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| Kayak | 16.20 Miles |
1,224 AEG |
| | Kayak | 16.20 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 1,224 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I've seen this old cabin listed on the topographic maps and have been wanting to hike to it. There are also some geocaches along the way so since I had the weekend free I drove down to grab my kayak and spend a night on the water.
Day 1
After making the drive from my parent's house in Scottsdale (that's where my kayak is as there's no room to have it in Flagstaff in my tiny student apartment) I drove to the very end of the Bartlett Flat road. After unloading it and getting all of my gear (which I had stuffed into dry bags earlier), I was ready to go and headed out. Paddled about one mile before stopping at Jacks Cove to find a geocache. Found the cache and kept paddling to Sheep Creek where I planned to set up camp. As I got closer, the water got shallower, and there were times I had to get out and drag my boat over some rocks. I soon made it to the Sheep Creek area and set up camp on the west side of the Verde.
I then attempted to find one of the geocaches that were hidden at the top a large, jagged rock formation. I headed up the middle area and around the halfway point I started get swarmed by bees. I more or less stumbled my way down to get away, fighting through bushes and dry grasses along the way. I decided to not go for that cache just yet and attempted to head up river to Devil's Hole where I knew another one was. I originally tried to boat up but there was a lot of rocks and got tired of dragging the kayak. I then tried on foot and followed the banks, crossed the verde, and when I was .8 miles away (as the crow flies) that going on foot was a bad idea. I had reached a point where I couldn't cross the Verde, so I dejectedly headed back to camp.
At this point I decided to attempt the geocache that is at the top of the jagged rock formation instead. I managed to find a much better way up by following the spine. I made the short final scramble to ground zero and managed to find the geocache and get the FTF (First to Find). Stayed at the top for a few minutes and enjoyed the view. Headed back down to my campsite where I lit a fire and made dinner for the night.
Day 2
After packing up camp, I paddled to the mouth of Sheep Creek and abandoned my kayak on the bank. Hiked up and saw some bald eagles nesting on the mountain I had hiked yesterday and also found a dead eagle in Sheep Creek. RIP. The first mile up the creek was easy as it was dry and the biggest issue ended up being avoiding bees. However, I soon saw water and ended up hopscotching between rocks and fighting my way through dense brush. There also ended up being a lot of mosquitos here and was fighting them off the whole way through. As I neared the cabin and one of the geocaches, I realized it would just be easier to walk in the creek instead of avoiding spider webs, downed trees, and various debris. I soon made it to the geocache and successfully got another FTF on it. I then continued on in hopes of finding the cabin. Sadly, I was unable to find anything that resembled a cabin in the dense mess of trees and vines that inhabited the area. I even had the coordinates for the cabin I found in someone else's triplog. As I retreated and headed out I saw a large clump of wooden boards, trash cans, and corrugated metal wedged between some trees. I assume this is what is left of the cabin, though I'm not entirely certain as there was no evidence of the stone fireplace it had. At this point I headed back out, though as I was navigating the creek I slipped at got wet. While my handheld GPSr was fine, my iPhone in my pocket wasn't and it decided to stop working a few hours after getting wet.
Once I made it back to the kayak and headed back to Bartlett Reservoir. I stopped to find two more geocaches that were on the north bank of the lake successfully found them. I did almost tip over when trying to get back on my boat due to the large waves that were created by the speed boats and jet skis, but thankfully didn't. I paddled back to the shore and found a lot of people had set up camp here. Thankfully there was a space where I could back up my truck into so I could load it into the bed. Thought about finding some more geocaches nearby, but decided against it as I was pretty tired after all that hiking and kayaking. A very fun journey, except for the part where I was swarmed by bees and breaking my iPhone. I hope to hike there in the future, but come from the old road/horseshoe reservoir side, instead of the boating/sheep creek side.
Edit
Is there a way to attach a photoset and change the "my routes" attached routes? For some reason I there's a wrong gpx route linked. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
. We spent about 4 hours exploring the area.
