Corral Canyon Trail #291 • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Tucson, AZ

Backpack		Apr 27 2024
		azdesertfather • Triplogs 1,144

Backpack	29.23 Miles	6,257 AEG

Backpack	29.23 Miles	16 Hrs 41 Mns		1.98 mph
	6,257 ft AEG		28 LBS Pack

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West Divide Trail #289

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Great, memorable weekend in the Gailuros! Started out with animal sightings, including antelope again on the paved roads after Wilcox.

East Divide #287
From the trailhead at Deer Creek Road, we hiked 287 to the junction with Tortilla Trail. This section is pretty easy and scenic.

Tortilla #254
Lots of bare rock, but in those areas lots of good-sized cairns. Water reports attached but I found in most of the seasonal stream beds that there was flowing water. At places it would go underground but then come back up a little farther down a bit with a light flow.

At the Upper Sycamore Tank area there was some oak overgrowth, but generally speaking this trail was in good shape. Heard wild turkey a couple of times in this area. The stream in Horse Canyon before turning onto Powers Garden was a good place to get water.

Powers Garden #96
Turned south into Powers Garden Trail and made our way to the garden house. House was in good shape for being so remote. 3 spring bunk beds set up, 4 more single spring beds on their side inside, roof well sealed and secure. A little evidence of mice in the cabinetry, leaving any food or trash isn’t a good idea. Lots of air mattresses, metal folding chairs, sleeping bags… a guitar, a cast iron stove heater for colder nights, pots and pans, even disposable utensils, and paper plates and cups in stock. No evidence at that time however of people in the area and dropping gear. Fresh bear scat near cabin, that we think was left while we were there for lunch, though we never spotted him. After lunch we checked out the property and some of us laid down and rested on the beds for a few minutes, before heading down the trail. Heading down this trail we saw lots of bear scat, every few yards, some old and some fresh. Deadfall in spots along the trail.

Came to another abandoned cabin on the east side of this trail. Some of the sides of the cabin are no longer there, but still a fairly sound structure with an empty storage locker inside. There was a mine up the hill on the opposite side of this trail that we explored as well, with a bunch of old equipment. Mine shaft covered with heavy sheet metal. Nearby there also was a stamp mill with parts dating back to 1880 in San Francisco; it had everything but a boiler, and the Power family were waiting for it when the shootout occurred in February 1918. From the accounts I'm reading online, this was the Gold Mountain area, where gold first started getting prospected in 1902-03, but was abandoned when the Powers moved in, and they worked this mine until 1911.

Good flow in the stream flowing by the south end of the trail, we topped off here before climbing to the intersection with West Divide.

West Divide #289
As we started descending onto the West Divide, almost immediately we ran into lots of catclaw, that was growing over the trail from both sides to the point it was connecting to each other in the middle. In this section I had a short-sleeved shirt on and I just had to put my hands over my heads and push through with my torso, until we made it to the cabin.

We explored almost all the mine by the Powers Cabin. The flies weren't as bad on this day as have been reported by others in the past. The only area we didn't explore was the vertical shaft, descending with a wooden ladder; we didn't have any confidence after a century that that latter would hold weight! There was also another vertical mine shaft a few yards away from teh main mine opening. Supposedly Jeff Power (the father) was buried outside the mine, but it wasn't clear where the gravesite was. The next morning we headed out the way we came in.

The cabin was in worse shape than I expected, the walls are starting to shift on all four sides. One of the doors was gone, and the other was sitting inside but unable to open and close. Dirt floor has lots of mouse holes. Most of us decided to sleep in the cabin, but as it became dark they came out all over the place, so some of us set up our tents inside the cabin and some outside the cabin. Found a couple of bullet holes to the left of the front door. Pretty cool to experience, but honestly I will be surprised if the structure is still standing a decade from now.

Powers Garden #96
After making our way the next morning back through the catclaw, we refilled in the stream by Rattlesnake Spring and started heading toward Corral Canyon. On the way we ran into a family (Granddad, Dad and two kids) who had hiked in from the north end of this trail with permission from the landowner, and had arrived at the garden house and spent the night that night. It ended up being the only people we saw the two days we were out in the Gailuros.

Corral Canyon #291
This is where the fun of the weekend begins! Corral Canyon had a little bit of water in a few places along the stream bed, maybe a gallon per minute max. What it left of the trail is mostly gone due to massive amounts of deadfall and overgrowth. Game trails are all over the place, so making your way up the canyon you really couldn't know. It was a long, difficult slog, and not one I'll repeat. About halfway up the canyon we heard a lot of birds start squawking and we looked up, and saw several birds chasing away a owl, quite a sight to see! When we hit the high point after going around the edge of this unnamed peak at about 7150', we finally caught a little break and trailfinding became a little less brutal and hazardous. Up on top views opened up including nearby Kennedy Peak, and we made our way to the junction with East Divide.

East Divide #287
Once we started heading down East Divide, trail finding was a little bit better. Still a good bit of deadfall and overgrowth, but nothing like Corral Canyon. Great, long views to the east all the way out to Mount Turnbull. Lots of orange tape marking branches that should be cut. The final stretch was a delightful stretch through open grassy area, the same one that we hiked in on the day before.

Wildflowers Observation Light

Corral Canyon

Light flow

	Horse Canyon	Light flow	Light flow
	3-4 gallons a minute.

Horse Canyon Tank

Dry

	Mud Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Corral full with a slight flow out of it.

	Rattlesnake Spring	Gallon per minute	Gallon per minute
	Report for stream just below spring.

