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| Hiking | 6.56 Miles |
1,457 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.56 Miles | 3 Hrs 54 Mns | | 1.84 mph |
| 1,457 ft AEG | 20 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | Since I was down in Tucson for the Oracle Rumble, I decided to hang out with Wendy and this is the hike she chose for us. Saturday nite, however, we got to eat at Mosaic and despite a long wait, it was worth it. Very yummy! a little different spin on Mexican flavor. It definitely lived up to the hype.
Oh, the hike. About 1/2 hour from Wendy's we parked at an unofficial trailhead. I'm glad the community allows people to access this hike from here. You walk a paved road a bit before it turns to dirt and crosses a wash onto another road and down into the wash of La Milagrosa Canyon before you head up onto the Ridge. The great part of this hike is what Wendy calls "slabby goodness". Slabbiness is so great for hiking especially on this very windy day. At a makeshift gate we encountered a resident of the area and his two Mexican rescue dogs. He pointed out to us some very faint petroglphys on low-lying rocks just barely off the trail. I couldn't really get a good photo of them though as they are so faint. We thot it unusual to see the glphys on such low flat rocks.
From there we continued our gradual hike up the Ridgeline with occasional peeks over the edge down into La Milagrosa Canyon which continued to get deeper the further along the ridge we went. And then we went more to the other side of the ridge and would get a peak down into Agua Caliente Canyon. It's definitely dry and the plant life reflected that as I can imagine this being a much prettier hike; altho, I was duly impressed by what I saw. When Wendy and Sirena did it a couple years back, they were crossing thru water in several areas. Eventually it was time to veer to the other side of the ridge to the Agua Caliente side. The trek down here is a bit on the slippery side.
Once down into the canyon it opens up wide and you start heading slightly southwest. We took a break in the wash and would have stayed longer (we had boulders for our backs) but it was just too darn windy and a bit nippy. So we continued thru the wash/Canyon a little further before crossing up and out of the wash by this rather large slabby area. It's a bit of a climb but not bad. Once out there is an intersection that takes you up to the summit of Agua Caliente Hill but not today.
From here it is all downhill with views into the Valley of Tucson. You drop nearly 1000 feet in 1 3/4 mile as you stay on the other ridge. Gnat Tank is devoid of water of course. It's not a really big tank anyway. Once again you come to a fence and since we couldn't figure out how to open the big green gate from this side, Wendy went over the barbed wire fence and then saw the locking mechanism that needed to be lifted in order to slide the lever. You just couldn't see that from this side. After the gate the ridge gets a little narrower and once you get across to the other side, you now have to go almost straight down to reach the wash as the usual trail has been blocked off. I saw this trail before we started and didn't realize we would be taking it.
The trail down is a bit dicey in spots so you have to take extra care. Fortunately it's short-lived but I was still glad to be on level ground. You stay in the wash for awhile before you get back to where you started. We encountered a few folks here as we made our way back to the TH. Surprisingly, it was a little warm when we got down to the bottom. It's a great hike and I'm sure it would be even better with water based on previous pictures I am just now looking at.
Thx for suggesting it Wendy, it was a wonderful choice which allowed me to get back to Phx in daylight.
Part 1: TH to Milagrosa Ridge [ youtube video ]
Part 2: Milagrosa Ridge to Agua Caliente Canyon [ youtube video ]
Part 3: Agua Caliente Ridge and back down to same named wash: [ youtube video ] |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Well the recent rainstorms left more water in the pools than we encountered last year, so the theme of the day turned into: Don't get wet & cold unless we absolutely have to... 
So we made our way up the ridge and dropped into The Marvelous (La Milagrosa) Canyon above the narrows and geared up before dropping in. We again bypassed the first two drops (dry falls) since they had murky pools below them and down climbed to the first 'official rappel' and noted that there was also a large murky pool below that drop that wasn't there last year. 
Hmm, well I don't mind cold water as long as it's brief but green pond scum is out of the question if I can avoid it. Scott climbed up on the right again and found another easy down climb to avoid both the 'official rappels' and the pool below the final rappel was also much bigger than last winter. So we were able to check out these short & sweet narrows without a single rappel this time, but now I'm tempted to come back with a wetsuit when it's flowing descent and rappel all 5 waterfalls. 
We then scrambled out of the canyon on the left LDC and made our way up the ridge to get back on trail and hiking east to now drop into Agua Caliente above it's technical section. 
Almost every other hiker we passed by asked us if we we're rock climbing... No we're canyoneering gosh dang it!?! 
After dropping in Agua Caliente canyon and heading downstream, we quickly ran into the first drop with a large pool below it. The pool looks clean enough but most people bypass it with a slightly exposed traverse on the left. There's a nice slickrock section afterwards following by another living sized chockstone with a short 15ft rappel below it. We both made the short rappel and then I looked over the chockstone boulders at the next 30ft drop and realized it also now had a large pool below it that wasn't there last year. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
I volunteered to ascend back up and look for a bypass on the ledge on the leftside and quickly found some anchors already in place to make a 50ft rappel to bypass the pool. Went back to tell him the good news that we'd be staying dry & warm and made the bypass and dropped our gear & stuff the rope after this final rappel. Still loads of rock hopping & down climbing as we made our way down this amazing canyon with tall imposing walls before it eventually opened up to become a simple dry wash. We re-found the trail & other hikers and made our way back thru the neighborhood to our cars. So we got detoured by a few extra pools, but still managed to stay dry and have a fun time exploring these short & sweet canyons. 
