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| Canyoneering | 14.07 Miles |
1,570 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 14.07 Miles | 6 Hrs 59 Mns | | 2.09 mph |
| 1,570 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Andy got permits for the east trailhead and about a month asked me if I would be interested. I immediately accepted since this has been on my list for awhile now. His offering to drive was the icing on the cake for the far trailhead. His son Johnny was also along for this one.
We met up in Globe with Andy's friend Richard who had a crew assembled. The size of our group was a total of 8, but that ended up being irrelevant to a great extent as the day progressed.
We got to the trailhead by Turkey Creek just before 9am. There's an "official" trailhead that's 1.5 miles from here, which would create an additional 3 miles of hiking on a dirt road for a round trip hike. I hadn't heard of this before and I'm not sure why anyone would do this. The additional drive to Turkey Creek didn't seem any worse than the drive to the "official" TH. There are some stream crossings, but they aren't bad.
Once we got to the trailhead, I was ready to go before anyone else was. Andy and the rest of the crew were talking about exploring some of the side canyons. This was my first trip to this area, so my goal was to hike in as far as I had time to and turn around, thereby shortening a future trip from the west side. That being the case, once I was geared up, I told Andy I was headed out and expected to have the rest of the crew on my heels shortly, as is often the case. I had walkie talkies and gave Andy one so we could communicate if necessary.
At just over the quarter mile mark, I broke one of my poles. At the half mile mark, I was taking a picture and heard some grunting. Looking across the creek I spotted a herd of javelina. They seemed skittish seeing me so I was glad to be on the other side of the creek.
The leaves' colors seemed to have maybe peaked the week before, and the cloudy skies and lighting didn't help with trying to get nice pictures. At the 4 mile mark, the colors got better. The scenery was still fantastic, it seemed very similar to the South Fork of Cave Creek that Wally and I did last June.
I had trailrunners and neoprene socks for this hike due to the several stream crossings and sometimes just hiking down the middle of the stream in the shallow spots. The neoprene socks seemed to be a waste of time. There are several spots where the stream is narrow and deep enough that the water level is over the socks. The first and last crossings are the hardest. The first because you have to adjust to getting your feet wet for the first time, then the last because you're so tired of fighting the current as you cross.
I was hoping as a best case scenario to be able to go in 8 miles and turn around. I was averaging a good 30 minutes per mile so with the late start, that wasn't going to happen. The rain started around 10 am and was on and off at first. By noon it was steady and not just a drizzle. As I got farther downstream, I decided that I would get to the 7 mile mark, eat lunch, and head back. As the Route Scout notification told me I hit 7 miles, I was near the mouth of Virgus Canyon. There was a narrow spot that I stopped at and under a canyon wall was a small alcove was a perfect spot to have lunch and keep dry from the now steady rain. In that alcove were 2 hikers, likely coming in from the west side. they were the only people I saw all day while hiking. as I packed up after eating my lunch in the downpour, I looked over to notice that they had just left. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
Surprised that no one had caught up to me, I was surely expecting to run into someone from our group as I headed back upstream. Surely they hadn't all gone into the side canyons. As each mile went by and I got closer, I saw no one. The rain was steady, the stream seemed a little higher, but not much. My feet were just numb enough to not be bothered by hiking 14 miles in brand new shoes, but not terribly cold. I saw a few more deer on the way out, they might have been the same ones I saw going in.
The last mile the rain was definitely picking up. Waterfalls were forming along the canyon walls, making the scenery pretty spectacular. I took almost no pictures on the way back since the rain was so steady water droplets on the lens obscured the picture and my lens cloth was soaked. I had also stumbled into the stream at one point, nearly submerging my camera, which was amazingly unscathed.
I finally got back to the trailhead to see Andy's truck, but not Richard's. As I got closer to Andy's truck, to my dismay I saw that Andy and Johnny were not in the truck awaiting my return. A note was left on the rearview mirror telling Andy that Richard and his crew has decided to head back a little early. The rain was still very steady. Since I stopped moving, the temperature seemed to be quickly getting colder. I headed towards a large leaning tree that offered just enough of a dry spot to give some respite from the rain.
I arrived just before 4pm. As it got to 4:30, the sound of the rain got louder, as did the waterfall right next to the trailhead as it poured down. It would soon be dark and the temps were getting colder. I was trying to formulate a plan of action as to when I should decide to start walking up the road to the residences and/or ranger station to ask for help if it became obvious that Andy and Johnny were in trouble. I had brought dry clothes, but they were locked in the back of the truck. Each additional 10 minutes that went by, the prospect that I might not get home tonight seemed a little more unsettling. The increasingly steady rain and colder temps did not help.
Finally I spotted an orange poncho!  As he got close I could see it was Johnny. After awhile I noticed that I didn't see anyone else. Finally Andy appeared just as Johnny got to the truck. It turns out they were just as happy to see me as I was to see them since on their way back they were getting concerned that they hadn't spotted me. They had just also gone down the main canyon about a half mile short of where I stopped and headed back. We were trying to figure out how we missed each other. After a day of thinking about it, I think I passed them on the way back probably as they had stopped to eat lunch.
We each took turns changing into dry clothes in the vault toilet at the "official" trailhead and headed back home. It was a long slog back, but just being in a dry warm vehicle after 45 minutes of waiting in the rain not knowing how the weekend would end had me giddy. The last few miles on the dirt road before SR70 it was pretty rough. That was the flattest and easiest section of the road, but it was so soaked that it was very slick and soupy to drive on. It seemed worse than the really rough road at the very end, making me think we left just in time before driving that road was more of a challenge than we wanted.
The rain continued all night and into the morning at my house in Mesa. No complaints from me, we need the water. It made for a fun day and great memories. Nice to get through an adventure like this in one piece and gratefully enjoy the comforts of civilization afterwards. |
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