	Upper Sycamore Tank	26-50% full	26-50% full
	half full, pipe feeding it from higher elevation

_____________________

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." — Henry David Thoreau

2 archives

Nov 04 2023

jacobemerick

Guides 38
Routes 182
Photos 1,602
Triplogs 232

40 male

Joined Dec 09 2014
Gilbert, AZ

High Creek - E Divide - Corral - Rattlesnake, AZ

Backpack		Nov 04 2023
		jacobemerick • Triplogs 232

Backpack	25.91 Miles	6,202 AEG

Backpack	25.91 Miles	17 Hrs	1.91 mph
	6,202 ft AEG

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High Creek Trail #290

Rattlesnake Trail #285

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Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

After an inexcusably long break from adventuring, headed out to the Galiuro Wilderness with three objectives: check out the fall colors, explore some more of the trail system, and test out some gear changes.

High Creek #290
Got my 2WD, meh-clearance vehicle a mile from the "official" trailhead a few minutes after sunrise. Watered up and shivered along the climb up High Creek, gawking a few times at the color show. Trail is easy to follow, deceptively steep, and has little overgrowth. Vibing.

E Divide #287
Turned north. Climb keeps on climbing until you reach the saddle a quarter mile in. Paused here to check out the entry log and look for the marked spring. Found a few promising spots and even some damp dirt, NO water on surface, and a decent tread that continued downhill... Back on official trail to enjoy the non-stop visual treat of Big Views, also found a nice (exposed) campsite on the north side of the 7100 BM saddle. The section of trail from 7100 BM -> Rattlesnake is phenomenal, stellar views of the southern half. After reaching the junction I cruised, since I had already been here two years ago.

Paused at the Paddy River junction to down some calories and try to mentally prepare myself for a potential slog. It was worse than I expected. The western slopes were a mess of deadfall, loose rocks, and confusing treads; Douglas Canyon was filled with more deadfall, thick brush, and washout; and the general area around Kennedy Peak was devastated. With a light pack I was making about a mile an hour along this section, tho some of that was spent hunting tread to get a more accurate GPS route. Outside of the frustrating aspects, the geology of this area was pretty cool, and there was water! Hesitant on calling this a true one-and-done.

Corral Canyon #291
After the beating for the last few hours I was running low on patience and water, so decided to barrel in a generally correct direction instead of hunting tread. Few puddles above the waterfall and clear, tasty water at the spring itself. Rest of the trail was in fine shape, splattering of fall colors.

Powers Garden #96
Highway cruising. There is 5-10 large downs to circle around, otherwise easy walking. It was getting dark and the cold was settling in quickly, so while my original plan was to camp at Holdout, I stopped shortly after Rattlesnake Spring.

Had a small fire for warmth during dinner, and then doused it shortly after, chased by the cold temps into my hammock. Had one of my best sleeps outside in recent memory, nestled in a pair of 40F under/top quilts. Got chilly around 1AM, pulled on some extra layers, and survived. Morning was a shiver-fest, so I pushed back breakfast plans until a few miles could warm me up.

Rattlesnake #285
This trail is so good, with solid tread and wonderful fall colors and all, yet some parts of it is so overgrown, especially the mile west of Holdout Spring. Pulled water and had breakfast at Holdout, then pushed on, anxious to get the climb done. Ran into a chill bear shortly after leaving the creek. Briefly about exploring the unnamed "#285A" spur at the saddle - there is even an ineligible sign sitting there - and instead pushed on. More overgrowth along the climb, and that scree section was several notches above my comfort level, so I bypassed through some angry manzanita. I've done the scree before, in the winter, and this time seemed way sketchier. By the time I reached the top I was quite sweat, bloodied, and ready to be done.

E Divide #287 / High Creek #290
Nothing new. The sun was higher so the fall colors on High Creek popped more. Passed the miles by plotting out the next few adventures.

Gear Notes - this is my second underquilt and I'm getting more used to hammock camping, though I struggle a lot on finding good spots to hang, even in something as tree-rich as this wilderness. Need more practice. First time backpacking in trail runners and had zero issues. Also used a hydration pack with a hose for easy sipping... on the fence. I like having individual bladders so I can keep track of my intake, as well as have forced breaks.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Black Bear

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Corral Spring Holdout Spring

Meteorology

Meteorology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Autumn - Color Foliage

Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Some areas seemed pretty close to peak. Other areas seemed stressed and had shed everything already. Speculate that the peak will be in 2 weeks.

	Corral Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Cement trough had a little bit of water. Underneath the trough it was several large tanks of clear water with a good trickle in/out.

	Corral Tank	1-25% full	1-25% full
	This one is confusing. I did not see any dam along North Fork, though there were a few puddles in North Fork with reasonable clarity. There IS a signed "Corral Dam" along the tributary, where the trail climbs up to the north, which was had a dribble that would be very difficult to collect.

	Holdout Spring	Gallon + per minute	Gallon + per minute
	Solid, as usual.

_____________________

Jan 13 2023

GrangerGuy

Guides 34
Routes 138
Photos 931
Triplogs 111

68 male

Joined Dec 26 2018
Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jan 13 2023
		GrangerGuy • Triplogs 111

Hiking	19.73 Miles	4,718 AEG

Hiking	19.73 Miles	1 Day 11 Hrs 1 Min
	4,718 ft AEG	17 Hrs 25 Mns Break	27 LBS Pack

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I’ve been busy teaching and got 3 weeks behind on my trail writeups. I did a loop in the Galiuros, starting from Deer Creek Trailhead. This trip turned out to be Type II fun, although I got a lot of good pictures (I think).

