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| Hiking | 8.80 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 8.80 Miles | 7 Hrs | | 1.26 mph |
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| no partners | | This was my second time hiking up Bluff Springs Mountain, but the first time to the actual summit. Last time I was under time constraints and only had time to use Joe's route up to the upper platform and then back. Yesterday I intended to test out the Ely Anderson trail, in hopes to drag a backpack up there some day and camp at the top.
Andrew came with me and we left the trailhead around 9:30 AM. It was warm and cloudless above us, although clouds seemed to be rolling in from the east. Barks canyon had a trickle of water and some nice pools scattered about. There was a family and a couple dogs taking a dip in one of the pools just downstream from where the Bluff Springs Trail crosses the creek. I managed to lose the trail when crossing Barks Canyon... Hiking in that direction, I've literally never managed to stay on the trail at the Barks Canyon crossing. Really embarassing... Hopefully next time.
The start of the Ely Anderson trail is very easy to find if you use Fritzki's description. As of this writing, there is a large firepit at the sandy clearing that is the start of the trail. Route finding at the beginning of the trail presents a little bit of a problem, but keep looking for cairns and you're fine. The trail is very well cairned the entire time. It's not too steep, but it's relentless enough to make you sweat and take a break or two on a day such as yesterday. The top of Bluff Springs Mountain is as cool as I remembered. Prickly Pear and Sotol forest. I was excited to go to the proper summit, so we ditched the hill that offers the good views of Hidden Valley and high tailed it to the very top. The top was windy! But the views of Weavers Needle and Superstition Mountain were really great. We signed the register- first people to the top in 2009. It seems last year and the year before there was some "crew" from New York who signed the register and were cussing and talking trash to some other crew. It was really weird... I gang war is not something I would expect in a summit register, off trail, in the middle of the wilderness.
I had hoped to take the Southwest Route down. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the proper topo quad yesterday morning on the way out so we were mapless, and not remembering the route Carlson drew out in Hikers Guide, I just decided to wing it. Not a good idea... We ended up climbing straight down the southern/southwestern face of the mountain. While we were never in any REAL danger, I was constantly afraid we were going to cliff out and have to climb back up the super-steep ravine we chose. Somehow we kept finding steep chutes that we were able to successfully downclimb, and eventually we reached a mellow ridge that took us to the base of the mountain. After checking the map when I got home last night, it appears we climbed down just about the steepest part of the mountain. It was an adventure.
On the return, we decided we weren't ready to be on a trail quite yet, so we elected to hike the "Mid-barks" section until the Bludd Springs Trail crossed. We took a break near the slick-rock cascading waterfall section of mid-barks and I started to take a couple pictures. When adjusting my tripod head with my camera in it, I think my hand must have disengaged the locking part of the head, because my camera fell off the tripod, about five feet, on to the bare bedrock below. It bounce and then started tumbling towards the water. I flipped out and grabbed it before it made it to the water and quickly inspected it and took a couple pictures. While the pictures came out fine and zooming and focusing worked, there was definitely a crack on the lens. Not the glass part of the lens, but near the base of it. I'm truly hoping it's purely aesthetic, but I guess time will tell. I'm pretty bummed.
Anyway, my day was pretty much ruined there, so we marched back to the trailhead in a crappy mood. |
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"Arizona is the land of contrast... You can go from Minnesota to California in a matter of minutes, then have Mexican food that night." -Jack Dykinga
http://www.joelhazelton.com |
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