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| no partners | | Tired and beat up; or in pretty good spirits. Drive in good, stopped to let a border patrol agent by and he flashed his red and blue lights at me; hey I pulled over! Water running over the concrete slab on the road. I stopped to take pictures with the big wash running and debated briefly to hike there but I have been there before. Of course I've been to my destination too but not that section of canyon for a few years. It's a butt kicker and where my hike the previous weekend was sort of laid back that can't be said for this place, and especially at flow.
Stunning was the incredible pink and white blooms along my drive loop. Whole hillsides covered in blooming----catclaw. I must say very impressive, as stunning as some large poppy spreads I've seen.
Anyhow from the car park went upcanyon. Good flow and tricky, I decided feet wet as in good boots with good grip even wet. At the old dam took pics and quickly decided I wasn't up for the straight up climbing to get around it and the even harder canyon portion beyond. As the water flowed over the dam there was a strange wave that came and a change in the tone. I hotfooted it downcanyon to a wider section as more water was acoming down.
I then went downcanyon where it was safer but still plenty of pools, whitewater and small falls to get around. I made a short loop out of a sidecanyon. As I went up it I had a bit of dread; I'd done this at minimal water levels and if my memory was correct there was a hard section thru a rock fin section up ahead.
Sure enough. You leave the canyon bottom to get around a sudden turn where the stream bed has cut thru some tall rock fins. It's looks easy, then when you get to the first fin you must cross a narrow slit; water is passing thru and usually at a pretty good whitewater foamy clip. Then climb a short wall with wet boots, oh yeah. A small log jammed in on the side helped. I made the climb then took some pics. On out to eventually come into the backside of my car park. Driving out tried to help a rattlesnake out of the road and mostly succeeded; with I thought strangely a lot of hissing ( reminded me of a gila monster) and not much rattling.
I won't post pics yet because I am likely to head back down tomorrow and will just leave my stuff ( except for the wet boots and socks) in the Jeep. |
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