The road to the trailhead, Forest Road 253, is easily navigated. It is high clearance when dry all the way to the trail head. You could even take a normal car on it if you were adventurous. The crossing of Aravaipa Creek had a very small amount of water in it.

My plan was to take the East Divide Trail south to Tortilla Trail, following it over to Powers Garden Trail and stay at Powers Garden for the night. Then south on Powers Garden Trail to Corral Canyon Trail, up to the East Divide Trail, and back to my car.

East Divide Trail #287
I started out about 8 am. It was 39° and sunny. Although the trail is in tall grass, it is easy to follow here. It can be confusing at times, however. I took a detour off the trail to set up my tripod on some rocks, and found a cairn in the tall grass at least 20 yards off the trail. After about 1.5 hours, I reached the Tortilla Trail. The intersection is marked by a cairn and the remains of a signpost.

Tortilla Trail #254
Continuing up, arriving at the first saddle, I could see my car far away at the trailhead. The path comes upon a recently-maintained barbed wire fence. It follows along north for a couple hundred yards before coming to a gate, and an intersection with the trail back down to Deer Creek Road. Through the gate, the trail descends to Oak Creek, which was flowing cheerfully.

Switchbacking up from Oak Creek, the path enters the wilderness. With the sun now on Mt. Graham across the valley, I could see the snow on the peak. The spring box at Mud Spring was full, but green and not very appealing, and indeed there is mud everywhere. Sycamore Trail #278 bears right, and Tortilla Trail bears left. The signs indicate 6.2 miles to Powers Garden.

A short distance past Mud Spring, there is a confusing intersection marking the East Divide Trail and Tortilla Trail. Since I’d already left the East Divide Trail, this did not make sense. It seems to be an old routing of the East Divide Trail, or a connector trail to it. At the intersection, bear right.

About noon, I reached the high point of 6250’, and could still pick out my car at the trailhead. It’s a little tricky finding the trail coming off the high point and down into the ravine leading to Sycamore Creek. Cairns are helpful. Once in the canyon, the trail closely follows the creek, right of it, left of it, or in it. The path is overgrown.

Eventually arrived at the dam, and the actual intersection with Sycamore Creek. The dam is filled with silt. The trail passes below the dam, and then by a large tank and a small tank. The large tank was overflowing.

Leaving the dam, the trail also leaves the creek, staying essentially level. The grass is tall and the trail is obscure, but if the going gets scary or difficult, you are probably off the path. The trail traverses in and out of 3 more canyons before eventually crossing a pass at the head of Horse Canyon. From here, it is 2.5 more miles to camp.

The trail down into Horse Canyon is not great. It alternates between scree and solid granite and catclaw. The walk along Horse Canyon at the bottom is idyllic. Eventually the trail comes to the crossing at Rattlesnake Creek, which was flowing enough to make me hunt for a good crossing. Once across, it is best to stay to the right of the fence to pick up the southbound Powers Garden Trail.

Powers Garden Trail #96
This old road is doing a good job returning to singletrack. It follows along the fence until arriving at Powers Garden, where there are several photogenic buildings. There was a large, noisy organized group of young adults camping at Powers Garden. I camped as far away as I thought prudent, but they still kept me awake at night. Lots of good campsites there.

In the morning, my watch indicated it was 34°, but a small amount of ice in my water bottle suggested it was colder. This campsite is notorious for being cold, and my hands were numb by the time I got breakfast going.

Continuing south on day two, I made a rookie mistake and headed upstream on the wrong path until it petered out. By the time I realized my error and got back to the right path, it was 8 am, an hour later than I should have started, as it turns out.

The Powers Garden Trail does disappear from time to time due to deadfall mostly. It crosses the creek several times, but even with a fairly high flow, it’s a good rock hop to get across. Past Brush Spring, there was no longer any water in the creek. The last bit before Corral Canyon seemed to best be traveled in the creek bed. The intersection with the Corral Canyon trail was not obvious.

Corral Canyon Trail #291
At the bottom, the trail is good. It is marked by occasional cairns and features good tread and not a lot of brush. Someone has clipped a few of the more offensive bits of brush, but it could do with a lot more maintenance.

At around 1.5 miles from Rattlesnake Creek, the trail becomes pretty vague. For the next half mile or so, just follow the creek, until you encounter a couple of large cairns directing you up the hill on the north side of the creek. If you get as far as Corral Spring, you must backtrack to find the switchbacks up the grassy north side of the canyon, which take you around a redoubtable waterfall.

The switchbacks are hard to find in the grass, but there are regular cairns that appear, letting you know you are on the right track. If you load the GPS tracks from previous HAZers, you can follow those. Eventually the trail returns to the stream just above the waterfall. The best path onward seems to be in the creek, following the south fork where it splits. There is quite a bit of deadfall to work around.

After a short section a ways up on the south canyon wall, the trail crosses it and begins another aggressive set of switchbacks up the grassy north side of the canyon. The trail is hard to spot, but again, cairns will appear suggesting you are on the right path. Just before the top, the trail makes a U turn around the end of a ridge. Near here is a nice outcrop with good views to Mts. Lemmon and Wrightson. From there, it is an easy ½ mile to the intersection at a pass with the East Divide Trail, which is tangled in deadfall.

East Divide Trail #287
From the pass, I followed the East Divide Trail down the switchbacks into the canyon of a tributary to Oak Creek. This north-facing slope had quite a bit of snow on it, and at one point I lost the trail and just headed straight down until I picked up the trail again. There are lots of large trees fallen and blocking the trail in the upper section as well. It was a bit of an adventure.

