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| Hiking | 2.50 Miles |
714 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.50 Miles | | | |
| 714 ft AEG | | | | |
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Did Upper Chevelon Canyon from Telephone Ridge to Willow Springs Canyon, then Willow Springs Canyon to the lake. Took 11 days, starting June 9th -- I stayed over multiple days in a few places.
Starting down Telephone Ridge trail, my pack was in the neighborhood of 60ish pounds. I was actually planning on being out 14 days, so that was quite a bit of food, consumables, and so forth.
Telephone Ridge does not get any less steep or rocky as the years go by, and the part that switchbacks into the canyon to the north of the trailhead seemed more eroded than before. There was also a new dump-truck sized boulder that had rolled down the hillside and was sitting at the end of the last switchback, but it was easy enough to circumvent,
(Side note: There is a steep, dangerous descent down a ridge that is a "shortcut" off the actual trail. For Telephone Ridge, it's important to stay on the actual trail, which does a couple of switchbacks then winds north into a canyon and descends down to the meadows below. If you find yourself slipping and sliding down a deeply eroded "trail" that goes down a loose talus slope, you've lost the actual trail. The trail is a bit safer, though still sketchy in spots, with a few areas where you wouldn't want to trip, if you know what I mean.)
I stayed two nights at the end of Telephone Ridge, hanging out and fishing, and working on finishing a novel. (Hauled a midget laptop and an extra solar panel along for that. Yes, I'm crazy.) There were a surprising number of people camped or dayhiking in the area. I think this spot is getting better known and more popular.
The second night, the pair camped just south of me reported a bear in camp -- it sounds like it snuffled around their firepit, but didn't actually get into anything. There were tracks for proof. I've never heard of a bold bear in Chevelon, they always run, so that was a bit sobering. (I had zero bear issues myself.)
I headed on down the canyon on Sunday, wanting to put some distance between myself and a bear habituated enough to enter a campsite with people in it!
A couple miles down the canyon, there is what I refer to as the "Bear Grylls Fort." (I am not a fan of Bear Grylls. I am a fan of leave no trace.) Somebody built a large structure, with two walls, a lean-to, a large and elaborate fire pit, coffee table made of rocks, flat rocks for a floor, and bench. See photos. It's impressive and comfortable, but a bit ... eh, out of place in a wilderness like Chevelon.
First time I saw the fort, somebody appeared to be living in it. There was quite a bit of gear, though nobody there when I hiked through at that time. Since then, they seemed to have moved on and removed most of their stuff, and it now looks like it's being maintained by backpackers and fishermen. There was some gear -- tongs, a fireplace grill, a fishnet, fishing lures stuck to logs -- left behind, but no sign of habitation. First time I saw it, the leanto had a rolled-up bedroll in it. This time, it just had firewood tucked back in it.
I stayed there two days, got skunked fishing, and hung out. (There was a huge trout in the pool of water by the fort, but he was not interested.) The fishing wasn't great the entire trip, and I only got one solid bite that I didn't manage to land. The fish existed, but the water was absolutely glass clear and they were extremely spooky.
There was a very noisy Mexican spotted owl at this campsite that serenaded me the whole night.
I also whacked my shin on the coffee table by the firepit, and my leg was black and blue fro the knee to the ankle for the rest of the trip -- kept bumping it and reinjuring it. Just a bruise and it certainly looks worse than it is, but yow. Never fails, if I'm going to get a gnarly injury, it'll be something stupid and it'll happen in camp. Knock on wood.
Weather was cold enough, and windy, that I found myself wearing my down jacket during the day in Arizona in June on Tuesday. WTF? LOL. I almost left it home. It's June! Cold weather was a theme for the whole trip. The days were generally pleasant, but the nights were downright chilly the whole time, and I'm from Northern AZ. I can say with certainty that this weather was not typical. (Not complaining, though. I'd rather be chilly at night and have nice weather during the day!)
Moved a couple more miles down the canyon to my favorite campsite after that, and stayed two days there. There's a spot I know with a huge fishing hole, and a nice spot for a tent, but very little use even by Chevelon standards. I'd stayed there last August, and because reasons, left quite a bit of firewood by the firepit, with some bark slabs on top to keep it dry. Nobody had used the firewood I left. It was exactly as it was last summer.
