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| | | Red Creek Wet Bottom Mesa, AZ | | | |
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Red Creek Wet Bottom Mesa, AZ
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| Hiking | 14.64 Miles |
1,826 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.64 Miles | 8 Hrs 12 Mns | | 1.99 mph |
| 1,826 ft AEG | 50 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Another visit back to the western side of the Mazatzals. Was tempted by this after reading a few triplogs and watching some vintage footage of the Verde River crossing...
We made our way north along with a surprising amount of traffic headed towards the TPC for the golf tourney. I don't understand the allure...but there are enough people who seem to enjoy that sort of thing that there were signs regarding event parking along the freeway. Aside from seemingly hitting every single red light on the drive outbound once we exited the freeway, the rest of the trip to the trailhead was uneventful. A section of FR269 has been recently graded, the ungraded portion is slightly washboardy, but not too awful. FR18 got a bit rough in spots, and definitely benefitted from having a high clearance vehicle. We arrived at the TH to discover a pair of vehicles camped out near the creek - we parked nearby, but out of sight of the campers, just before the road crosses the drainage.
After dithering and trying to decide if I wanted to bring my keens for the potential river crossing, I stowed them in my pack and off we went...picking our way carefully across the watercourse to keep our feet dry. Red creek was an easy meander to the Verde, save for the last section, which is in deep gravelly sand. In the upper portion, there's a two track that helps ease the walking by bypassing the watercourse - there were plenty of footprints indicating people visit the area somewhat regularly. While there were tire tracks in the drainage, none seemed very recent.
After a couple hours, we arrived at the Verde where we paused to assess our options...after surveying what we could see of the terrain from a nearby high point, we dropped to the river to look at the flow. While not low, the crossing didn't look too treacherous. At about 300cfs, the Verde was flowing at about 2x where the park service shuts down the Zion Narrows. I wasn't terribly worried about the depth, and air temps were such that I wasn't worried about taking a dunking - I was slightly concerned that the flow might mess with our ability to securely plant our feet as we crossed amidst the slippery river rocks.
Ultimately, the decision was made to cross the Verde and head up towards Wet Bottom Mesa to see what we could see. Since I wasn't sure if I'd wind up in some gravel during the crossing, I decided to not switch out my footwear, and to ford the river wearing my hiking shoes. After watching J make his way over, it was my turn. We decided to cross just above the rapids - while the water visibility was fine, it was definitely moving quickly enough that I moved slowly, making sure I had each foot planted securely before taking another step forward. I opted to face upstream, slowly crabbing my way across while presenting my shins to the flow of water.
Once we made it to the other side, we found a break in the reeds and vegetation and headed across the wide rock strewn watercourse. Any cairns that may have been placed in this area have fallen - having a track downloaded allowed us to find our way to where the trail climbs up and away from the verde. Once we found the trail, it was easy to follow as it climbed up to the junction where the Wet Bottom trail separates from the Verde River trail. We continued onward, following the trail as it climbed up to the top of the mesa. There are some sections where brittlebush, prickly pear, or palo verde have encroached or obstructed the way - but given how little visitation the trail likely sees, it's in pretty good shape. Once we hit the top of the mesa, the trail sometimes became faint and difficult to follow, especially with the healthy sea of grasses and spurge. There are lots of cairns placed frequently, that helped keep us on track though. When we hit the junction with the Highwater trail, we decided to take a break and mark that as our turnaround point.
After our stop in the shade of a spiny hackberry amidst healthy bunch of foxtail grasses, we made our way back, enjoying the views along the way. The hike back was uneventful, though rather toasty without any breeze and with full sun exposure. While we had good views of the airstrip, and several aircraft in the area, we didn't see any landing or taking off. There was plenty of birdsong and loads of butterflies along the way...unfortunately, a bunch of gnats and biting insects which must have decided I was a buffet offering when we stopped for our snack break based on the number of itchy welts I've counted since getting home. Aside from a surprisingly large squirrel that ran towards us before veering off the trail, we didn't see any other mammalian wildlife...and we didn't see any other people either, other than those camped near the trailhead.
I really enjoyed this visit out to this side of the Mazzies - the views were stunning, and it's always great to visit an area seldom seen. Looking forward to coming back for another visit at some point! |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
mostly all on Wet Bottom Mesa, mostly gilia, and wild hyacinth. Gold poppies and lupine are also making an appearance, along with the other usual suspects (globe mallow, brittlebush). |
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Middle Red Creek |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | Red creek is flowing with the water often wide, but shallow. |
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Red Creek Rapids |
Medium flow |
Medium flow |
| | | Light to medium flow - mid thigh deep, ~300cfs | | _____________________
Happier when hiking....I may not move fast (and I'm often distracted by wildflowers), but I'll get there eventually  |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
) and I have absolutely no recollection of what the grade was like 
0 stars. Do not recommend. Especially if hiking in lightweight footwear like I do...I was feeling that in my arch for the rest of the hike. 
Rest assured, I don't think I'll feel the need to redo this one any time soon 
