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| Hiking | 8.50 Miles |
500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.50 Miles | 5 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.55 mph |
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| 500 ft AEG | | | |
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| no partners | | I was surprised not to see anything on HAZ about second water canyon upon returning from this trip.
As has been typical for me lately, I headed out to first water trailhead late morning today (would have preferred a trip from Peralta trailhead but I don't want to fight that blasted renaissance traffic) without much of an itinerary. I know, probably not a great idea, but at least I had somebody with me this time. So, Ken and I headed out down second water trail. All I knew at this point was I wanted to check out Second Water spring. We got there an hour or so later and I was impressed. The lower section of Second Water Canyon, at least from the spring to the second water trail, is very beautiful with the water running right now. There are several little cascades and a couple pools deep enough for a dip, although all the mosquito larvae in the pools and clouds of flys and other winged insects around the water may deter you. All disgust aside, the springs were rather pleasant for a lunch spot. After we rested for a bit and ate, I decided I was not done yet. I busted out the topo and started looking at return route alternatives that wouldn't be THAT long (considering we got a late start and it was hot). Since we were already in second water canyon, I thought it may be a decent idea to head up to black mesa via the creekbed. I tried to think back to what I had read about second water canyon in Hikers Guide to the Supes, and phrases such as "boulder choked" and "brutal bushwhack" kept coming to mind, but since they wrote those exact words about several Superstition canyons, I figured anything my memory could conjure up would likely be completely inaccurate. So we did it. There were a couple messy spots in the lower sections, since Ken and I were both wearing shorts, but nothing that bad. In the middle section of the canyon, where the most elevation gain occurs, we had a blast. It's all boulders and it was fun to hop up from boulder to boulder, as we gained elevation very quickly. BUT, as the canyon started to level out towards the top of the mesa, it started to SUCK. Not for shorts. Eventually, creekbed travel becomes completely impossible. Every once in a while there are game trails on creek right, but they last only a couple yards before running into a bunch of catclaw. So really, you're just paralleling the creek, dodging catclaw and whatever other prickly crap is out there. In shorts. Throw in the fact that jumping cholla becomes abundant closer to the top of the mesa and I was really regretting it. Anyway, we eventually turned right to go around the peak where second water canyon originates (I forgot the elevation of it), topped out on the ridge, and then went down through the dense forest of cholla to reach the black mesa trail. I was HAPPY to hit the trail! From second water spring to the Black Mesa trail was 1.99 miles and two hours. Much of the lower section of the canyon we were clipping along at about 2 miles an hour (my normal hiking speed is closer to three and a half, but not boulder hopping a creekbed), so one can imagine how slow travel was in the upper reaches of the canyon. We then scampered down the black mesa trail, connected with second water and back to the trailhead. A "lasso loop."
So... If you want to hike second water canyon... Wear pants. And probably do the loop the opposite direction we did. It's probably easier going down then up (naturally).
Unless I somehow missed a description for this canyon in this site (I swear I looked), I'll probably write it up at some point in the near future. |
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"Arizona is the land of contrast... You can go from Minnesota to California in a matter of minutes, then have Mexican food that night." -Jack Dykinga
http://www.joelhazelton.com |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
as you're working through irregularly shaped Basaltic rock, patches of Prickly Pear, Chained & Staghorn Cholla and Catclaw reaching out to snag ya. The dry flowage was thick with brush so I stayed high to avoid getting cut-up but that resulted in a lot of zig-zagging as I worked my way down the slope.
I threw a few rocks in the direction of the noise but that wasn't working so I retraced my tracks and beat feet about a hundred feet farther down the wash. Once past the Pig, I noticed some steel pipe in the wash so there had to be a spring above and a tank below. I wasn't going to go back up, so I continued on down until shortly, I came upon a concrete tank that was in bad shape.
There's supposed to be a mine shaft a short distance up the hill, but the brush was too thick to go exploring for it so instead I sat down and had a much needed break.
I still don't care much for this portion of the Second Water Trail heading up to Garden Valley but there aren't too many options.
