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| Hiking | 14.28 Miles |
1,035 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.28 Miles | 5 Hrs 32 Mns | | 2.82 mph |
| 1,035 ft AEG | 28 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Took my first trip down the new Daytona Rim Speedway and it was an absolute dream. There's no center line yet (not that it would matter) so arbitrary passing was a breeze. We made it all the way to FR 34 in 6 minutes. No washboards, no dust! This is what this area has needed since the beginning of time immemorial!
The day began with light sprinkles which was a treat. In fact overcast endured for the better part of the trip which is always pleasant in this hellish summerscape. After a quick dip in Alder Lake we cut down west of FR 117 and dropped into a nice unnamed canyon that flanked the east side of Porcupine Ridge for 4.5 miles to its confluence with West Chevelon Canyon. While this first stretch was mostly dry, it was highly enjoyable and featured few obstacles.
West Chevelon was the treat today as it opened into a wide canyon with grassy banks and continual water. The slope was minimal so the water appeared silty and not ideal for a dip, except for canine companions. I bit farther down there were rockier stretches that featured clear water and even some small sections with a trickle of downhill flow.
After about 2 miles in West Chev we cut east, climbing up and over Dye Ridge. This area was perhaps a perfect example of what the result of forest thinning should be. Nicely spaced pondos in a sea of a grassy forest floor. This is truly one of the nicest stretches of pondo forest I can recall walking through. It was delightful.
We dropped off Dye into West Fork Alder where we picked up an AZT-quality track perfected by future hamburgers. Upon reaching the mainstem we turned south and began our uphill return toward the rim. There was a pool or two of water near the confluence, but the canyon dried up shortly thereafter.
There was a mile or so of less than enjoyable canyon bottom rock hopping and a few deadfall debris fields that took a little maneuvering to get over, but this was short-lived. As we approached Cliff Springs the canyon opened up again into a beautiful grassy meadow. There was no spring infrastructure but pools of water began to appear again from this point and upstream.
Alder tightened a bit above the spring but there was usually a pretty good elk trail on the bank making travel pretty easy. There's a fork split about half a mile north of FR 169 where the canyon became narrow and choked with deadfall so instead of following it to the true top we cut up onto the ridge with just a short walk back to our starting point.
This was a pretty solid canyon loop up here. We never encountered any bushwhacking brush, and most of it was delightful walking on creekside benches without deadfall or other obstacles.
The early side canyon and Alder will both have water flowing in them in springtime, and possibly after a more robust monsoon, while West Chevelon is reliably perennial in this stretch.
I might put Dye Ridge on the list for a potential Camp Grasshopper, and both West Chevelon and Alder deserve exploration further north to at least the Dye Ranch and Barts Crossing area. I'll be back! |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Cliff Springs |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Ok, not actually dripping. But a pool of muddy water. There were more, better, deeper pools in the canyon half a mile upstream. | | _____________________
| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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