Farther down, as the trail begins to follow the riparian canyon, the brush becomes awful. My way was much slowed by pushing aside brush as I worked my way down. Eventually the trail bursts out of the brush onto grassland and leaves the nasty canyon.

Note that in the vicinity of the crossing of Oak Creek, the current (as of Jan 2023) official route of the East Divide Trail is very far off. Just follow the obvious and good trail as it curves south, then north around Oak Creek Canyon, staying pretty level, or follow the GPS tracks of the numerous unofficial routes, and you should be fine.

By the time I reached the intersection of the Tortilla Trail again, it was dark, but with my headlamp and light from my phone, it was not a problem to make it back to the trailhead.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Oak Creek

	Corral Canyon	Medium flow	Medium flow
	Good flow of the creek up as far as the major waterfall above the spring.

	Horse Canyon	Heavy flow	Heavy flow
	Plenty of water in the lower part of the canyon.

	Mud Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Tank is overflowing, albeit green.

	South Field Canyon	Heavy flow	Heavy flow
	Rattlesnake Creek was flowing strong here.

	Upper Sycamore Tank	76-100% full	76-100% full
	Large tank was overflowing.

Mar 20 2021

jacobemerick

Guides 38
Routes 182
Photos 1,602
Triplogs 232

40 male

Joined Dec 09 2014
Gilbert, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Backpack		Mar 20 2021
		jacobemerick • Triplogs 232

Backpack	25.73 Miles	5,215 AEG

Backpack	25.73 Miles	2 Days
	5,215 ft AEG

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Sycamore Trail #278

[ checklist ] Corral Spring Kennedy Peak Mud Spring Powers Garden Powers Garden Spring Sycamore Canyon Spring

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Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

Long, dark drive from San Tan Valley. Was pleasantly surprised to see that FR253 was recently graded, that plus a dry Aravaipa made it very easy to reach TH.

East Divide #287
Easy walking up the grassy lowlands with a few cairns to keep you moving forward. Everything looks toasted, even with the recent snows/rains. Passed what felt like a half-dozen signed junctions before reaching Mud Springs, bit of a maze to figure out at the start. Noticed something weird here that several of the other trails had - two treads that were not-quite-parallel, sometimes collapsing to a single track and other times devolving into game trails. Unsure if this is due to chatty cowbows or meandering livestock. Regardless, it had me backtracking many times throughout the weekend.

Sycamore Creek #278
Picked this up at Mud Springs, took a bit of wandering to find where it started. Recent maintenance and a few re-routes were appreciated. Once I reached the saddle by China Peak the trail plummeted down over steep switchbacks, and while the cairns were huge, the re-routed tread is hard to track. Once the trail hits the creek it does a very good job at sticking to the banks and cleaning hopping from one side to the other. There is some minor deadfall and overgrowth to navigate, and I chose to boulder-hop a few times, overall it was pretty fun.

Bumped into a large group of teenagers w/ chaperones who were hiking from Rattlesnake Canyon to Redfield over two weeks. Chatted for ten minutes, could have spent all day sharing stories, but we were heading in different directions and each had many miles to cover before nightfall. That was shortly before Sycamore Canyon Spring, and I spent much of the rest of the trail following tread high up the banks and trying to imagine how I'd fit two weeks worth of food in my tiny pack.

Powers Garden #96
Rattlesnake Creek was flowing happily, a nice change from the stagnant pools in Sycamore, which gave me (temporary) hope for water sources. Also, this trail was annoyingly well-maintained, recently trimmed back neatly and a small army of bootprints pounded into the tread. As there was no one at Powers Garden, my guess is that a crew had walked in from Rattlesnake Road and done some work on the trail or at the Garden, and then hiked out on Friday.

This was a very enjoyable section, with the big trees and views on each side. I passed Pipestem (signed), Mailbox (unsigned), and Tortilla (signed) junctions, and somewhere along the way my happy little creek completely dried up. Camping in the middle of a field of dead grass with a single liter of water didn't sound like fun, so I bailed my original plan (set up camp here and go hunting for the Mailbox spur) and decided to push forward instead. The rest of the trail to Corral Canyon seemed to drag, mostly because I kept veering into Rattlesnake Creek in hopes of finding a crystal-clear pool of water.

Corral Canyon #291
Bit more deadfall and overgrowth, and the creek crossings can be confusing, yet the tread is solid and was much better than expected. Followed it for a mile and found some trickling water, pulled to full capacity and backtracked a half-mile to a nice campsite.

Took my time setting up camp and getting some firewood for the night. I was expecting a cold night and wanted to glamp, even brought a little chair along. Managed to stay up until 8 before crashing, and then slept in the next morning. New sleeping pad was a real winner, probably got down to high 30s and kept warm. Woke up feeling wonderfully refreshed.

Tracking the creek crossings got a bit more difficult, and I did spend some time boulder-hopping. The one crossing that is truly important is right at Corral Spring, where (if you're heading uphill) you leave the south bank, backtrack downstream to the spring about twenty feet, and then head up the north bank. If you miss this, you'll end up at the bottom of a very formidable waterfall. Going up the north bank is a set of steep switchbacks with a few re-routes due to deadfall, which is something that you need to repeat near the end of the trail.

The final leg of the trail is on the top of a ridgeline, and this is where the burn comes in full. There's good tread, and a few cairns, and enough deadfall to turn the whole thing into a maze. Two nice campsites and a small stand of surviving pines wait at the end of the trail.

