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| Hiking | 9.13 Miles |
1,196 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.13 Miles | | | |
| 1,196 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I left Sunday 09/04. My original planned hike was at higher elevation (involving Woods Canyon and Willow Springs before dropping down to the Highline) and the first two days were forecast to be very hot, followed by a cold front with possible rain. Having no desire to be that high up in cold, wet, potentially 30-40 degree weather, while solo, I noped on that and decided to do one of my bucket list trips.
I love Chevelon, but between the dam and Durfee Crossing there was about a mile I'd never done (the horseshoe bend part a couple miles north of the dam). The weather seemed decent for a Chevelon trip, given Chevelon never has an easy setting, and so at the last minute I changed plans. Dropped my car off at the Durfee Crossing trailhead, and had my dad shuttle me to the Chevelon Dam trailhead.
The trail down to Chevelon is a steep access road to the dam, gated to only allow ATVs access. There were a handful of other people on it, but for the most part I had it to myself. This is my least favorite way to access the canyon -- it's long, boring, and in the direct sun. There is minimal shade.
I started out about 830 on Sunday and it was already hot. I am the world's slowest hiker. By the time I hit the bottom of the dam access road it was about 930. I did stop to munch a few wild grapes that were ripe beside the road -- they were deliciously tart, but they make your tongue hurt if you eat too many!
A few people were fishing or swimming in the lake. I stopped and watched for a minute, then headed on down into the canyon -- the trail here is a jeep path, wide and easy going, with a bit more shade. It was hot and steamy, however.
The road crosses the creek when it reaches the bottom of the canyon, and the creek was flowing well. This was a relief; with the dry weather we've been having, I was concerned that the water might be limited to murky pools, but it was flowing calf deep and cool. It felt good to wade through it, and stop and splash some on my face, and get my hat wet.
A short distance further down the canyon, I came across a bunch of people camped along the Jeep trail -- you can access the canyon here from the east with a 4X4. There were a LOT of Jeeps and a few other rugged 4X4s camped beside the creek, all jammed in tightly together.
Past the Jeeps, there is a small spring that was running very sluggishly. It was not a viable water source on this trip as the area around it was littered with toilet paper.
By this point, the heat was getting to me. I had several days, and decided this was a pretty area to camp. I collapsed into a puddle of sweat and sat there for a bit. The campers were quiet and 100 yards away ... figured it'd be fine. I started to pitch my tent and people down by the creek started arguing with each other. There was also a yappy little dog and a crying baby. I picked my entire tent up and marched a couple hundred yards further down the creek and ended up camping just before the first hard bend to the left. It wasn't entirely out of earshot of the barky dog, but at least I didn't have to listen to people bicker.
The next day, I got up at first light and headed out into the isolated and people-free wilderness that is Chevelon. For the next several days I didn't see another person, and saw very little trash or sign of any other people.
I had to cross the creek several times, and it was running well. Crossings ranged from ankle to knee deep, and the cool water felt good enough that I usually stopped and stood in it for a few minutes. It was HOT.
Just before the big horseshoe bend a couple miles north of the dam, I saw sign of multiple beaver burrows that had been dug into or collapsed (bears? trappers?) and some gnawed willows -- beaver have been scarce in Chevelon, unlike when I was a kid, so it was good to see. At one point, when I was walking along the shore, the ground collapsed underneath me and I put a leg down into a burrow. I was unhurt, just startled.
I'd hoped to camp in this area and explore, but there really wasn't anywhere decent to camp -- there's a couple of nice campsites within a mile of the jeep road, but after that, until you're past the horseshoe bend, there are limited options. Some slightly sloped spots would work in a pinch, but nothing really stood out as a great camp.
The heat finally got to be too much and I camped for the second day about noon, about three-ish miles north of the dam. I jumped in the water, cooled off, cleaned up, and noted ample sign of beaver in a very large pool.
That night, I heard rustling noises and branches snapping close to my tent (always a thrilling experience when you're alone) and snapped my flashlight on to see a large animal scrambling off through the bushes. There was a large splash, then by the sound of a tail slapping the water every 30-40 feet for a couple hundred yards. He was not, apparently, happy to have me as a neighbor. Beavers are also bigger than most people expect, if you've never seen them on land. This one was small labrador dog size.
