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| Hiking | 4.50 Miles |
1,093 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.50 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 0.75 mph |
| 1,093 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The 4x4 roads back to this hike are fun but tough. The area is beautiful and remote. We didn't see anybody once we got about 1 mile down the 4x4 roads. The main route to the trailhead is block by drilling activity. One of the miners that was drilling for copper core samples told us the normal road should be open again in a couple weeks. He gave us vaugue instructions on an alternate route to the trailhead. The road we used is passable by a stock 4x4, but you should have skidplates. The road we took was the first left turn after the cattleguard. It took about 1 hour to find the correct way to the trailhead.
My cousin Paul had convinced me to do this hike by showing me the the pictures from Teva, Fritzski, and Bruce's trip (ps: Bruce you are a madman, ROCK ON!!). The temp this day was a bit on the hot side (95 degrees). We had to add about 3/4 mile to the start of the hike since the last part of the 4x4 road was so hardcore that we couldn't drive down it in my stock Dodge Durango. Paul's coworker had done this hill in a rental Mitsubishi SUV, but I wasn't willing to try. My Dodge Durango has no locking differential and although it uses the largest diameter tires that come on a Durango, I was afraid of doing major undercarraige damage. The hill is mucho hardcore with dropoffs of 30" or more. An abandoned antique pickup truck is evidence of the difficulty. It looks like it lost control on the hill and rolled over. It is pretty old and has a wooden pickup bed. Pretty cool.
When we started down the Hackberry Canyon entry we realized the hike would be much harder than expected. The going was real slow and extremely difficult. There was no real trail, just lots of rock and boulder hopping. Hackberry Canyon is cool and has real nice rockclimbing and scrambling areas.
Once in Devils Canyon we found the poison ivy that Teva referenced. It was quite plentiful, but it could be negotiated around. It was very difficult to determine which side of the creek was the best. The hiking was again very difficult. There are few flat areas, but most of the hiking is stepping from a rock to a boulder to the next rock and on and on. Even if you are not changing elevations, the hiking is very energy consuming. This was probably some of the hardest hiking I have ever done. I kept thinking we had covered more ground than we did. Paul's GPS unit kept giving us a reality check of our actual progress (which I found to be depressingly slow).
We had some cool wildlife encounters: a Ringtail, a couple of small turtles, a javalina skull, many large animal bones, several fish, a wierd looking 3 inch long underwater beetle looking thing, and several cows (one with pointy horns).
I find it amazing that there are even cattle down in this canyon. I cannot imagine how they drive these cows out. Those Cowboys that work back here must be real bad-asses.
We got about halfway down Devils Canyon and hit a section that was difficult to navigate around. We started climbing up the right side and were about 40 feet above the creek and we decided we had better turn around. Bummer. We had less than 3/4 mile to go, but that would have been another 2 hours (1 hour for each way) on the trail. It was the right decision to turn back since we were both physically exhausted when we got back to the car. I even started cramping up at the end of the hike. I was suprised I didn't injure my knee or back. I had ACL reconstruction 12 months ago on my left knee and I suffer from a ruptured disk in my lower back. Thank goodness for my Leki hiking poles and my DonJoy knee brace.
A GPS unit and topo map is helpful for navigating the roads and determining where you are in the canyon. Bring lots of water. Paul and I both drank over 1 gallon on this hike. While there is water to filter here, this is cattle country and many of the water pools were very foul. We did however pass one spot in the creek where the water was bubbling up thru sand. It was cystal clear and looked like it would filter ok.
I plan to do this hike again next spring and make it all the way to the 5 pools, but I think I would do it a bit different next time. I would do an overnight near the trailhead, start hiking early in the morning, take a long lunch at the pools, and then hike back later in the afternoon.
This is a beautiful remote hike with excellent rock climbing, but it is very strenous and should be tackled only if you are in good shape and are a glutton for punishment.
Jeff S (aka canyonD) |
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