Kennedy Peak #287A
Short jaunt south on East Divide and a humble sign point to the peak, which is another maze of deadfall. There are plenty of cairns, though sections of the tread have been washed out. I lost the trail on both the hike up and down. Anyways, views on top were totally worth it - after spending yesterday on the grassy north side and in deep canyons, seeing the expansiveness of the wilderness was a moving moment.

East Divide #287
Return to the junction and then heading down over the million switchbacks. Snow was a minor issue, a few stretches where the narrow tread was covered in slick iciness that promised an quickened descent. Eventually the snow obstacles were replaced with deadfall, and then overgrowth kicked in. I didn't care too much - I was heading downhill and the trailhead felt within reach.

As soon as the junction to Mud Springs shows up the trail veers back onto grassy flatlands and makes a sizeable re-route to the south to avoid the deep tributaries of Oak Creek. At least, it was a re-route according to the route I had. Eventually the track swung north, joined with my route from yesterday, and I rolled back down to the trailhead.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

	Brush Canyon	Dry	Dry
	Dry at mouth.

	Corral Canyon	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Dry at mouth. Trickling pools start to intermittently show up after 1 mile upstream.

	Corral Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Water directly below the cement box.

	Horse Canyon	Dry	Dry
	Dry at mouth.

	Mailbox Canyon	Dry	Dry
	Dry at mouth.

	Mud Spring	Gallon per minute	Gallon per minute
	Spring box was full, trough was overflowing, downhill tank & trough were full. Cow corpse is still there fouling up trough overflow, but trough still seems clean enough.

	Pipestem Canyon	Dry	Dry
	Dry at mouth.

	Powers Garden Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Two large, algae-clogged pools. Totally unappealing. Rattlesnake Creek was completely dry from Corral Creek to Pipestem, this spring did nothing to help that.

	South Field Canyon	Dry	Dry
	Dry at mouth.

	Sycamore Canyon Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Several appealing pools trickling, plenty to pull from.

	Sycamore Creek	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Handful of sad pools, mostly between spring & mouth.

_____________________

Oct 12 2015

FOTG

Guides 37
Routes 556
Photos 10,872
Triplogs 1,052

43 male

Joined Jan 21 2013
AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Oct 12 2015
		FOTG • Triplogs 1,052

Hiking	36.68 Miles	7,322 AEG

Hiking	36.68 Miles
	7,322 ft AEG

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9 linked trail guides

Rattlesnake Trail #285

Rattlesnake Canyon - Galiuros

Deer Creek Cabin - Galiuros

[ checklist ] Arizona Black Rattlesnake Canyon Tree Frog

Partners

8 partners

HAZ - Event

	BiFrost	chumley
	clairebear	John9L
	johnlp	Jonnybackpack
	slowandsteady	Tough_Boots

Its hard to imagine a three day backpack turning out this well after it was chosen as a somewhat last minute alternative to a cancelled LCR trip, but simply put it turned out to be nearly perfect. The landscape was rugged, the views were extraordinary, the company was great and the attractions in the area well worth it.

We made the long drive to the Galiuros Friday night. We agreed on knocking out the southern portion of our loop for our approach to Powers on Saturday with a stop at Kennedy Peak along the way.

The route to the cabin on Saturday was the best of times and the worst of times. The best of times consisted of: our fun group, the copious amounts of water spewing out of the mountain, a fun summit and some great scenery. The worst of times consisted of: the complete absence of a trail in spots, the thickest wildflowers any human has ever traveled through, concealed ankle breakers, not so concealed New Mexican Locust, grass as tall as one's eyes and trail obliterating washouts and landslides.

The trail conditions were much nicer day two and the hiking more rewarding. After the obligatory stop at the shootout site, we headed for some "fun" in the mine. The mine was very extensive inside and contained several remnants of its operational days. The more adventourous spent a considerable amount of time exploring the several passages and I completed a pretty dicey descent down an old ladder to explore a very deep vertical shaft. However, as my support team began to express their disaproval in the venture, I decided to call it quits. There was still probably a solid 30-40 more feet to drop, but I was starting to lose my faith in the old ladder, as the distance between rungs grew to a precarious 3 feet in spots and the bottom was still not clearly visible; that and I was not crazy about the wire holding some rungs on in replacement of nails.

After the mine and cabin, some headed for the garden, others headed for the ridgeline. John and I followed up on a a lead I had discovered while looking over some topo maps of the area. As it turned out, my lead turned out to be quite the rewarding little find. We came across presumably a prehistoric dwelling that had been recycled and certainly utilized in more contemporary times. The cave and its scenic surroundings were very interesting and the trail there was great with flowing water nearly the entire distance, modest cascades and the discovery of the classic wooden Galiuros Wilderness sign along the way. Inside the cave there was a man made cistern inside catching water from a seep and and a little loft area that was reachable by a ladder complete with some modern pictographs. After the cool little find, it was back to camp for the standard good times around the fire.

Day three offered some of the nicest views of the trip. A challenging little climb out, but some great creek side hiking due to the recent rains and some small waterfalls worth leaving the trail for a closer look. The trail was in better shape than our Saturday route in, however, it could certainly use a little TLC. Fast times out and fun times at the trailhead!

