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| Hiking | 23.10 Miles |
200 AEG |
| | Hiking | 23.10 Miles | 7 Hrs 58 Mns | | 2.90 mph |
| 200 ft AEG | | 20 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Drove an ordinary 9 year old sedan to the West entrance trailhead - road is paved until the final few miles, and then only a few spots require some extra caution. After setting off on foot, turn at the sign along the path or you'll dead end at a fenced in area.
Original thought was to traverse the whole canyon trailhead to trailhead out and back in my single day permit. I saw a better opportunity however by cutting off the last couple miles to the eastern trailhead (most of the canyon is pretty much the same up to that point) and instead diverting up Hellhole/Deer Creek side canyon was not disappointed! More on that later.
There is mostly some kind of path or trail on either or both sides of the creek for much of the way, and I recommend seeking it out to make travel much faster, however in some spots it may be quicker to just trod upstream so take your pick. On my first very brief trip to Aravaipa, I encountered 2 wild turkeys in the creek.
After a few miles of wooded creek, I reached the canyon proper. Shortly after, Hell's Half Acre side canyon appeared on the right/south bank. This is a very short and particularly dramatic and photogenic area worth exploring. On this trip I did not attempt exploring any other side canyons between until reaching Hellhole/Deer Creek near the East trailhead. That side canyon was also well worth the trip. There are dramatic sheer walls (pictured in the photoset) and dramatic rock formations as well as a couple rock windows I believe is the right term (back out on the main creek and heading back West, it should be easy to spot at least 1 more similar rock window high on the north bank). Hellhole canyon also has a few hanging garden spots, pictured. I encountered some other people here for the first time since leaving the West trailhead, who guided me to 2 owls in one of the cracks splitting off from Hellhole canyon. They pointed straight at them and I still couldn't find them for awhile because they were so well camouflaged (pictured).
I lightly jogged to make pace back to the west trailhead for a full day. On this trip I brought a water filter but never used it, and packed about a gallon of water which provided a healthy buffer. |
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