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| | | Barking Miners Lollipop, AZ | | | |
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Barking Miners Lollipop, AZ
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| Hiking | 12.55 Miles |
1,950 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.55 Miles | | | |
| 1,950 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Grab a chair and a cup of coffee, it's a novel.  Here's the short version. I came, I conquered, lost some blood and tried to fill up a Memory Card.
A Hybrid of 2 Loops. I've never done the Miners Needle Loop or Lower Barks Canyon, so I thought I'd combine them. The only section of the Dutchman Trail I've not done, is from the Whiskey Springs Junction down to Bluff Springs. So I was going to tick that off as well. I have done the Bluff Springs Trail so eliminating that was no loss. It was a great plan that had a couple of different options depending on my speed and timing. I was also due, and ready, for some Off-Trail stuff. If the knees want to whine, I'll give them something to truly whine about.  Considering what I ended up doing, half the trip was pretty much non-tech Canyoneering. 
Got to the Peralta TH right at sunrise and there were already 10 cars in the lot. There was a breeze and I knew I'd be in the shade for a bit, so I kept my hooded jacket on for the start. I went CCW and I always enjoy Barkley Basin in the morning light. Speaking of light, I was doing this stretch for the first time without a 40 lb pack. It was rather refreshing to be carrying less than half of that. By the time I hit the Coffee Flat Junction, I was ready to shed the jacket. Even though the breeze had gotten stiffer, I was too warm in the sun. There was an older couple taking a snack break there. We exchanged hellos and I mentioned that I was going to remove a layer. The woman told me how stupid I was for even starting with a jacket on. I hadn't been there 90 seconds. 
That's ok. I got the last laugh later, at noon, when the winds were higher and I ran into them again. The woman had her jacket on and was still cold. She must be done with Menopause. I was in shorts and short sleeves and doing just fine. 
When I descended on the Dutchman from the Whiskey Junction, I was seeing that little valley for the 1st time. I wish I could have seen it before the fire. I noted how discriminatory the fire was in places. A whole hill burned, but a green saguaro or a green patch of prickly pear on the same hill looked almost untouched, with a completely charred bush right next to them. I took some photos of the disparity just to remember the sights by. The grass is greening up nicely in there already though.
I took a snack break at the Dutchman/Bluff Junction. Went up the Creek a little ways so I didn't have people right on top of me while I was chillin'. The moss in there is pretty cool. After my break I got on Bluff Springs headed for Terrapin. I have to mention, that from Sunrise until just before the Terrapin Junction, it was beautiful blue skies and not a cloud in sight. Just wind. As I neared the Junction, I started to see a cloud rising up from behind Bluff Spring Mountain. It was kinda weird and it got even more weird. The wind started to quit and the cloud became 3 clouds, but it looked like someone was using a blanket to send smoke signals. There will be a Photo in my set for a visual. @vanman saw the same thing over in Chuparosa Canyon and mentioned it as well. From then on, the skies were pretty cool at times.
I arrived at the Junction. In Fritzski's Description of the Lower Barks Canyon Loop, his last couple of paragraphs mention a "mid Barks" section. I made good time to this point, so I decided to do it. I followed his Description and realized later that he made a slight mistake. When you drop into the drainage at the Intersection, that drainage technically isn't Barks. In order to get into the Barks drainage, you would have to go up the Terrapin a bit. The drainage he refers to is a side drainage that eventually dumps into Barks. But his Description of this side drainage was spot on and maybe even a bit conservative. Less than 1000 feet in this drainage and his descriptive wording of "a bit more rugged" slaps you right in the face. And then you see the "beautiful, but dense thicket of trees." Well, they were beautiful from the top of the Waterfall at least. At the top of the waterfall, I'm faced with a fairly sketchy 10+ foot slide to get down it and it's one of the few times where I would have liked to have had someone else along. I had some hesitation going. If I screwed up, it was going to hurt. But I went for it, but made sure I took the pack off. Felt pretty good to be successful. It was short-lived. What I couldn't see, was that once you got down from there, walked down the cascade a bit, there was another drop of at least 15 feet and it was straight down. I looked for options and there was one that MIGHT get me down. I couldn't see it very well because of the brush. But I had to try. I'm still in shorts and short sleeves and I plowed in anyways.  The brush and trees were ridiculous to try to get through, but somehow I did it and was able to drop into the drainage. Between that point and where the drainage drops into Barks, I guess I donated about 1/2 Pint of blood. Those beautiful trees? They sucked and where their limbs didn't actually touch the ground, the catclaw rose up to meet them. A Machete would have been good here. It was an all out fight to get down to Barks. Finally got there and the brush eased up, a little. By the time I got to where Bluff Springs and Lower Barks merge, I was sufficiently shredded and bloody.