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Benchmark Ghost? Mining Equipment

Brush Canyon

Dry

Corral Canyon

Pools to trickle

Corral Spring

Dry

Deer Creek Cabin Spring

Gallon + per minute

	Holdout Spring	Gallon + per minute	Gallon + per minute
	Full concrete box/trough, good water

Horse Canyon

Light flow

	Mud Spring	Gallon + per minute	Gallon + per minute
	Full trough

	Powers Garden Spring	Gallon + per minute	Gallon + per minute
	water at spring and creek was flowing

Upper Sycamore Tank

76-100% full

_____________________

10 archives

Oct 10 2015

chumley

Guides 94
Routes 840
Photos 22,055
Triplogs 1,993

52 male

Joined Sep 18 2002
Tempe, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Backpack		Oct 10 2015
		chumley • Triplogs 1,993

Backpack	20.95 Miles	5,253 AEG

Backpack	20.95 Miles	2 Days 4 Hrs 8 Mns
	5,253 ft AEG

Linked

Deer Creek Cabin - Galiuros

Partners

7 partners

HAZ - Event

	BiFrost	clairebear
	FOTG	John9L
	Jonnybackpack	slowandsteady
	Tough_Boots

Outstandingly fun weekend trip into the heart of the Galiuros with a great group of people!

East Divide 287
Starts off reasonably well with some minor route-finding issues due to the healthy growth of summer grasses. Turns into a full-fledged machete-required jungle in the Oak Creek drainage before rising up through the burn area toward Kennedy Peak.

Kennedy Peak 287a
This trail cuts through a moonscape burn area and the trail is largely lost to erosion. Cairns exist, but staying along the old barbed wire fence will get you most of the way there. The resulting wildflower display is impressive. Great views in all directions: Santa Teresas, Pinalenos, Bassett Peak, Wrightson, Mica, Rincon, and the Catalinas.

Corral Canyon 291
This trail is almost completely gone. Recent rain over the burn area has washed out many of the traverses leaving a very difficult challenge to travel through. Add to that wildflowers that are waist deep and it's a fight to push ahead. Once in the bottom of the canyon, much of the trail has been obliterated by flash flooding. Especially in the upper part of the canyon. The last mile or so, most of the shelf and the trail remains, but the crossings are a challenge. This trail needs a full-fledged reconstruction.

Powers Garden 96
Post-wildfire floods have wiped out some of the shelf along this trail as well rendering travel a bit more of a challenge than I suspect it once was. But the route can be found if you look for it. The fire didn't reach this low, so the valley is still shaded and cool.

Tortilla 254
Not much flood damage on this trail, but still in pretty rough shape. Travel was much quicker than the East Divide/Corral combo on the way in, but plenty of growth to fight through.

On the way in, I commented out loud that if somebody had told me it would take 5 hours to hike in I wouldn't have believed them. I repeated the same and updated it again at 6 and 7 hours!

So yeah, it was a real grind due to unexpectedly terrible trail conditions on the south side of the loop.

Nonetheless we arrived safely and met Claire, 9L and Kyle who had arrived the previous day. We set up camp and settled in for the night. Sunday we all did our own thing, and Sunday evening a group of trail workers from the ACC stopped by our campfire for a while. Kudos to these volunteers for the work they do. It is impressive and much appreciated!

Monday we all headed out together around 8am. We split up into different groups all taking a different pace. A few of us finished via the Deer Creek Cabin route which is a nice option that we were pleasantly surprised about and resulted in a mile of fast road walking rather than rocky trail. It was a welcome end to a long weekend on tough trails.

I feel like we were very lucky with the amount of water. It's a beautiful area, but I could see it being much more of a challenge without the creeks and drainages flowing with water.

But I'll be back to the Galiuros for sure!

* I meant to mention that I successfully used Route Scout for all navigation and track recording over the entire three day trip. I charged my phone with a backup battery (anker) on the second night as it would not otherwise last 3 full days while recording 7-8 hours each day. I'm very happy with how well it worked!

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Benchmark

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Corral Canyon Corral Spring Deer Creek Cabin Spring Horse Canyon Mud Spring Powers Garden

Meteorology

Meteorology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Fire Burn Area & Recovery

Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
Saw a few small bright red somethings that I can't remember what are, and some poison ivy changing colors. Otherwise nothing yet.

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Amazing display still popping on the upper slopes exposed by fire.

	Brush Canyon	Dry	Dry
	dry where it drains into Rattlesnake. Had flashed and was filled with rock and gravel.

	Corral Canyon	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Dry in most areas, but some pools or light flow in bedrock areas.

	Corral Spring	Dry	Dry
	Spring box is filled in. There was water in the creek, but it was from rain runoff.

	Deer Creek Cabin Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Crystal clear water in the spring box

	Horse Canyon	Light flow	Light flow
	A week after 1-2" rain, and 3 weeks after 3+" rain, this canyon was still flowing nicely.

	Mud Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Clear and full spring box.

	Powers Garden Spring	Gallon + per minute	Gallon + per minute
	Source of spring unknown. But Rattlesnake Creek was flowing nicely over the dam structure near where the spring is marked as well as downstream through Powers Garden.

South Field Canyon

Dry

	Upper Sycamore Tank	76-100% full	76-100% full
	Tank was full and water was flowing down both drainages that come together here.

_____________________

I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

1 archive

Oct 10 2015

johnlp

Guides 1
Routes 14
Photos 7,202
Triplogs 5,208

68 male

Joined Mar 16 2008
chandler,az

Powers Garden backpack Oct 9-12, AZ

Backpack		Oct 10 2015
		johnlp • Triplogs 5,208

Backpack	36.40 Miles	7,250 AEG

Backpack	36.40 Miles	3 Days
	7,250 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked

Partners

8 partners

HAZ - Event

	BiFrost	chumley
	clairebear	FOTG
	John9L	Jonnybackpack
	slowandsteady	Tough_Boots

Four years ago JJ and I day hiked the loop counterclockwise but ran out of time to visit the shootout cabin, mine, and Kennedy Peak. So these were on the top of my list of things to see in the Galiuros this trip.

