and then... went a bit overboard. Limbed it and cleared over a hundred new mexico locusts (those in the trail and those encroaching on it). From that point to the top the only real obstacle is a fallen tree which is easily bypassed.
Took three hours to reach the summit from the weather station (lol) - enjoyed burritos from Los Robertos that we packed in at the ridiculous "flinstones" ATV camp, then headed down.
FR487 + FR487a
Much nicer going down on firmer snow. Still postholey in a few sections, but still had our bootprints from the last time to go down heh. No other signs of people on FR487a though more ATV tracks to the summit along FR487.
Murphy Ranch #141
Again easier going down. 5-6 downed trees on it, getting a little weedy but not terrible. Lacked enthusiasm to clear this, so just got rid of a few of the more aggregious specimens.
Rim Trail #139 - Sierra Ancha
This side of the trail is in solid shape. We ended up camping on a flat spot in the forest just below the junction, and dayhiked out to Edward Springs to enjoy the cliff views. Some downed trees, lots of snow in the gorge where Cold Canyon starts - a solid clear flow there so I did a little landscaping to make filling up on water easier on the way back in case Edward's seep was gross so we could fill up on the way back after the dirt had cleared out. Spoiler: it was, but there's a little slick rock section the trail crosses a minute or two before the junction sign, below that we were able to fill up... slowly... and patiently.
The Cold Creek Canyon snow had gotten worse on our way back, a thin glaze of slippery ice on top from melting and refreezing for an extended period.  Microspikes or take a step or two uphill with poles to stabilize and kick out steps using a pole to probe. I took a knee coming over in the morning and assumed it'd be better later. Nope.
XC on peninsula between Cold & Pueblo Canyons
Not going to be a destination, but neat. Easy drop down to the obvious saddle and back up. A few large patches of manzanita labyrinths you can either bypass of wind through. A lot of areas with juvenile manzanita that will be a pain in the future. Better views into Cold Canyon than Pueblo, though we found two rings that were all that remained from an old can just before the obvious tip you'd go to look into it completely bushed out.
The Devils Eye
No issues on 139 getting here, or to the moody point trail. Just N of the 140 junction 139 cuts above a gully, just keep on trail and don't try to be clever and it'll be fine. Now onto the good part - I had read the guide and looked at some photos but didn't dig deep into triplogs for this (semi-rushed trip planning) so it was fun!
Stage 1 - The Peninsula Top: Very very easy XC. What we were expecting the previous one to be like hah. Zero navigational hazards, we cut closer to southern fork of Devil's Chasm for some views and found some cow bones and a nice drop point.
Stage 2 - The Drop: easy enough class 2 if someone steep and loose. Poles made life -much- easier. Easier up than down, but shouldn't pose an issue to anyone experienced going off trail.
Stage 3 - The Cut to the Ledge: this is the crux, there's a bush you have to go under that has a step or two with some real exposure. More pyschological than technical, and it's good that this is at the beginning vs near the end. Intermiitent ATT signal at the little outcropping with the burnt tree before it and strong signal once past the first point, so some possibility of communication if a group splits.
Stage 4 - The Ledge: Really cool and very obvious. This is some great routefinding! Obviously a lot of rockfall here, but I didn't see anything obvious. Freeze/thaw cycles with snowmelt is the worse time to be here from a safety standpoint, but it was all solid dried out ground from stage 2 on.
Stage 5 - The Wrap: past the ledge there's a little talus pile, then it's wrapping around on a less exposed angled slope for a while until you reach the Eye. A solid pace is able to be kept for the vast majority of it, there's one semi-stable talus field to contend with but the worst of it is just avoided cactii.
Moody Point Trail #140
Lower part of this trail is great. Upper part gets into thorn locust (it seems to like slopes with burn scars, is it a nitrogen loving plant?) but the trail is clear of it, moreso on the lower half of the climb up. Better than I had hoped! Had some little flurries of snow that were perfect, zero impact on the trail but added a fun ambience.
FR487
Nice crunchy snow. Two parts have been TORN UP by people transitioning from following tracks onto snow onto the wet clay beneath.  Saw some odd science experiments off to the side. Starting flurrying in earnest around Workman Creek Falls, but not enough to impact our drive out. |
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Edward Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | Some gross stagnant green pools. Some very shallow but clear runners above them you could scoop water out of.
Better water below the slickrock the trail crosses a minute or two below the junction sign. |
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Hunt Spring |
Dry |
Dry |
| | | Didn't see anything, but didn't look too hard offtrail as it's a hellscape of new mexico locust thorns and there's plenty of snowmelt. | | | |
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