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| Hiking | 9.80 Miles |
85 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.80 Miles | 8 Hrs 15 Mns | | 1.19 mph |
| 85 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | The time quoted here is 6.5 for the hike that includes about an 1.15 hour for various breaks (lunch, photo-stops, brief swiking) and an hour at the Falls PLUS the 1 hr 45 min hike from Cibecue Creek Trailhead to US 60.
The Cibecue Creek hike is NOT a 2 mile round trip. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying. From the various research we have read, it looks like the trip is 2.5 miles ONE way.... which is great because it's worth every tenth  . Kat's GPS figuring is 2.65 miles to the Falls.
It was a great day, slightly warm at times, but tolerable; especially on the way back when we had so much shade. We started around 10:45AM, had lunch around 1, headed to the Falls at 1:45, reaching the Falls at 2 (we didn't realize we were that close). We swiked at the Falls for an hour, though it didn't seem like it was that long, and then headed back about 2:50. We stopped again for some swiking at the south turn for about 15-20 minutes arriving back at the trailhead around 5:20.
If you haven't figured out what "swiking" is it is swimming with hiking boots... therefore, not technically swimming cuz after all, who swims with hiking boots on  . Anyway, this is a great hike even though there are a couple places you can get sucked in by the gooey mud, it is a relatively easy creek hike. Your feet do stay wet most of the time. It appears to have rained a few days prior because of the amount of mud close to the shore. There are lots of little cascading waterfalls that meander over and through various size boulders. We didn't see much in the way of wildlife and saw only 6 other humans.
Of course, as you probably have gathered from Suzaz's photoset, after the hike we had a little problem getting across the creek to the road. The creek bottom, as noted by other triplogs, is a little slippery with all those rocks but the kicker for us was the mud that started to suck us in as we were crossing up the other side. We lost our momentum and then just ended up spinning one back tire then the other in an attempt to gear our way out.
Susan suggested she would hike out. Kat & I after considering and then nixing the idea of jacking up the vehicle to clear out some of the rocks below the rear axle, we decided to stick together and head out for help. So at 6:15 or so we gathered water, headlamps and cell phones to make our way to US 60. Kat put on her rocket shoes and was off like lightning to get to the road before we lost total daylight. She flagged down a driver (she arrived about 15 minutes ahead of us) and then we walked to the closed rest area (at the southside of the Salt River Canyon bridge) to flag down one more person to make sure someone else was aware of our plight.
At about 8:45ish, Mike from DPS pulled up. The first and second drivers we had flagged down had indeed made the calls for us. (There is NO cell service on this part of the reservation). While we waited for the tow truck and talked to Mike, we observed the incredible star-lit sky and thought about how lucky we were... ya, Kat later said, "lucky to stay one step ahead of disaster"  . I wouldn't say disaster exactly but at the time, it felt like it could turn into one.
Our tow truck driver, John, was told in error that we were broke down so brot a long flatbed truck. Nonetheless, he got us out in short order so that we could arrive home by 1:30AM for Susan, 2:00AM for Kat and 3:00AM for me - a 22 hour day. I cannot remember the last time I've been up that long.
Great hike for the summer. The drive from Gold Canyon is pretty as well. The road down to Cibecue Creek is a bit rough. We never did get to the place we wanted to take our sunset pictures... maybe next time.  |
| _____________________
For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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