DESTINATION Generic 29 Photosets
| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
|
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | | | |
| | | |
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | The sun is fading and I put my foot down on the accelerator. The vehicle jumps a bit, dust flies, and I see my destination as I wind around the narrow ledgy road. A ribbon of silver catches my eye. It seems substantial. I drop down into the wide valley and as I come to the crossing come to a screetching halt. The Creek flows hugely here, braiding among the willows and rocky sandy bars, sluggish and deep, rushing in another section.
The crossing is inundated. I back up, take a turnout on top of the hill and park at my campsite for two nights. I get out and walk to the edge, about 50 feet down flows Burro Creek, unrecognizable except for the blue gray boulder gauntlet it is soon to run through.
What happened to my idyllic little creek, the placid pools, the cattails??? This thing is silty, violent and huge, roaring deeply, backdropping my dreams at night.
I planned on hiking quite far down the river, now I was unsure with this volume of water. I walk down to the river side, take some pictures, drawn to the narrows and the raging whitewater, mesmerized by the impressive power of the flow.
Sunset, I go to the car and turn in for the night, after a little reading and getting things ready for the next day. It is cool and a little frost, I sleep in, then get up and start out. Two years ago I happened upon this place and was lazy and just swam and lay on the sand beaches for a hot October afternoon. I didn't explore much. I wanted to come back, and now it's two years later. I started my rock hop down the canyon, the desert walls decorated by cactii and some poppies, then the gray outcrop of rocks that I remembered housing the beautiful pools. I find my way well through the boulder maze and soon past the rapids, churning waterfalls and foam, huge slow pools, brown in color, still beautiful as only this amount of water in the desert can create such feelings of wonder and security.
I found a very good traverse that kept me close to the water, I was afraid I would have to contour higher up. I made good time, and the canyon slowly opened, at once it had seemed it would narrow and drop again. I came to a wonderful huge sand beach, with colorful striped boulders as sentinels in the sand. Burro Creek was wider through here, at times it was as much as 100-150 feet wide, small rapids interspersed with calmer waters. I had some small climbarounds but nothing troublesome. Eventually my good luck came to an end. I tried a traverse with handholds that I had to lean out on and my feet a few inches above water. I left my pack and camera, good thing, as a handhold broke free and in I went. The water was cold but only a few feet deep, so I got out with below my waist soaked and my dignity intact ( no witnesses).
Up and over. Up a gully, I attempted a traverse but came back and went up again, the rock was too loose and not good to climb. I headed the gully then had a great view up and down the canyon, but terrible filtered light for any photos. I headed back down only to be cliffed out, then finally found my way down.
Now the canyon is wider, and lower walls, desert to the water. I kept on walking. Finally I decided to turn around, as it was starting to be difficult to traverse down by the creek. Crossing to the other side never seemed to be an option, I couldn't tell how deep the water was and it was flowing quite rapidly. Magic, the water calls to me and I did not want to be far away. I made my traverses, stopping to look, take pictures, sit on a rock, listen, feel, sweat, and cool my head with a dip of my hat in the cold water. Time, nothing but time. I got back to the car to think, if it wasn't late I would do another hike in the area then get up in time to go to the group hike at Hell Canyon. Ha, it was already 4:00. I just rested, reviewed some photos, let the sun go down to do some more water shooting at the rapids, then turn in later.
The next day I decided to check out a side canyon just off Hwy 93. Elitist snobs, like I sometimes can be, will turn their noses at something they see from a car, not "pristine or wild enough", they think since it has easy access can't be anything good, or remote. Kaiser Springs, or Warm Springs canyon is a nice one. Just off the twin tiered bridge as you are flying along in your car you might notice a little slice of a slot canyon just off the highway. It is a nice canyon, and once you enter the narrows the cars and noise fade away. The canyon stays pretty narrow and gets some tall walls for almost a mile. There are some small obstacles to get around but nothing hard. Very very pretty. WIld erosion coupled with interesting geology and conglomerate rock, seeps, moss and lichens.
Downcanyon it is a wide sandy and boring wash, soon you intersect a road coming in from the other side. It soon gets washed out. The canyon deepens, nice walls, and lots of travertine and geothermal looking, alcoves, some mining remains. A small hot spring is found, not enough to soak in, it seems developed but not kept up.
Soon you intersect Burro Creek again, with vaulting walls down canyon more than a few hundred feet high, with broad small rapids and up canyon mirrored pools. Even with the runoff brown water just a magical place.
Again--so many places, and so little time---
Also, please be patient with the pics, I am again trying a new camera from my friend, a Nikon D90, and I haven't gotten the settings down yet so ended up with some strange colors. I think I am still a Canon supporter for DSLR. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
