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| Hiking | 11.44 Miles |
1,366 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.44 Miles | 7 Hrs 38 Mns | | 1.50 mph |
| 1,366 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | I attempted to make it to Willow Spring in late 2022; however, once I got into WBC, the brush was so bad that I quickly abandoned the attempt. But after seeing Wally's recent triplog about it being pretty open after the fire and with a day off midweek, I decided to give it another shot, and S was up for it. Only 4 cars in the FW lot when we arrived a little after 8. This was my first time hiking out of FW since the Siphon fire and it was as bad as I expected as we were in the burn the entire way. Quickly made it up to Parker Pass and cut over on the path up to the first saddle, down into O'Grady Canyon, and back up to Tim's Saddle. The trail is in great shape, I would say better then some trails out east. The brush was minimal from the fire, but Wally is correct in that I did come across a couple of catclaw bushes that gave me a friendly hello. As we got to Tim's Saddle, the wind really picked up, and clouds started making their way in, but it was still comfortable. Made it down into WBC, where I bailed last time, and as expected nothing was left except crispy sticks and rocks. There are carins scattered in WBC, but each time we attempted to follow them, they led us into a soot-filled adventure, so we chose to remain in the creek. Came across a small pool near the large boulder section (where OWBC comes in). As we continued, the canyon opened up a bit, and we found horse tracks that led up the west bank, which was a nice reprieve from rock hopping. and from this point up to Willow Springs, there are several large swimming pools to take a dip in. As the canyon turns to the left right before Willow Springs the burn gets bad, but surprisingly spared the brush at Willow Springs. Nice light flow at the spring area as we had lunch and relaxed for a bit. Continued briefly up canyon to check out the stone corral. Nothing in this area survived the fire, just some small new growth, but very minimal. After spending some time at the corral, we started back. At this point, the clouds thickened, and the wind was easily gusting to 25+ MPH, which made it a miserable 5-mile hike back to FW, especially since I am dealing with some bronchitis (pretty not the smartest idea to be hiking in) ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") . Uneventful hike back to FW besides the misery of the wind as I tried to keep my whining to a minimum. We came across three people near Parker Pass and that was it for the day. If you have even wanted to visit Willow Springs now is the time, before the brush comes back. Thanks S for joining me.  |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Some isolated flowers coming back from the burn. |
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Willow Spring |
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| | | Nice sized pools. | | _____________________
Hiking is just walking where it’s okay to pee.  |
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