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| Backpack | 20.00 Miles |
200 AEG |
| | Backpack | 20.00 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 200 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Araviapa
South of Winkleman
(120 miles southeast of Phoenix)
I did a 3-day backpack in the Aravaipa Canyon with 9 other hiking friends. The Aravaipa Canyon is one of the few perennial streams in Arizona and has been described as "a gem of the Southwestern desert." The canyon itself is about 11-miles long with 9 side canyons (I only explored three!) Each side canyon that I explored had it's own personality with awe-inspiring scenery. Within the colorful 1,000-foot canyon walls, we hiked along the creek, across the creek and sometimes down the middle of the creek - that being the trail. The canyon is home to desert bighorn sheep, javelinas, coati mundi, deer, ringtail cats, and other interesting wildlife.
Friday: We hiked about 5 miles into the canyon and set up camp at Horse Camp next to the stream. After we dropped our heavy backpacking load and setting up camp, we ventured up Horse Camp Canyon. This canyon had a lot of deep smooth walled out areas.
Saturday: we left camp and ventured about 1.5 further down Araviapa to Booger Canyon. This canyon was filled with trees, huge rocks, and beautiful pools of water. It involved a lot of boulder hoping, climbing, and scrambling. When the terrain got overly precarious, we stopped and took a lunch break next to a cool waterfall and swimming hole. After exploring Booger Canyon, the gang started heading back to camp. After about ¼ mile, I decided I wanted to go deeper into Araviapa. I got a fellow hiker to join me and we started heading to Hell's Hole Canyon. About ½ mile on our journey we were rewarded with a herd of Coati Mundi. At first, all I could see were three tails sticking straight up dancing around further down the trail. As we got closer, all the coatis started moving and jumping up the side of the canyon - about 20 or so!. We were surprised to see so many! After the coati - we spotted a deer about ½ mile further down the stream.
Two miles after Booger, we found Hell's Hole Canyon. This canyon was basically a dry creek bed with high canyon walls. As we walked up the canyon, it turned and twisted and got narrower as we went. We probably went up the canyon a mile - at this time we had to consider the remaining light of the day and the distance back to camp (about 4.5 miles). We timed it perfect - walking back into camp as the sun was setting. |
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