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| Hiking | 6.60 Miles |
1,737 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.60 Miles | | | |
| 1,737 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | For the past 6 weeks or so, I've been dealing with a torn Posterior Tibial Tendon and a Deltoid Ligament sprain, so I've been on the sideline for a bit. With the inside of my ankle feeling much better (still dealing with a Sinus Tarsi issue on the same ankle), I wanted to get out for something on the 'easy' side. S and I had a couple of ideas and settled on Fraser Canyon in the Supes, but waking up to flooding rain and lightning Sunday, that quickly went out the window. S mentioned that the radar looked good further north, so up the Beeline we went. We turned down the mud bog road to Barnhardt and pulled into the empty TY. It was cloudy, and the peaks were shrouded in fog, but no rain. Originally, I thought of hiking Half Moon; I know it's not overly exciting, but it's easy, and not being 100% I wasn't sure if my ankle would be able to handle anything harder, however, the sound of raging water in Barnhardt Creek quickly silenced that notion and I began calculating the mileage and AEG up to Big Kahuna and from there my mind was made up. The trail was in decent shape; there were sections where water was running down it, and a few spots had larger puddles, but the mud was minimal. As we approached the switchbacks, the fog thickened to the point where seeing anything more than 20 feet in front of us was impossible, and that intensified the already humid air. The trail gets brushy in spots near Garden Spring and a couple of spots just past the switchbacks, which, with the high humidity, completely drenched me. Made it to Hawaiian Mist, spent a few minutes there before continuing. Rounded the corner, and we could hear the roar of Big Kahuna, and seeing the flow a few minutes later was incredible. I've hiked Barnhardt a couple of times before, but this was the first time seeing it with flow, so I wasn't able to gauge it, but S said this was the most she has seen at the falls. Climbed up to the base for a bit and started the uneventful hike back. We did not see anyone all day, which was a bit surprising but was nice. My ankle was pretty sore as we finished but overall did pretty well. Thanks for chasing waterfalls with me S.  |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Hiking is just walking where it’s okay to pee.  |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
As it was, we were anticipating a finish after dark (spoiler alert: the last mile and a half were completed with headlamps).
. No sign of a too elderly backpacker or anybody else at all. Two other vehicles in the lot to start were gone when we finished. Must be too warm to hike. (It did hit 78 in the sun, though it generally hovered in the upper 50s in the shade).
-- 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!