The following day, Tuesday, started out pleasant, but was forecast to turn very nasty by noon. I am pretty familiar with this stretch of canyon, and knew there was a really nice campsite a few hundred yards north of the power lines, which cross the canyon around a mile and a half south of Durfee, plus/minus a few tenths of a mile. There are also very nice campsites closer to the power lines, but I didn't want to camp under the power lines (ruins the illusion of wilderness) -- and the lines also interfere with the Garmin Inreach I carry for communications with the outside world, including, importantly, weather reports!
With the heat over the last few days, and an approaching strong cold front, I was concerned about the possibility for severe storms. The campsite I picked to weather any bad weather was well above the creek, flat, had some big trees with no obvious lightning scars (I figured if they'd grown to that size, they were not in an area with frequent lightning strikes) and was generally a pleasant place to be.
I left at first light again, and got to the camp by about 830 AM. I set up with a storm in mind -- extra guy lines on my tent and rocks in the corners, filled all my water bottles up so I wouldn't have to get water in the rain, made sure everything vulnerable to water was dry bagged in case the tent leaked, and so forth.
The storm hit and the temperature immediately dropped by 30 degrees, going from a pleasant, sunny day to a thunderstorm in what felt like minutes. It was not as bad as I'd feared, but I got some 30mph winds (the Kelty Salida 1 person I had with me handled that easily) and a few tenths of an inch of rain and some small hail. There were a few close lightning strikes but nothing alarming, and the tent stayed completely dry.
I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, and when the rain quit, poking around the surrounding hills. Chevelon is a fascinating place -- lots of little ruins, rock art, etc., plus tons of wildlife. I saw some bull elk and muleys and a heron that day.
That night was unpleasantly chilly (I was glad I'd brought a warm down bag) -- particularly in contrast with the previous night, which I'd spent sleeping on top of my bag in shorts! In the middle of the night, my air mattress also suddenly completely deflated, and I'm blaming gremlins on that one, because when I reinflated it (while shivering and swearing) it stayed inflated, so it doesn't seem to have a leak.
The next day was pleasant, once the sun came up and dried everything out. I'm really familiar with this stretch of canyon, so leaving was a pleasant stroll. I dawdled, taking pictures, watching wildlife (saw turkeys, elk, lots of songbirds, and a gopher snake sunning himself on a rock, and a heron fishing in the shallows) and I didn't want to leave -- but I also wanted time to go hiking somewhere else, as I have the whole week off.
This remains one of my favorite places in Arizona. It's never an easy place to hike, but there's so much wildlife and so many things to see. I can sit on a rock for hours, just enjoying it here.
As a side note, I exited out at Durfee, however, it's another couple miles on to Chevelon Crossing if you want to do the whole length. This stretch has a reputation for being one of the most unpleasant in the canyon, but I honestly enjoy it. The secret to navigating between Durfee to Chevelon Crossing is to start out on the west side of the canyon at Durfee Crossing. (There's a CCC era picnic table that you will probably see; cross the creek just past it.) There is a very long -- and deep -- pool that stretches about half a mile, and a game trail runs along the west side. It's a little sketchy in spots, but passable.
Once you're past the long pool, you want to cross the creek and immediately get up onto the benches on the east side. After you pass the third drainage (Durfee Draw, Elk Rub, and one more), look for a route back down to the water. It's easy to miss Durfee Draw on the east side depending on where exactly you cross over.
The way I usually end up crossing back over to the west has a large and obvious metate pounded into the bedrock right down by the water and unless somebody's kicked them over, I cairned the best route across the creek in 2018.
After several hundred yards you'll need to cross the canyon back to the east side -- this spot is sometimes dry, and sometimes has water in it, and if it's got water, it's usually a knee deep crossing of about 20-30 feet. I've also seen this stretch flood without water coming in from side canyons; it was dry when I hiked in one day, and knee deep with crystal clear and ice cold water when I was leaving a few days later. It had stormed off to the east, but the washes didn't run. It must be fed by an underground source.
Past this point, the route out to Chevelon is fairly obvious and easy going. |
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