Chumley drove Lee, the dogs, and I to the Deer Creek TH Friday night where we camped with most of the group. We decided to hike up the Kennedy Peak side first and return on the Tortilla Trail. Trail conditions are less than optimal once you start getting within a couple miles of the saddle by Kennedy Peak. Lots of erosion and plant growth. Going down the back side on the Corral Canyon trail is even worse. Still, an excellent hike in to Powers Garden, but quite a workout.

Day two six of us donned our daypacks and headed out to see the shootout/Powers cabin and mine. Nice hike in the pines and oak most of the way. Some catclaw action near the cabin, but not horrible. The cabin and mine are very interesting. Lots of history to say the least. On the way out Lee and I split from the group that was returning on the ridgeline. A little too warm for the dogs. We hiked up Rattlesnake canyon for some mostly shaded sightseeing. Saw some pretty cool stuff.

Day three we broke camp for the traverse out via the Tortilla trail. Lots of water and big views once you gained some elevation. Many wild flowers on the way in and out. We took the fork that leads to the Deer Creek cabin. Nice spot.

Our group was twelve strong. But for so many it never felt crowded. Great group. Lots of fun. Thanks all.

_____________________

“Good people drink good beer.” Hunter S Thompson

1 archive

Oct 09 2015

BiFrost

Guides 4
Routes 491
Photos 10,890
Triplogs 1,257

55 male

Joined Nov 20 2012
Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Backpack		Oct 09 2015
		BiFrost • Triplogs 1,257

Backpack	36.75 Miles	8,118 AEG

Backpack	36.75 Miles	2 Days 6 Hrs 12 Mns
	8,118 ft AEG

Linked

8 linked trail guides

West Divide Trail #289

Partners

7 partners

HAZ - Event

	chumley	clairebear
	FOTG	John9L
	Jonnybackpack	slowandsteady
	Tough_Boots

Great weekend in the Galiuros with awesome group. We hiked in on the East Divide Trail and did a drive by of Kennedy Peak. The peak had great views but the East Divide Trail as others have mentioned was in rough shape from recent heavy rains and major erosion on the steep slopes resulting from fire damage. Much of the trail on the slopes either side of the peak were completely washed out so it was slow going. Once down in Rattlesnake Canyon the trail improved and easy walking to Powers Garden.

After relaxing night of hanging out by the fire with the group we headed out on various day hiking adventures. Chumley, Johnlp, Patrick, Lee, Kathy and I headed for Powers Garden and Mine to check it out. Very cool cabin and mine with the history making it even more interesting. We spent some time exploring the mine checking out the old mining relics of the past and the impressive tunnel.

Hiking back from the mine we split up on the West Divide Saddle with Chumley, Patrick and I heading up West Divide Trail towards Grassy Peak. The goal was to hike West Divide Trail and check out South Field Canyon. West Divide Trail was fairly easy to follow despite being overgrown because it was on top of the ridgeline. Near the end of the ridgeline we found some areas that had been trail cleared by trail crew who just happened to be in Powers that weekend. Once off the ridgeline we headed down South Field Canyon and back to Powers Garden for another relaxing evening around the fire. That night the trail crew stopped by and we had the opportunity to chat and thank them for all their hard work.

Next morning headed out Tortilla Trail which is in much better shape than the East Divide Trail. Great wide expanse views on the way out...best views of the Galiuros range and surrounding ranges of the weekend.

_____________________

1 archive

Oct 09 2015

slowandsteady

Routes 67
Photos 966
Triplogs 694

51 female

Joined Jan 05 2012
Phoenix,AZ

Powers Garden backpack Oct 9-12, AZ

Hiking		Oct 09 2015
		slowandsteady • Triplogs 694

Hiking	30.00 Miles	7,000 AEG

Hiking	30.00 Miles
	7,000 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked

Partners

8 partners

HAZ - Event

	AZ_Step	BiFrost
	chumley	clairebear
	FOTG	John9L
	johnlp	Tough_Boots

Great to get in the Galiuros and see Powers Garden and Mine.

I followed the crew in on the East Divide Trail with a trip up to Kennedy Peak and then on to Powers Garden.

On day two I made the trip up and back to the Powers Cabin and Mine.

On day three I hiked out on the Tortilla Trail.

_____________________

Mar 21 2014

GrottoGirl

Guides 3
Routes 569
Photos 11,976
Triplogs 1,634

50 female

Joined Sep 18 2009
Tucson, AZ

Powers Garden Loop and Rhodes Peak, AZ

Backpack		Mar 21 2014
		GrottoGirl • Triplogs 1,634

Backpack	32.57 Miles	9,326 AEG

Backpack	32.57 Miles	3 Days
	9,326 ft AEG		40 LBS Pack

Linked

Field Canyon Trail #294

Partners

partners

TUB - Group

RedwallNHops

uphill_junkie

On Friday, we hiked into Powers Garden via the Tortilla trail. We arrived at the Garden and found a couple of groups already there. So, we found a nice quiet site tucked out of the way, yet still close to water. That night, we started in on the two boxes of TJ style Oreos Joel and I had brought. We had a nice juniper fragrant fire and then retired near backpacker's midnight.

