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| Hiking | 7.70 Miles |
2,593 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.70 Miles | 5 Hrs 24 Mns | | 1.43 mph |
| 2,593 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | If you're going to hike Barks Canyon, do it right! After the last hike I took Liz on was a horrible disaster, I felt pressured by myself to make up for that, and today I delivered quite nicely. I call this "Barks Super 8 Loop", and I posted our route. If we had done things slightly differently it would have been right at about 8 miles, we handled the hike in a figure 8 manner, and it's a super fun hike with jaw dropping views
We started up Bluff Springs trail from the Peralta trailhead. Just after a mile and a half where the trail takes a right and through a bare rock wash, we headed straight off onto a decently cairned trail. I would recommend having knowledge of the general area before attempting this and have an idea of what you're shooting for. May not hurt to have a map and/or download a route. We had been through here before and knew what we were doing. The cairns lead the way for a while and then taper off a bit. If you find yourself in a serious bushwhacking situation then you're probably off course, so take a breather and look for cairns and/or a path.
On our way up we found a few small spots of snow, and so we took turns smacking each other with snowballs. Liz, fearing running into other human beings, had no interest in going up to the ridge and to the Weaver's overlook, so we took an early left and popped onto the Cave Trail just north of Geronimo Cave. As we approached we decided to summit rather than skirt around that area to the cave. If you haven't done this before, I highly recommend it if you can handle the scrambling and little climbs involved. The summit above Geronimo Cave is one of our favorite spots.
We stopped there for a snack and in no time a raven flew over us and landed on top of an agave stalk and decided to get chatty while we ate. We weren't sure what was up until we had finished snacking and were moving on. As soon as we were on the move, that raven once again flew over us and landed at the exact spot where we had snacked. After half a minute or so, it started yelling really loudly and flew away. It dawned on us: We were being cussed out for not leaving crumbs for it! Anyway, from there it was back down and by the cave, down the Devil's Slide (our version), and down the Cave Trail until we could clearly see Bluff Springs Trail again. We took an offtrail shortcut to it and headed toward Lower Barks Canyon, again taking an offtrail shortcut when it became convenient. Lower Barks is a new one for us, and it was quite a pleaser, especially with some water running through. I love bare rock canyons and boulder hopping, so obviously I was happy with this one. Liz was absolutely loving the hike, but one of her ankles started hurting, so she was ready for a regular trail after a while. We finally hit the Dutchman's trail and headed back to the Rally Mazda. On our way out on Peralta Road a group of longhorns challenged us as they stared and very slowly made their way across the road. We were more than happy to let them take their time. Amazing hike! |
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