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| Backpack | 11.00 Miles |
800 AEG |
| | Backpack | 11.00 Miles | 1 Day 8 Hrs 30 Mns | | |
| 800 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I guess I just didn't get enough of this place in one day, so two days after my hike here with Angela, I backpacked into the canyon determined to get all the way down the creek. I made pretty good time the first two miles. Having just been here and done that, I didn't stop for many photos, so this section went by pretty quick.
Further downstream, you start to run into some deep water sections with limited options for avoiding them. Still, none of these were more than waist high. Most of the tempting ways to go around seem to take you up high and away from the creek in a big hurry and leave you in a dead end of catclaw and other delights. All the way down, I did a lot of turning around and backtracking because you couldn't see where these use/game 'trails' might lead until you walked them. For some reason, on the way back up the creek, it was much easier to see ahead and pick out a good route. I would think it would be the other way around and looking downhill would give you a better vantage point, but that wasn't the case.
I set up camp at the last possible area before the beaches disappeared and there was nothing but boulders and water. (N 33 33.831' W 111 20.550') Of course, in order to know it was the last good spot, I passed it and walked ahead another .4 miles before I was convinced and turned around. I was running out of daylight now and kicking myself for wasting an hour when I should have already been set up. In my hurry to get back, I slipped off a slimy rock in the creek and dunked my camera which was hanging around my neck. CRAP! That was the end of that. I was too tired to care at that point, so I just went into denial mode believing that it would magically turn on the next day. (It didn't. Right now, it's still sitting on my desk inside a ziplock bag with some rice... I hope it's magic rice.)
The next morning, I wanted to try to make it all the way down to the Salt River which was still 1.4 miles away. I knew I couldn't do it with my pack, so I broke camp and left all my gear behind, going on ahead with only my poles and carrying nothing. I was hoping I could move fast enough to get there and still get back to my truck before dark. After one hour of serious effort, I only covered .7 miles, during which I went through two areas of water WAY over my head. (I extended my poles to the max and, holding them straight down, I didn't find the bottom.) Here I discovered very quickly that I'm not all that great a swimmer and this was exhausting. Looking ahead to another .7 miles of much more of the same, I was forced to admit defeat and head back to the campsite to retrieve my heavy pack and my dead camera and go back where I came from. But, I was happy to have made it as far as I did.
I was pretty whipped on the way back, being that this was my third time trekking this canyon in the last four days. I just focused on getting back out and tried not to look around too much at all the things I wanted to take photos of. About halfway back, I stopped for a breather and was standing in the middle of the creek completely out in the open when a large group of coatimundis came tumbling down the hill to get a drink. There were 18 of them only 30 feet away and they were oblivious to my presence as they wrestled and played, shoving each other around like children. I stood motionless and watched them for five minutes as they worked their way toward me along the edge of the water and passed by just 15 feet from where I stood. I wondered what cruel joke the Universe was playing on me and my dead camera and what might be around the next corner... Bigfoot? Or, maybe the Lochness Monster? Or, how about a UFO? Yes, now would be the time for a sighting. ~ sigh! ~ I continued on my way telling myself that if I had made even the slightest movement to take a photo, they would have vanished before I could have snapped the first one. At least I got to see them up close for so long just doing their thing. They were really cute, although I may not have felt that way if they had raided my camp last night and scared me half to death!
I arrived at my truck at 5pm after leaving my furthest point at 9:30am, so I made that 5 mile return trip with a 35 lb pack in 7.5 hours. Not bad time at all.
I saw no one else on either day. The solitude was spiritual. |
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I'm at home in the wilderness... it's civilization I have problems with! ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") |
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