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| Mazzy Falls and Flowers, AZ | |
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| | Mazzy Falls and Flowers, AZ | | | |
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Mazzy Falls and Flowers, AZ
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| Hiking | 11.16 Miles |
2,997 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.16 Miles | | | |
| 2,997 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | This was 2 different hikes in the Mazatzal Mountains to check out a waterfall and take a look at some wildflowers:
1) Rock Creek Trail to the falls
2) South Fork Trail
Rock Creek Falls
I had only been on the Rock Creek Trail once, on a hike to Peak 7571. This time I just went as far as Rock Creek Falls in order to check out the falls and see if there were any wildflowers blooming along the way.
From where I parked, the first 2.75 miles of the trail were in great shape, thanks to the efforts of @mazatzal , @sredfield , and others. The next 1/4 mile or so was slightly overgrown, but after that the trail was fairly brushy, but not impassable; and not too far from the falls.
There was some really good water flow at the falls, so the hike up was definitely worth it. If you ask me, I thought that these falls were better than Big Kahuna Falls on the Barnhardt Trail. We went a short distance past the falls to check out the view looking down on the falls -- this short trip was well worth it imho.
Wildflowers weren't great on the trail, but there were enough blooms to add some color to the hike.
I like the Rock Creek Trail -- it has good views both going up and coming back down, and there was sure a nice payoff on this trip. There is a good bit of elevation gain on the trail, so count on getting a decent workout.
South Fork Trail
A couple of years ago I did the Gold Ridge-South Fork loop, and there was a really nice wildflower showing on the South Fork Trail about 2 miles from the end of the hike. So we decided to start from the Deer Creek TH and hike a couple of miles up the South Fork Trail to check out the flowers. Unfortunately, the display this year was a bit underwhelming at this point. There were a number of flowers blooming, but I would call the display "moderate". The flowers were nice to look at, but I did not recommend going all the way out there to look at flowers -- there have been much better places to go this year.
Synopsis
Rock Creek Falls was the definite highlight of the day! The water flow is much better right now than it was last year at this time when I was there.
Distance and elevation gain for the 2 hikes are below. Stats above are the sum of the 2.
Rock Creek: 7.24 miles with 2,559 feet of AEG
South Fork: 3.91 miles with 438 feet of AEG |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Wildflowers on the South Fork Trail were moderate; on the Rock Creek Trail I'd say that the flowers are lightly moderate. |
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Center Creek |
Medium flow |
Medium flow |
| | | There was a nice flow of water in the creek; some might describe the flow as "heavy" I suppose. |
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Rock Creek Falls - Mazatzal Wilderness |
Heavy flow |
Heavy flow |
| | | There was a nice flow of water going over the falls; I would call it "heavy", but I am not certain how to distinguish "heavy" from "medium" | | _____________________
| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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