Stayed there a couple of days, caught zero fish, then started moving up the canyon towards Willow Springs.
Chevelon was typical Chevelon the whole way. Big meadows with down trees, and brushy, rocky, knee deep creek crossings, with willow and log jam mazes to negotiate. Nothing unusual, just Chevelon being Chevelon.
Saw lots of birds of prey, including bald eagles. Also saw a muskrat, which was a first for me in Arizona, elk, and plenty of fresh bear and lion sign. At one point, I came around a bend in the trail to find a puddle of urine right in the middle of it, and two large bull-elk-sized tracks on either side of the puddle. Never saw nor heard the elk, but he was definitely not far ahead of me!
Also, LOTS of rodents, to a point where I was seeing mice scurry across the trail in front of me. Grasshoppers also seem to be exploding in population. I imagine it'll be a good year for coyotes and bobcats and other small predators.
During this trip, I had packrats get into my pack (generally hanging from a tree) several times. I had a bear bell on my pack and they'd usually jingle it and wake me up. I also had a sock, hung to dry on my tent guy line, disappear during the night. The line was chewed through. Definitely a year for rodents.
There was water until a mile(ish) below Palomino Canyon, where the creek went dry. I only saw two other people the entire time, and they advised me there was a good spring at Palomino Canyon that they'd seen the day before, but I was completely unable to find it despite about an hour of scouting around. Anyone know where it is? (It's on the topo map too, so I assume it exists.)
From there, it was dry to Willow Springs.
Willow Springs is dry at the confluence with Chevelon Canyon, but has good water a few hundred yards up it. I camped there for the first night, and intended to bail out of Willow Springs and walk to the Rim Top Trailhead at a point I've commented on previously.
There's a break in the limestone cliffs at the top of the canyon about a mile and a quarter up it, and the grade is steep but doable. I've scrambled up it with a really heavy pack before, and it was fine. There's also a spot to camp at the base, a nice fern-covered bench with easy access to the water.
The trek from the confluence to the "bail point" was bad. Willow Springs is normally a bit of a challenge, but it was pretty gnarly. The last time I was through it was five years ago. There are now a lot more trees in the creek, some fairly large log jams, the benches are a lot more choked with deadfall, and some of the spots where i could get down off a bench at the end of it are now washed out, and end in a cliff too dangerous to tackle on a solo trip with a heavy pack.
A couple of times, I got to the end of a bench and had to turn around and backtrack to find a safe way down.
A good chunk of the trip was just slogging up the creek, navigating waterfalls, deadfall, log jams, big pools of water, and loose river rocks. It took me about six hours to go a mile and a quarter, though I'll admit I wasted a lot of time leaning on my trekking poles and contemplating all the bad decisions that had led me to that point. Just, pure badness the whole way, with no reprieve. Not anything unsafe, if you were smart, just a lot of effort and rough terrain.
Camped below what I thought was the bail point, planned to climb up it in the morning.
That morning, discovered that there were more trees down than I remembered, making it more of a challenge to climb -- and worse, in a cleft of rock at the top, there was a nice sized clump of bees. I have no idea if they had a hive or were just a swarm resting, and I was not about to risk pissing off bees on a steep slope in the middle of nowhere. They were flying around me, though I didn't get stung. (I am not allergic, and am not bee phobic, but these did not seem to be happy bees, and I have a healthy respect for the damage they can do en mass!)
Retreated back down the slope, tried to find another way out, couldn't find another navigable route up that didn't cliff out at the top. About ten AM, I finally said a few rude words and decided to just slog my way on up the canyon.
Next mile or so was more badness, with lots of trees down. By the time I reached the people-trail in the flatter upper end of the canyon, I was exhausted, despite it only being a few miles. Once I reached the dam, I turned around and flipped the Willow Springs Canyon off -- that was a trek of badness.
I'll probably do Chevelon again next year. Willow Springs is not on my agenda to do again any time soon. It is rare for me to say 'never again' about a hike, but wow, that was some persistently rough country! Beautiful, though. |
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Wildflowers Observation None
Columbine, canyon roses, wild strawberries, raspberries all blooming. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
We packed up early the 2nd morning and hiked back up the ridge. Traffic back into the valley wasn't bad considering it was 4th of July.