The merger of Barks and Bluff Springs Trail is always so pretty. Somehow, I missed the Peralta Rock in there though. After what I had just done, it was time for a break and a late lunch. I was joined by a Canyon Wren who was fishing for his lunch as well. I had never seen that behavior and watched him for quite awhile while I took some photos. He was behaving more like a Heron, than a Wren, and was quite successful. In spite of my battles in Mid Barks, I still had plenty of daylight and energy, so Lower Barks was still a go. With the exception of the last 1/4 mile, Lower was a piece of cake compared to Mid. I tried to always follow the Water, so I was zigzagging a bit. There were times where I could have gone around a few drops, but I opted to downclimb, since I thought I might be a bit rusty. Plus it was less bushwacking. It was pretty fun. I loved all that water and the reflections were pretty cool as well. It took me a bit longer than I thought it would and the last quarter mile took even longer. The Creek butted up against a cliff and was full so I had to hike up in the dry zone. But the dry zone had 3 foot tall grass with boulders underneath, so it was slightly treacherous because you couldn't see where you were stepping. Tread carefully or break an Ankle. And there was a little more bloodshed as well. It was interesting how the Geology changed suddenly towards the end. Instead of smooth boulders, it became that confetti colored brittle rock like you see in the Mazzies.
Fritzski says that it will open up and follow the sandy wash back to the Dutchman. I hit sand about 20 feet before the Dutchman. I think things have changed since 2002.  By the time I got there, the Golden Hour was almost over and I was feeling pressed to get up the trail before it got dark. I must have hit a second wind, because I made the top before Sunset even started. I took a break up there and enjoyed the light which ended up turning into a pretty nice sunset. While I was shooting the sunset, a Great-horned Owl was calling from Peralta Canyon. What a gorgeous ending to a great day. I hit the car right at dark and there were still about 10 cars. It's amazing, I'm betting that lot was full all day, but I saw no more than a dozen people. I must be doing something right.
Photos... I'll at least say that I tried to cut them down to a reasonable number. There was so much going on with this Hike! |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
One Fairy Duster and a couple of bushes in Lower Barks. |
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Bark at Dutchman Crossing |
Dry |
Dry |
| | | Dry at the actual Crossing, but Light Flow and Pools to Trickle less than 100 feet up Canyon. Intermittently going underground in spots. |
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Barks Canyon |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | Mid Canyon is Light Flow to Trickle with Pools. Lower Canyon is Light Flow to Trickle with Pools, but water goes underground for stretches as well. | | _____________________
| Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!" |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
) Lower barks was prettier than I expected with big rock shelves and nice pools. About 10 minutes from connecting to dutchman I was blissfully and obliviously rock-hopping down canyon and came within inches of stepping on a very angry rattlesnake. He reared back and rattled like crazy. I didn't slow down until I was 6-8 feet past him. I've seen a few rattlesnakes but can't remember ever being rattled at like that. I very nervously tiptoed the rest of the way downstream and was so relieved to get back on a trail!
Route 
Thanks Linda! Like HAZ, you rock!!
as we had been engaged in several minutes of friendly repetitive banter about one subject , Linda “let me carry your pack” me “no” . Fortunately by time we reached Bark’s saddle I was feeling almost normal. Then I suggested we head over to Dutchman Trail via Lower Barks Canyon, the weather was nice , wanted to take advantage of the limited time you can do this and enjoy the sound of running water. Apparently I had forgotten how time consuming this route can be when trying to keep your feet dry ,climbing over slick boulders and avoiding vegetation. A pleasant scene it was with the large pools of water and surrounding cliffs. Near one pool we passed by a sandy area with some scattered bones still identifiable as formerly an intact deer the biggest quantity concentrated by a large Boulder with a dug out area underneath, someone 
decided to start crawling under it , all I heard was “lots of bones in here” and that was my cue to exit, fortunately we didn’t meet the bone collector. Once your shoes get wet the slick boulders and smooth rock provided ice like traction allowing us ,without practice ,to perform a synchronized slip and fall from different boulders. As the canyon opens up and becomes less steep on approaching the basin don’t fool yourself that your almost done as the vicious vegetation takes over without body armor you might consider the canyon choked off. One particular pool about 40 feet long and 2 feet deep had too much vegetation to circumvent the edges, so we decided not to wade through and entered the jungle of catclaw. Two lessons ,a hiking pole makes a poor machete and when you thrash through 50 feet of vegetation in 10 minutes route scout counts it as a break 
. Hope resurfaced as Linda now leading took us through game trails toward Barkley Basin and by now the water had disappeared, was now thinking the sound of running water may be over rated. In an additional stroke of luck the mine above the left side of the canyon wasn’t visible until looking back up the canyon now so no one was tempted to go visit it , at least I dodged that one 
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
