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| Canyoneering | 18.61 Miles |
2,667 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 18.61 Miles | 10 Hrs 44 Mns | | 1.97 mph |
| 2,667 ft AEG | 1 Hour 18 Mns Break | | | |
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| | Canyon Hiking - Non-technical; no rope; easy scrambling; occasional hand use | | B - Up to light current; wading/swimming; possible wet/dry suit |
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[ show ]
| partners | | Ishamod and I hiked into the east end of Trap Canyon in late 2021, and I went into the west end a short distance about a year ago...today, we planned to try the west entrance again and explore further into the canyon and/or leave the creed bed and go up to the summit of Herman Mountain. We left a little earlier than usual because of another closure on Hwy 60 east, and we got to Peralta around 7AM and started out on Dutchman.
We saw one or two campers and a trail runner along Dutchman, but the trails were pretty empty in the morning. The brush along Whiskey Spring was mostly cleared off the trail, which helped us keep a good pace, and we reached the exit off Red Tanks Trail to Trap Canyon around 10:30AM, which gave us quite a bit of time to explore before we needed to turn around.
[ youtube video ]
But water slowed our progress a lot once we were in the canyon--which was both a blessing and a curse. There were a lot more deep pools and small waterfalls than last year, and it was especially beautiful in there this time, but scrambling around the pools through brush killed our pace, and wading wasn't an option in some places because the pools were more than waist deep (one looked to be ~10 feet deep in the middle), and the sandy bottom was like quicksand in some areas. It was clear early on that we weren't going to have time to get anywhere near the traps or up to Herman Mountain, but we'd go in as far as we could with the time we had.
We finally had to take our boots off and wade through one shallow spot where it was impossible to avoid the water, but otherwise we made our way around the pools with boots on, but not without plenty of battles with catclaw. I had a few run-ins with quicksand on the last visit and gave ishamod a heads up not to trust any damp-looking sand, but it got him anyway, and he ended up shin-deep in liquid sand with both feet.
We got farther into Trap than I did last March but were still a long way from the traps toward to the east end before we decided to turn around and headed back into the water obstacles. On the way out, we saw a light-colored frog swimming in a pool [ youtube video ] . I hadn't seen that kind before, but it blended in with the rocks really well. We didn't take the time to go to the upper alcove today, but below the overhang along the creek bed, we noticed an unusual nest hanging from the ceiling that looked like a coconut...maybe a bee or wasp nest [ photo ] ?
Once we were back on the trail, we started to see more people, including a couple who complained that it was "a little toasty" today. Must not be from around here...I've never heard locals complain about low 70s  . The early evening shadows were great on the hike out, and we got back to Peralta a little before sunset. We didn't get close to the traps or up to Herman Mountain today, but it was still a fun one a great day to be outside. We still want to get back again and see the traps...next time I'll bring water shoes or wait for drier conditions . |
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