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 | White Christmas, AZ | |
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| Hiking | 12.07 Miles |
2,119 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.07 Miles | 6 Hrs 6 Mns | | 2.22 mph |
| 2,119 ft AEG | 40 Mns Break | | | |
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| Partners |
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| partners | | Joe guided us on a quick tour of the nearby 4x4 roads, but we were still early getting to the parking area and met the other half of the group at ~8:30AM to start the clockwise loop. After a little road walking, we started following a wash that quickly turned into a narrow canyon with some fun scrambling and occasional bypasses.
We crossed under a barbed wire fence and got into the wilderness. I'd done some hiking just north of here, but this was my first time actually hiking in White Canyon Wilderness, and it was impressive even without much water. We hiked through a lot of beautiful Goldfield-esque geology, first along a cliff edge overlooking the deep canyon with views of Battle Axe to the south. Making our way down, we stopped at a nice arch, then dropped into the canyon and checked out Bruce's Bat Cave and some dripping would-be waterfalls.
Karl was disappointed to find his old swimming hole was mostly filled in and very shallow, but we found a great backup option along the southern part of the loop, and Karl and Chumley took advantage of the opportunity. Farther along, we passed another 20+ foot would-be waterfall (a common theme today) and scrambled up a steep slope to a comfortable lunch spot, where Bruce spotted a turtle trying to climb a short vertical wall that looked like it had gotten itself into a predicament.
We continued following the drainage over to Wood Canyon on the west side of the loop and into more familiar territory for me, where we could see Tower Arch and some of the peaks on that side. The upper section of the loop was flatter and mostly easy hiking with the brush still recovering from fire damage, but the sun felt warmer than the Chumometer indicated.
Fun day with great scenery and conversations. Thank you to the Eagle and the absent Tortoise for organizing this. Despite the lack of significant water, the hike had just about everything else you could ask for--Joe helped us find some adventurous off-roading, Linda murdered a baby cactus, Chumley saved a free-soloing turtle, and Karl got a good swim. Not a bad way to wrap up 2025  . |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
One colorful cottonwood |
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