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| Park Turkey Little Turkey JR Cataract Crks, AZ | |
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| | Park Turkey Little Turkey JR Cataract Crks, AZ | | | |
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Park Turkey Little Turkey JR Cataract Crks, AZ
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| no partners | | Sierra Ancha Creek Bagging Day 2 of 4 - Park Creek Canyon to Turkey, Lower Little Turkey, Upper Salome, tip of JR, and Cataract Canyons
Cold night (25F) but well within the range of shoulder season alpine gear and things warmed up quickly once the sun hit, which was very early. Yay for campsites in open fairly level areas! Poked around the rim near camp a bit to look at the falls, but figured we'd prioritize the turkey creek area while the snowmelt was still optimal.
We went down a soggy but easily passable FR 2747 to the confluence of the turkeys (there's a spot between them and off to the side with an old fire ring) and started wandering up the main canyon trying to get to the pillar gardens we could see on the way over. We climbed up a few bypasses then decided to call it quits and come back with lower water levels sometime and exited high on cow paths, which involved less Class 3 but more bushwhacking.
Lower Turkey was fairly unremarkable but easy boulder hopping from the road until we found the falls! Wow! Some old fencing was strewn across it including a bolt. We thought we saw a possible ramp down the cliff band along the southern / skiers left side. And kept going. Past rock spring creek. A little after we passed a spot that looked promising we decided to give it a go and came across some deer tracks that led us down around 33.91348, -111.03584. A few switches, then a long dropping traverse up canyon to about 33.91399, -111.03457. Up canyon wasn't as interesting with many trees bare, but pretty quick going and the bottom of the falls was a spectacular grotto where we had lunch. Some snow and ice, but very localized depending on slope facing and shade.
Just stumbled across [ triplog ] doing a deep search for locations to link and am curious if they found a spot to drop sooner. 
Back down below from where we dropped in were some spectacular cascades and gorgeous pink/purple and orange/black swirling slick rock. We named this [ photo ] Tiger Stripe Cascade. Some obvious shelves to camp on around the confluence with Upper Salome, all of which were covered in cow pies.
Debated routes at this point, it looked like one could exit SW up into bush hell, and we weren't sure about dropping further down Salome, so looked at Topo / World Imagery Sat / Slope Angle shading and decided to push up. The bottom of JR Canyon was enchanting, but after a quick peek up we continued up Cataract to our estimated exit point. Easy going, and a neat overhanging fall off on the side along with rippling bedrock and cascades. A quick scramble out onto the shelf above the lower canyon wall, girding ourselves for a bushwhack hell up to a pasture and we stumbled across a cow path at 33.91679, -111.04318 that led us fairly effortlessly up to the pasture at 33.91730, -111.04290. An easy but underwhelming walk back to camp in time to make dinner and bundle up in the tent. |
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