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| Canyoneering | 21.00 Miles |
2,500 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 21.00 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 2,500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This was a loop hike my wife Kathleen and I did from the 2WD Tortilla Trailhead to the JF Trail to Tortilla Pass then up Rogers Canyon Trail, stopping to camp for the night just north of Angel Basin along Frog Tanks, then in the morning up to the ruins, back north on Frog Tanks, departing Frog Tanks at the junction with Fish Creek, through Fish Creek to the exit trail at Lost Dutch Canyon, back onto FR 213 and the trailhead. Very special thanks to Vaporman, wallyfrack, and nonot for their descriptions of this loop – so, so helpful to hear what other folks encountered before venturing into new territory (even if the particulars of their triplogs escaped me when I needed them most!)
This was a Valentine’s Day hike. (Last Valentine’s we camped in Lower LaBarge Box.) We’ve had the ruins on the list forever, but the lack of 4WD made it a challenge. We looked at renting a 4WD vehicle for the weekend ($200?) then talked ourselves into this 20+ mile loop from the 2WD Tortilla Trailhead. Glad we did it. Beautiful sections throughout. Amazing to see the desert change incrementally moving west to east across this central portion of the Supes. I will say, though, that given the weight of our gear (we packed water in too) and the tremendous amount of water in the creeks right now, this was a real humdinger.
Sunny, breezy day. Got to the trailhead late morning. Lot of cars at trailhead (nobody parked at 4WD trailhead). Met a nice guy at 2WD trailhead, Jeff from Brooklyn, who got in from Brooklyn that morning. He'd never been to Arizona (let alone the Supes) and had randomly decided on the Hoolie Bacon trail for an overnighter. Cracked us up! Hoolie Bacon? Ran into some more friendly folks along FR 213 and also a rattler in the middle of the road (disconcerting as we’d hiked Hog Canyon the week before, just tromping along through the tall grass thinking the snakes weren’t out yet –  yipes). The rattler hissed and slid out of our way. Nice snake. Reached 4WD trailhead. Peter’s Trail caught our eye.
JF trail was tougher than expected with camping gear, exposed to the sun. Took a lunch break after ascending the first ridge beneath a lone tree with a fire ring on the ground. Kept going. JF wouldn’t quit. Finally made it to Tortilla Pass with a few hours of sunlight. Caught Rogers Canyon and took it to Angel Basin where we saw the first people we’d seen since 213. We’d planned on camping in Angel Basin but there were two nice dudes already there, so we headed north along the creek in Rogers Canyon and improvised a nice spot along the sandy shore. Sound of flowing water. Plenty of firewood. Also the views of the Rogers Canyon cliffs are magnificent – plenty of alcoves and ruin-looking walls to keep you busy just staring from your campsite. Would love to spend some time checking things out here, climbing around. Rogers Canyon: better than expected. Rogers Canyon: a view in every direction. Hit the hay. Sound of the creek was sweet.
Woke and headed for the ruins. Three other camping parties in the Angel Basin area (one in the Basin, two just south). Gorgeous camping just south of Angel Basin. I think my favorite part of the ruins was looking onto the beauty of Rogers Canyon from the ruins (large trees, vegetation, high canyon walls, the creek visible to the south and west) and feeling like I understood why the ruins had been built in that exact spot. Who knows. We had fun. Back to camp, north along the gorgeous Frog Tanks Trail (immaculate between Angel Basin and the junction with Fish Creek – guess it gets a bit hairy north of Fish Creek/Rough Canyon). Take that back – it would have been immaculate if it weren’t for that gigantic heap of garbage.  Looked to us like someone left a cache of goods somewhere near the trail and an animal got to it. Just loads of stuff torn up all in one spot. But besides the trash heap Rogers Canyon north of Angel Basin was incredible. Again – so many cliffs and caves you could explore around here. (Rough Canyon caught our eye too.) Several campsites near the Fish Creek/Rough Canyon entry had us wanting to stay another night – elevated benches on west side of the creek covered in green grass surrounded by big trees. Rogers Canyon: more than ruins.
