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| Backpack | 61.50 Miles |
10,500 AEG |
| | Backpack | 61.50 Miles | 5 Days | | |
| 10,500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I have envisioned this backpack, or variations of it for several years now. But ambitious summer trips, climbing, terrible trails and dogs always prevented the idea from coming to fruition. However, the stars began to align for a proper return to the Blue earlier this year when my interest in the area was reignited by a quick weekend trip there in the spring and when I got word that some of the upper trails had been cleared.
Day 1: 13.1 miles
Our backpack began and ended at the Steeple/Foot Creek Trailhead. We started off on the Steeple Trail #73 and cruised down to the junction for the primitive Upper Grant Creek Trail. Steeple endured some winter deadfall, but the trail showed signs of having been worked on and was generally in great shape. The Upper Grant Creek trail has been transformed since the last time I saw it and is in great shape. It was definitely not the trail Blanco and I turned around on dejectedly several years ago while trying to reach the Grant Creek Cabin. From the Grant Creek Cabin, we took the always pleasant Paradise Trail to Paradise Park and the Grant Creek Trail. We made a stop at White Oak Spring along the way and then I showed Katie some granaries I had found in the area a few years ago. My memory of where the granaries were remained good, however, my memory of the distance was not so good. I told Katie about a tenth of a mile off trail and they proved to be about a steep and loose half mile off trail. My favorite camping spot along lower Grant Creek was taken by a local family, so we resorted to camping among the cows and their feces.
Day 2: 15.75 miles
After wading through a few hundred herd of cattle we reached the Blue early on the second morning. The road was mundane and a little warm despite the early start. It was familiar trails to Bear Valley and they all were in great shape. We enjoyed a nice afternoon in the valley of the bears and a long night of sleep.
Day 3: 12 miles
We began day three with the short, but stunning section of the Little Blue down stream of Bear Valley. After that we took for my first time an informal trail just numbered 609 on my map to the Cow Flat Trail. Trail 609 proved to be more than just a number and was actually quite pleasant for the majority of the trail. Cow Flat was a lot greener than the last time I hiked it, so that was nice, but I still found the trail a tad mundane and it seemed to drag on a little in the heat. After a stop at my favorite spring and waterfall, we finally started making our way up the Blue. We were a little beat upon hitting the Blue and took a couple of extended breaks along the way with some swimming. We ended up calling it a day near Tornado Canyon and made camp by the old barn.
Day 4: 13 miles
We got an early start on the fourth morning to go explore a side canyon that was alluded to in an archaeological report written about the area in the early 1900s. Apart from being referred to as a geological wonder, the canyon was said to house at one time the largest known prehistoric ceremonial cave in the southwest at 10,000 square feet. Everything written about the canyon long ago was true. ...a canyon which, though short and shut in by very steep walls, contains scenery worthy of the highest admiration for its combined beauty and grandeur.
A trickling three-tiered slick rock waterfall guarded the entrance to the canyon and we had to take a bypass just to reach the interior. By this point we were already satisfied with our exploration, as we were immediately able to confirm that the window we saw in a distance from the Blue was actually a very large arch. Naturally, we made the scramble to the base of the arch to investigate. The scramble was steep and loose and required a little class four climbing to reach, but it was worth the effort. The arch was tall and dramatic and a pretty stunning feature to stand under. Further exploration up canyon revealed the cave to us. Like any cave, the cave was hard to capture, but stunning to stand in. The cave had been pretty badly picked over by ranchers and pot hunters over the year, but some crumbling walls helped the imagination. We spent as much time in the cave as we could and I found some other crumbled walls under many overhangs throughout the canyon, but we knew the hardest part of our day loomed ahead, as we still needed to begin our relentless climb of the Steeple Trail.
The climb up to KP and Steeple Mesas was as relentless as I had remembered. However, a few years of recovery and a much greener backdrop, led to the climb being more scenic than I had remembered. We ended our day at Mud Spring. The spring´s name did not inspire much faith in the area being nice, but overall it proved to be a very pleasant destination. The spring had good camping and was flowing nicely. The area represented an almost exact line of where the forest had suffered near 100 percent devastation and where a pocket of trees had survived. Luckily, the camping and trees were under the pocket of trees that survived.
Day 5: 8 miles
We had two options to complete our backpack. There was the Paradise Trail option back to Moonshine Park and then the same stretch of Grant Creek we began on to finish, or a commitment to nearly four miles of unknown trail via the Steeple Trail back to the rim. We went with the Steeple finish because I had never traveled that section of trail and I was interested to know if Steeple went cleanly all the way to the Blue. As it turned out that stretch of Steeple was by far the worst trail we encountered in our five days. The New Mexican Locust has literally devoured the trail in spots and it was a constant bushwhack to the rim. The locust was so bad in spots that we had to detour to the burnt hillside for awhile to bypass it. The tread however, was still generally there. There is just a tremendous amount of overgrowth on and across the trail. Through a little grit though we finally reached the intersection with the KP Rim Trail where the FS had quit with their maintenance of Steeple a year ago. From there is was cruiser to the trailhead.
Final Notes:
It was nice to finally knock out the entire length of the Steeple Trail. The trail is not impassable from Mud Spring to the KP Rim intersection, but I would not recommend it. If making a loop with rim in this area, the best bet most likely seems to be utilizing the Moonshine Park route back to Grant Creek.
Upper Grant Creek Trail is a worthy destination again. The trail is still considered a primitive trail, but the FS has that one in great shape again.
The cattle are ruining lower Grant Creek. I have never seen so many cattle in the Blue before. They have eaten everything green down there except the poison ivy. How is having this many head of cattle grazing there helping with restoring Grant Creek post Wallow Fire?
Eastern Trails were in great shape.
The Blue is back. Well not all the way, but I know for myself I am not excited to get back out there and continue to utilize some of these newly cleared trails. Likewise, the forest is finally starting to rebound at a more noticeable level. The aspen are coming in nicely in spots and there are far more signs of green life than when I started going to the area in 2014.
Katie is really into birds. I am becoming a reluctant birder. I am only really into hawks and eagles. On this trip we saw a: Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Ferriginous Hawk, Red Tailed Hawk and a Common Black Hawk. |
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Auger Tank |
51-75% full |
51-75% full |
| | | Deep pool of water in natural, ¨tank¨ |
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Bear Valley Spring |
Gallon + per minute |
Gallon + per minute |
| | | Large section of canyon and spring is flowing nicely. |
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Ladron Spring |
Gallon per minute |
Gallon per minute |
| | | Same steady, consistent flow as always. |
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Little Blue Creek |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | Flowing nicely for a mile or so out of Bear Valley |
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Mud Spring |
Gallon + per minute |
Gallon + per minute |
| | | Creek bed is flowing near spring, and mud bank is dripping steadily. Good camping near spring. |
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White Oak Spring |
Gallon + per minute |
Gallon + per minute |
| | | Two over-flowing troughs |
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Willow Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | A few deeper mud puddles, but I would not count on for water. | | _____________________
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