Saturday we got started about 8 AM and headed up to the junction with the South Field Canyon trail and the Tent Lookout Trail (which appeared to be labeled the Field Canyon trail). Joel and I had a disagreement about which way to go. I had downloaded hazbot tracks therefore I wanted to take the South Field Canyon trail. I was overruled because the South Field Canyon trail was not really labeled and the other trail would be along a ridge line so there wouldn't be any significant elevation loss. So off we went along the Tent Lookout Trail to the East Divide Trail. Along the trail was a bit overgrown but we didn't think anything about it. When we left the Old Tent Lookout site, we had a hard time keeping on the trail. We spent a lot of time getting ourselves back to the trail just to lose it again. Basically, there isn't a trail left unless you call a trail bed that you would have to crawl along in order to stay on route a trail. Yet, I still haven't met a bushwhack I did not like. The challenge of trying to stay on track is always one I'll try even if I fail many times. Finally, we hit the junction with the South Field Canyon Trail. I had a moment of satisfaction to hear Joel tell me that I had been right. In all I won - no matter what - since I like bushwhacks and I also like to be right in the end! From the junction we followed a well defined trail up to the ridge. From there we followed really large cairns for a couple miles. Not much of a trail was defined between the cairns but the travel was relatively easy. Finally we approached Rhodes peak. By looking at the map and the terain it looked like an approach from the trail up the end of the peak would be the best, but we wanted to see what else the peak had to offer. We waited until the trail almost started to drop elevation and then we made our push. Along the way we got a great view down into the San Pedro Valley and a canyon descending from our ridge called Buck Canyon that had amazing cliffs. It was a nice scramble to the top through some volcanic welded tuff. The views from the top were stunning in all directions. We sat and enjoyed our lunch and debated our options. Originally we were going to do a big loop encompassing Pipestem canyon, however the bushwhack took up a lot of valuable time. We decided to return the way we came but head down South Field Canyon. South Fiel Canyon was delightful. One memory that will stick with me for a while is the amount of older growth junipers and ponderosa pines. One Ponderosa filled the air with butterscotch fumes that were abosolutely delicious! Close to the bottom of the canyon was a dam that had been slitted in. I was still amazing to see the masonary work.

We returned to camp and was joined by UpHill Junkie and partner. They struggled with filtering the water that comes from Powers Garden Spring. The Spring itself was the lowest I've seen it. There was barely two pools of water with a mineral blue tinge. The pipe near our camp delivered about 1 liter in less than a minute, if you let the pipe full between collections. Joel and I have mostly given up filtering which we fully appreciate whenever we watch our friends filter water for more than an hour!

In the morning, we had a late departure time of 9 AM set, but we left a bit earlier as everyone was ready. We made sure everyone made the turn off the Rattlesnake Canyon trail. The climb up Corral Canyon was steady. We had a stop at Corral Springs. After the spring we started to get views of the East Divide and Rhodes Peak. Nothing is more satisfying then identifying where you recently hiked. We took another break at the saddle and then started the long descent back to the car. Luckily the terrain was varied. We saw a couple of really cool dikes. This trip probably is a geologists dream!

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Greater Short-Horned Lizard

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Powers Garden Spring

	Corral Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Few tiny pools

	Field Canyon Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Tiny catchment had water.

	Horse Canyon Tank	1-25% full	1-25% full
	I didn't look in the tank but there was water. The cows were near.

	Mud Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Enough for dog water :)

	Powers Garden Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	At the pipe midway to the cabins. The spring had two pools. Neater level was a lot lower than normal.

	South Field Canyon	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Saw a couple pools in the canyon...

_____________________

Mar 21 2014

uphill_junkie

Guides 2
Routes 9
Photos 1,486
Triplogs 944

female

Joined Apr 28 2010
Tucson, AZ

Powers Garden Loop and Rhodes Peak, AZ

Backpack		Mar 21 2014
		uphill_junkie • Triplogs 944

Backpack	20.00 Miles	5,500 AEG

Backpack	20.00 Miles	3 Days
	5,500 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked

Field Canyon Trail #294

Partners

partners

TUB - Group

	GrottoGirl	RedwallNHops
	Tugger

I'm being lazy and piggy backing off Belinda's report. :-) I didn't do the loop hike, so I'm guesstimating the elevation and mileage.

I couldn't take Friday off work, so Tugger and Mark and I decided to meet those guys down there on Saturday. We got a crack of noon start, so didn't get down to camp until about 4:30ish. We needed to pump water, so we did that right after setting up camp. Took almost 2 hours to pump 12 liters!! =-O The algae kept clogging the filter, and every bottle, Mark had to take it apart and scrub it! What a pain! So finally we got back into camp to enjoy dinner and Belinda's awesome fire skills. :-)

I honestly felt like we were in the Mazzies! It's basically the same kind of terrain, the same elevation and the same scenery. Some of the trails were pretty rough, and poor little guy Tuggie was probably wishing for a doggie spa. :-) We got rattled at once on Sat and once on Sunday. All our dogs (feet included :-)) were toast when we finished Sunday. Mark and I enjoyed a couple cold brewskis at the trailhead while Tug enjoyed a soft bed inside the jeep. He wouldn't walk the whole next day! :-( (he was mostly milking it ;-))

_____________________

No pants!

Mar 21 2014

RedwallNHops

Guides 1
Routes 269
Photos 613
Triplogs 1,360

50 male

Joined Dec 22 2003
Tucson, AZ

Powers Garden Loop and Rhodes Peak, AZ

Backpack		Mar 21 2014
		RedwallNHops • Triplogs 1,360

Backpack	32.57 Miles	9,326 AEG

Backpack	32.57 Miles	3 Days
	9,326 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked