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| | | Mazatzal Waterfalls via Barnhardt, AZ | | | |
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Mazatzal Waterfalls via Barnhardt, AZ
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| Hiking | 19.27 Miles |
2,961 AEG |
| | Hiking | 19.27 Miles | 9 Hrs 52 Mns | | 2.21 mph |
| 2,961 ft AEG | 1 Hour 9 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | We chose this hike last minute, almost by process of elimination, as I failed to come up with any other interesting ideas the day before. I hadn't been to Barnhardt in a few years and figured there would be some water flowing after the recent rain, and I'd never seen Sandy Saddle/North Fork Falls. I knew going in that the falls wouldn't be close to full flow, but my standards for being impressed were very low given all my previous hikes at Barnhardt were bone dry, so I had that working in my favor  .
The parking lot was empty when we started out ~7:30AM, with the just-past-full moon over the Mazatzals. We could hear water flowing in Barnhardt Canyon even from the parking lot, and there were plenty of small falls down there, already a major improvement over previous visits. It's always a pleasure to see the unique geology along the first few miles of Barnhardt. Hawaiian Mist had a decent flow, with water flowing the trail, and it was great to finally see Big Kahuna with a strong flow.
[ youtube video ]
The higher peaks and hillsides had quite a bit of snow, and as we got up to ~6,000', shady spots on the trail had occasional patches of hard-packed snow. We connected with Mazatzal Divide Trail, and TboneKathy decided to wait near Chilson Spring to make sure I had I had time to reach the falls before we needed to start back. I took off, and the trail was in great shape, so the last couple miles passed quickly. I was expecting a brusher off-trail approach to the falls, but it was easy following the creek bed to Sandy Saddle. I worked my way around to a rocky point where I had a view of both waterfalls. Seeing them in person for the first time was impressive, even if they weren't flowing as much as I'd seen in other photosets, and Deadman Canyon and the geology in that area--which reminded me of the Sierra Anchas--were beautiful.
[ youtube video ]
I started making my way around to the southwest side of the falls for another vantage point but ditched that plan pretty quickly...with the thick manzanita, it was going to take a while, and the scratch/ scenery ratio was going to be high. I was happy with what I'd seen and had made it pretty much unscathed by brush at that point, so I headed back to the trail and rejoined TBK for the hike out.
We finally started to see people on the way back, including a campsite set up near the Barnhardt/Mazatzal Divide intersection. Approaching Big Kahuna, I zoomed in and could see eight or nine vehicles in the parking lot down below, so we were lucky to have the falls to ourselves for a few minutes before people showed up. In total, we saw four or five groups/solo hikers by the time we made it back to the trailhead.
There was a nice sunset on the drive home, and we passed a massive vehicle fire on 87. The car was engulfed in flames 10+ feet high on the southbound shoulder, and responders were just showing up as we passed. In the couple seconds it took to drive by, even with our windows up, we could feel the intense heat, and we saw a few ambulances heading northbound minutes later. Needless to say, we had a much more enjoyable day than the driver of that car... |
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Chilson Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Spring box was full, but water was stagnant and full of algae |
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Hawaiian Mist |
Medium flow |
Medium flow |
| | | Steady flow of water on the cliffs, flowing across the trail and beyond | | | |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
-- at least the partly cloudy and gusty breeze kept things comfortable. Attempted to follow the rest of the trail (got lost twice, good grief its overgrown), and had a chill evening near Casterson Seep.
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
, however, she was awesome in letting us use her filter to stock back up. After refilling, we continued, making a quick stop at Chilson Spring before reaching Chilson camp for lunch. Found a nice lunch spot under some nice shade trees where we rehydrated and cooled off for a bit before starting back. The hike back to the Barnhardt junction was hot, however, the wind picked up and the clouds came in for a bit, covering up the fireball, which helped immensely. We stopped at the rock outcropping (break spot everyone stops at) for a break when it started to sprinkle. It sprinkled just enough to crank up the humidity, and the sun coming back out sure didn't help, but it was all downhill, so not a huge deal. The rest of the hike down was uneventful, however, we narrowly missed hitting a rattlesnake that decided to cross the road in front of us on the drive out. He was nice enough to stop for some pics before leaving. 
Great hike with great company, thanks B & S for the invite!
Never heard a peep out of them 
and they left camp early the next morning. 
Mist free
. Falls were flowing pretty well, had decent cloud cover most of the time and still some snow out there as well.
We went upstream to Horse Camp Seep, playing in the other 6 waterfalls along the way. Then we headed back. 
