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| Backpack | 6.00 Miles |
200 AEG |
| | Backpack | 6.00 Miles | 4 Hrs | | 1.50 mph |
| 200 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | A few notes about backpacking and camping in West Fork.
If you are camping overnight, make sure to pay for two days of parking at the entrance.
For most people, the hike ends when you run into a long stretch of creek running through some red rock canyon walls. You need a pair of sandals to walk through this section, which is about 100 yards long. After about 100 yards, paths become available on the side of the creek. You can then alternate between using the paths or just walking through the creek. If you're doing the hike in October, as most people do, make sure to bring extra socks. If you walk in sandals with bare feet, your feet are going to go numb.
Continue past the 100-yard-creek-walk for about an estimated twenty minutes, and you come across some high ground on the right. Get up on the high ground, and there is a trail that takes you to some really neat campsites. In a few areas, the trail is narrow, the dirt is loose, and you're high enough up to fall to your death. The same could be said about the areas around the campsites. It's not dangerous, but if you bring a child or dog, you really need to keep a close eye on them. As you walk down the trail, you come across a meadow campsite first (flat, cleared ground), and if you follow the trail to its practical end, you end up at a woodsy/ canyon campsite. "Practical end" means the trail runs into a rock wall. There is a ledge path that goes along the rock wall, but it would be insane to go further with a pack.
Since landmarks and cairns can get washed away in the creek, it's hard to give good directions to the campsite trail. Here are some hints that might help. Also, the 20-minute estimate is a best guess and based on going through the creek or hiking on the side of it. If you try to stick to the high ground to stay dry, it's going to take a lot longer.
GPS - Since it's pretty difficult to get a GPS reading in the canyon, navigating with a GPS is somewhat impractical. Anyhow, hike to about N 35.00.082 W 111.46.095. There should be lots of high ground on the right side of the creek. Find a safe way to get up and look for a trail. To hike to the canyon campsite, go to N 35.00.250 W 111.46.649.
"Cracks" Landmark - After doing the 100-yard-creek-walk, hike for about twenty minutes. You run into a section of the creek where it's all rock (no dirt or paths on either side). There are a couple of large cracks in the creek bed, about a foot wide, about knee deep, and running across the length of the creek. Continue around the bend, and you should see lots of high ground on the right side of the creek. Find a safe way up and walk down the trail.
Narrows, Swimming Landmark - After doing the 100-yard-creek-walk, hike for about twenty minutes. You run into a narrow section of deep water. You think, "If walking through a few feet of water made my feet go numb, there is no way I'm swimming through this stuff." You then notice high ground on the right side of the creek that might allow you to walk around the deep water. Chances are you're right below the canyon campsite. Simply look around for a trail up. This section comes after the cracks mentioned above.
There's plenty of running water to filter by the campsites. It takes some time to become familiar with them, but there are a number of side trails that go directly down to the water. In other words, if you need to filter water, you don't need to go all the way back to the start of the trail.
I'm not sure if this area is considered bear country or not. To play it safe, you might want to leave all your food outside of your tent and a distance from your campsite.
Camping in late October, I was comfortable with a 20 degree down bag.
Finally, you can climb up the canyon walls and get above the tree line. To do so, climb up the hill behind the canyon campsite. Look for a steep, continuous vein that looks like it goes all the way to the top of the peaks. It sort of looks like a giant, red rock staircase. Anyhow, just scramble up the vein as far as you can go. The rock is soft and loose, and you might have to pull yourself up at times, but the views are pretty amazing. |
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