Fish Creek from Frog Tanks to Lost Dutch was a legit wilderness challenge that day. Took us somewhere in the vicinity of six hours. There was so much water in Fish Creek Canyon that stepping stones weren’t always available, and traveling on either side of the creek was catclaw misery. Both of us got stopped and yanked back by catclaw just so, so many times – we couldn’t help leaving the creek from time to time because of all the water.
Then we hit the famed “pool that needs to be bypassed,” which Vaporman and others have mentioned, but I misremembered their triplogs and thought that the north side of the creek was the side that afforded a bypass (also the north side just looked like a more feasible route ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") ), so we went up the dry waterfall on the north side, then kept going up the slick rock above the waterfall (none of this is advisable obviously unless you’re looking to crap your pants), holding shallow handholds to get to the top of that little ridge to the north, at which point I saw that the other side was a sheer drop. Went slowly back down. Wife suggested swimming. I hate swimming. Wasn’t prepared to swim. But we didn’t want to turn around, and it was a pretty hot day, so in we went, crazy dog paddling our way across. Deeper and colder than expected. Over our heads in the middle. Ice cold. Slimy getting out. Then my wife saw her Nalgene still on the other side! (She plunked back in, swam to go get it and swam back.) Our gear actually stayed really dry in our packs, and our backpacks actually seemed to float a bit.  Got all our stuff back on and kept going.
Fish Creek was just unrelenting. We got battered, man. Fell a few times apiece. Got our boots/pants wet dozens of times. The dilemma of “several steps in the creek vs. vicious bushwhack on the bank” presented itself innumerable times and there wasn't ever a good choice. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t regret doing it (my wife doesn’t either). I’d do Fish Creek again given the choice of Fish Creek vs. a return on the JF. The solitude and beauty of Fish Creek were way more than enough to make it worth doing (the flowing creek, the breeze, the crazy-looking caves) but we were hurting pretty bad by the time we got to Lost Dutch Canyon – and running out of daylight (it struck me about 3:30 that we were one time-consuming Fish Creek obstacle from having to spend another night out there). Finally about five we made it to the point where Fish Creek bends hard to the north. We were looking for the exit trail up Lost Dutch, traveling in the southern-most part of the creek, and our relief was tremendous when we saw the giant cairn marking the exit trail. Took the exit trail up, so thankful to not be in Fish Creek just then. Lost Dutch trail was well-cairned and easy enough to follow even in the fading light. Came out basically within sight of the 4WD trailhead. Hiked 213 during sunset. Didn’t quite make it out before dark. Got lost on 213 just before 2WD trailhead in dark. Put on headlamps. Used GPS. Made it! Drove back to Mesa. Had beers.
Over dinner Kathleen says: "I feel like I'm still in Fish Creek." |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
I stayed on course for the most part with some light thorny bushwhacking though some sections had me briefly stop in my tracks and question where the trail went before pushing on... Great views of Supes Ridgeline off in the distance and Tortilla Mt had me longing to soon hike those as well. I rolled into Tortilla Pass just in time around sunset and setup camp for the evening. Since I was solo, a warm night & just an overnighter, I choose to forgo a fire or tent and just slept under the stars and played iPhone games while star gazing through the LONG evening. 
Hit the confluence with Fish Creek Canyon and began the long rock hop. After passing a couple pools, I hit the sweet 'narrows' section that was lightly flowing & full of water though it wasn't quite warm enough for a swim so I did the class 3 bypass on the left which is much easier when it's dry. 
The geology of this canyon is quite amazing but after loads & loads of rock hopping that exit trail at Lost Dutch Canyon is a welcome relief. 
I hike a little slower with a full backpack and get slowed down by taking photos, so that evening I was able to talk more with them and get to know them better since we got in early and had a couple hours of daylight to burn. When darkness set it, we started the fire since it was getting cold fast. Some clouds rolled in and then left making us feel safe that it wouldn't rain when Wally & I finally turned in around 10pm only sleeping on pad/tarp .
