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| Canyoneering | 18.25 Miles |
3,832 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 18.25 Miles | 9 Hrs | | 2.03 mph |
| 3,832 ft AEG | | | | |
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| | A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit |
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[ show ]
| partners | | Decided to go out last minute, as I have been working way too much lately...and when I saw the high was 81 on a late May day in the Supes, I couldn't resist. Thanks to Bruce & Joe for joining me. Following a tip from Superstition Guy we went out to the east end of Trap Canyon, looking for Jesse. This area is only a few miles from Tortilla TH and has been a draw to Dutch hunters. We didn't find Jesse, although we did find a few articles that I will leave it up to the other guys to explain in more detail.
Most of the water is dried up now, just a few small stagnated pools to be found. Didn't go down to the actual spring at Whiskey, but my guess is it is either a faint trickle or most probably bone dry. The creek bed is totally dry.
As for vegetation, the grasses are pretty much dead now. The foxtail is a total pain, as it's dry and dead and sticks to your socks and shoes like cholla. The worst is, you guessed it, the catclaw. On Whiskey Springs and especially on Red Tanks through the Upper LaBarge Box it was grown over the trail in numerous places. Even a little bit on one stretch of the Hoolie Bacon leading up to the east end of Trap Canyon. There was also plenty of that holly-like bush and also lots of agave and cactus of all sorts right on the trail. No animals of note out today, other than a couple of jackrabbits and plenty of lizards. Did see a couple of snake trails through the sand, but no snakes to be seen today.
Trap Canyon (the eastern end, anyway, which is the only part we saw) was very interesting. Definitely worth a visit if you don't mind a little off trail! Be careful out there though, some of this area is fairly dangerous and if you get hurt out there, it is pretty isolated. Not one to do alone, I would just say.
After heading back uphill on Whiskey Springs, when I came around to the Dutchman I was emotionally ready to be done. I took off, leaving Joe and Bruce to fend for themselves. I did make up for it though by having the car nice and cold for when they arrived back at Peralta.
Took me 9 1/2 hours total, knocking off a 1/2 hour stop for lunch and chat in Trap Canyon.
Thanks guys for a nice final jaunt into the Supes before the heat wave keeps us out for the next several months! |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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| "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 |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
Small pool
I despise the uninspiring Hoolie Bacon Trail so much that I decided spur of the moment to instead hike over the top of Herman Mountain. It was a great decision that turned out better than expected. Not too shabby of a view in all directions. There were three parties vaguely signed in at the summit. The first was illegible (maybe Feb.'21?). The second was Jordyn & Lee and the third was your DPS DADDY! AKA Trail Ghost or just Greg. 
Clear bottles as summit registers don't work well as the writing fades quickly. I also detoured to Herman's Cave for a quick lunch, which was very peaceful. The Whiskey Spring Trail isn't a favorite of mine, but it gets the job done. Also, some stupid jackholes have left a bunch of trash in the firepit near the spring Cottonwoods. Might have to haul that out next time I'm hiking through.
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Then back to Lost Dutch and finally on Peralta TH. Lots of Hoo Doos there. Almost 18 miles alone with my love. 
A brief photo session ensued and I was off again. Hiking the trails out was uneventful and I was back at the TH by 4:25p.
I woke up Sunday and decided the rain didn't look too bad & the doppler radar showed the rain mostly hitting the westside and heading NE. So I drove to the Peralta TH and still felt good since the skies were still dry and the creeks were as well. Last time I did this loop counter-clockwise, so this time I would go clockwise to mix it up a bit. Started on Dutchman to Whiskey Springs to Red Tanks and up the beautiful Upper La Barge Box with a sidetrip up to Herman's Cave. It started sprinkling below Miner's Needle and started raining harder on my way up to the saddle. It continued raining at a moderate pace for the rest of the day... 
After eating lunch at Herman's Cave, I headed back up the trail past Hoolie Bacon towards the Red Tank Divide. The trail is now hugging La Barge Creek again which is flowing rather nicely at this point. I see some cairns that take me up a sidecreek near 'La Barge Spring No 2' on the topo... I'm using my Beartooth map which doesn't have as much detail and is tough to examine with the wind & rain. Well this sidecreek is flowing rather nicely while I'm wading up to my knees & ducking under thick foliage following this random line of cairns... This line of cairns either disappears, is too faint to follow in these conditions, or I just got on some dead end trail... I get out of the creek, wander around a bit trying to sniff out the trail, run across some old campsites & very faint paths, hike a couple ridges/hills to scout of the trail to no avail. 
Decide that at 2pm I need to give up the search and head back the way I came in. So when 2pm rolls around I swallow my pride and hike the 8-9 miles back to the TH. 
It's uncomfortable enough to be wet and hiking in the rain, I certainly wouldn't want to add dark to the situation. 
I feel like rehiking this loop just to destroy those mischievous cairns and better mark the correct path. But even if I would have found the proper trail, much of it would have been in creek/canyons that would have been in possible flash flood conditions. Its funny... I thought that having hiked this trail before would ensure me having an easy time with route finding. 
