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| Hiking | 5.62 Miles |
1,552 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.62 Miles | 5 Hrs 35 Mns | | 1.19 mph |
| 1,552 ft AEG | 51 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Original plan was Point Trail, but switched to Maxwell due to closures from the Wilbur Fire. Chris and I met up with his friends Rob and Cindy at their camper in Happy Jack, then we all took their SxS to the Maxwell trailhead.
Short, steep descent down Maxwell, and we were quickly at the water. The creek was full, and the vegetation is thick this year. Debris from a somewhat recent flash was obvious in the trees, stuck a few feet above my head, meaning the water looked to reach a good 7-9’ above the normal creek level.
We headed downstream, knowing Cindy & Rob would turn around at some point. Of course, probably the roughest part of the creek travel was the first half mile west of Maxwell. Minimal path through the vegetation, and some spots where the bank had been completely eroded away, forcing some detours. The water felt cold at first, but was soon refreshing. One large pool to cross was Cindy’s turnaround point. They said they would hang out at the water before heading back up Maxwell, then would drive over to the top of Tramway for me and Chris to meet them there. It was 11 am at that point, so I suggested a 3pm meet time based on the plan for the day.
Chris & I continued downstream, with travel generally getting easier as we headed west. Lots of vegetation to push through though to get around the deeper pools, and we managed to stay on the path most of the time.
Got to Sundance Canyon, and I was surprised to see the previously deep pool at the entrance to the canyon is now a shallow pool, with a large gravel bar. Many times, I have shuttled my kids across that pool one at a time when they were younger. These days, it’s an thigh-deep pool, lol. Anyway, lunch at Sundance, then headed back upstream to Tramway.
Travel back upstream felt slightly faster since most guesswork had been eliminated. Hot slog up Tramway, which seems to barely exist in places. Not a trail I particularly care for. Popped out up top at 3:05, so my 3pm guess was very accurate. Our ride was waiting for us as promised.
Only saw other people near where Maxwell & Tramway reached the creek, had the rest of the creek to ourselves. Both roads to reach the trailheads are crap, with the road to Maxwell being slightly less terrible. High clearance suggested for Maxwell and mandatory for Tramway. Smoke from the Wilbur Fire was never an issue, and we only noticed it when we were finishing up on Tramway.
Saw tons of crawdads and fish (trout?), and one harmless snake. |
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| Stop crying and just go do the hike. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
So, it took us awhile longer than it should have to navigate. All good though.
I try to be so independent but I also don’t want to die, so I texted a knowledgeable friend to get some reassurance about best places to camp. I chose a meadow area where I was nestled under a cluster of nice trees. Basically as soon as I got camp set up, the sky erupted and the hail was coming down HARD! I honestly thought it was going to break the windows in my vehicle it was so loud. I waited the storm out in the back of my 4Runner; despite it being pretty scary, it was rather beautiful to see. When the storm quieted, I went outside and was shocked about the amount of hail and the size of it! The rest of the night was a bit uneventful thankfully.
Although our end destination was Maxwell, we decided to first explore down the other side of the canyon for a bit first. It was pretty, yet a bit anticlimactic so we headed back towards our intended route. The bushwhacking is pretty mild in this section, so that’s always nice, although I still did manage to rip my pants on a jagged branch 
Finding the petroglyphs was a nice surprise and they were really interesting. Several walls in the canyon are totally covered and I was loving it. We didn’t see many people, but there was a nice group camping at the pool/cave that I personally think looks like a bum! We chatted with them for a bit, swam and explored around before heading back up maxwell. The exit is pretty mild, but still a tad steep in spots. We heard lots of thunder as we exited and were treated with a rainbow at the top of the canyon. We had a couple of miles of fast road walking before getting back to the vehicles. There was some light rain, lots of thunder and lightning in the distance. The road was SUPER muddy and got extremely slippery. It was a heart pumping exit in the Subaru with no 4x4, since we’d spinned around a few times in the mud. We opted not to camp given the weather and saw a spectacular lightning show on the way back to the valley! This is a nice section of WCC; definitely less peopley than point trail.
). Did some fishing and hung out on the beach the rest of the day. Hiking over to the point trail in the AM, we passed more people than we saw all the previous day. Every camp spot was taken. Literally 150 people passed us going in and out of the canyon. It was quite the show watching people change their shoes and freak out about getting wet. Hiked up a bit past Bear Canyon and made camp for the night after an exhausting 3 miles. 
