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| Canyoneering | 14.27 Miles |
1,200 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 14.27 Miles | 1 Day 4 Hrs 36 Mns | | |
| 1,200 ft AEG | | | | |
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| | Canyon Hiking - Non-technical; no rope; easy scrambling; occasional hand use | | B - Up to light current; wading/swimming; possible wet/dry suit | | III - Normally requires most of a day |
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| partners | | This one has been on the list for a while, and Joel and I have been doing creek backpacks at this time of year for the past few years. The weather was perfect for this ... a little warm everywhere, but absolutely ideal to be swimming and wading in a deep canyon.
A couple of things to note. As others have described, the trip down the drainage from Maxwell Tank, while relatively short, is overgrown with uncomfortable prickly things. What apparently nobody else mentioned is that this drainage is choked with unavoidable poison ivy. I mean like the fields of poison ivy. If poison ivy could be harvested for food, this canyon alone could eliminate hunger across the globe. Forever. 
Once into Willow Valley we arrived at the first swimmer which may have been able to be bypassed on the right, but we knew we'd be swimming at some point so we just decided to get it over with. There ended up being four swimmers, and though it was a warm and sunny day, I can't oversell how cold these pools were. Absolutely full-body numbing cold. It was refreshing for about 30 seconds and after that it was a race to get to the other side. If I'm ever up here on a day that is under 85 degrees, I'd consider a wet suit for these.
After the swimmers, it's just wading and sloshing through water or along the shore and enjoying the countless amazing views in this incredibly scenic canyon. The farther down canyon you get the more space there is for camping and bypass trails along the shore. From the highest springfed pool where the water became constant to the confluence with Clover and WCC, there is a reasonably easy to follow use trail. This trail also reintroduces poison ivy, which was largely absent for a few miles, though it's a bit more avoidable than it was in the drainage leading into the canyon.
Things weren't too bad in the canyon, but up on the rim both before and after the hike, the bugs were relentless. Gnats, see-ums, no-see-ums, hear-ums, black flies, horseflies, dragonflies, elkflies, mooseflies, and baby chucpacabra larvae all feasted despite my skin glowing yellow with 106% pure deet. As I write this, I'm honestly not sure which welts are poison ivy and which are bug bites. Interestingly, there were no mosquitos. But I'm going to start breeding bat colonies to bring with me if this kind of thing ever happens again. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
Despite that, it was a fantastic weekend, and I'd do it again next week without thinking twice!  |
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Maxwell Tank |
51-75% full |
51-75% full |
| | | A skunky tank with cattle pooping in it. Gotta be a better option if you're thirsty. | | _____________________
| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
Once you reach the flowing creek it is awesome the rest of the way. Headed up the maxwell to breezier weather and cooler temps on Saturday night.
We encountered loads of mossy down climbs, some small narrows that we bypasses, and loads of canyon stew before reaching the first optional rappel. I could of down climbed that initial 10ft drop but no point taking the risk with her and being on rope made it easier to avoid that stinky keeper pothole. And I was able to use the rope to help keep her out of it also. 
The water is only waist deep in a few sections and it's the middle of summer so I opted to forgo the wetsuits but that also meant out skin took more of a beating on the down climbs & pesky vegetation. 
This is soon followed by a mossy chute that requires a controlled slide to land on some submerged logs to avoid getting completely wet. After going thru another vegetated narrows, you hit the first bolted rappel of about 30ft into a waist deep pool with another bolt on the right. Pull ropes and re-rig for at least 100ft of rope both sides so you can get you about 50ft down into the hallway, across that pools, and if you want to avoid the keeper you lean hard right LDC past the arch and over the fin of sandstone. She's not ready for a keeper and I didn't want to carry more than 200ft of rope, so I figured this was the best setup for us. 
Before I knew it I was passing the Maxwell trail, Tramway trail, the springs and Sundance Canyon already?!? 
