| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 9.02 Miles |
2,180 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.02 Miles | 7 Hrs 21 Mns | | 1.35 mph |
| 2,180 ft AEG | 41 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | After having to cancel our previously planned visit, we made sure to check the wind forecast before heading out this time. Arrived at Tortilla Flat just before sunrise with no other cars parked. We headed off along the use trail to drop into Tortilla Creek - it's a little hidden heading out of the parking area but is very obvious once on it. Once in the drainage, we followed the occasional use trails as we found them or rock hopped our way up. While there are pools present, and light flow across the slickrock section, everything was able to be negotiated while keeping feet dry. We opted to bypass the majority of the extremely large boulders in the lower portion of Peter's Canyon by heading up the breakdown on the left (looking up canyon) - it's a little brushy, but I didn't seem to get any new scrapes. The slickrock section after the boulders clear out was beautiful, with plenty of interconnected pools and channels. We continued up canyon to eventually find ourselves at Peter's Cave. We made the steep scramble up to have a look - flipped through the register (interesting storage situation there)...and was disappointed at the camp debris and trash that had been left behind.
After descending back to the canyon floor, J decided to wait and give his ankle a rest while I headed up canyon go see what I could see. It wasn't too long before I found myself stopped by a pool with the clear sound of a waterfall tucked away behind a turn. Looking at the terrain, it looked like I could scramble up and back down on the left hand side looking up-canyon - as I was scrambling up, I was able to look down to see the waterfall...and contemplated the possibility of a different bypass that didn't require getting so high up on the other side, though it would have required backtracking further back down canyon to attempt access. After getting back in the drainage to have a look at the waterfall from above, I was stopped by a long water-filled corridor. I scrambled back up on canyon left (again, looking up-canyon) to see if I could get past it, but I wasn't enjoying the exposure. I got back down into the drainage to assess the depth of the pool, and dithered about pushing onward directly in the watercourse, but ultimately decided I'd rather stay dry.
The hike back was uneventful, and offered some better opportunities for photos with the cloud cover from the early morning breaking up. Was glad to visit a new-to-me area of the Superstitions. Found plenty of other vehicles at Tortilla flat upon our return, and sounds from the live music carrying up into the upper reaches of the parking lot. Happily, we didn't see any others while we were out exploring.
As an aside, I'm pretty sure my mileage is way off, as is my AEG, but that's what RS calculated - had one incident with straight-lining, not sure what may have caused it. My watch reported a much more modest mileage of 6.14 miles and 1114ft of AEG. |
|
Wildflowers Observation Light
|
|
  |
Peters Canyon |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | Water underground for large portions, but there are large pools in areas and is flowing across the slickrock section | | _____________________
Happier when hiking....I may not move fast (and I'm often distracted by wildflowers), but I'll get there eventually  |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
