Yesterday we we hiked a loop in the Box Canyon area, east of Florence.  This is an old standard of our group, about 6 miles long.  The “trailhead” is at the west end of Box Canyon (lots of parking) reached by thirteen-and-a-half miles of bumpy/dusty Price Road, jointly sponsored by Monroe-Matic Shock Absorber Company, Inc., and AC Delco Air Filters.

There are three stages of this hike.

The first stage is an easy walk through Box Canyon.  The high cliff scenery and wide flat canyon bottom makes this segment popular with not only hikers, but also Jeeps and ATV’ers.  I recommend it to my 4-wheeled friends who aren’t able to hike.

Exiting the other end of Box Canyon puts you in stage two, on a jeep road which circles up over a ridge to the southeast.  Pause at the crest of this ridge to admire the views!

As you drop off the ridge to the valley below, leave the jeep road at the first arroyo to your right..  This is the third and prettiest stage of the trek.

At first you’re in a broad canyon with gorgeous craggy walls and “John Wayne” scenes like this.

Soon, however, the walls close in tightly, and for about a mile-and-a-half it’s pretty much a single-lane slot between the canyon walls.

In a few spots there are dry waterfalls a few feet high which require careful maneuvering.

We were told that we might see mountain goats in the area.  Does this “old goat” count?

The narrow canyon continues, eventually rejoining Box Canyon near our original starting point.

A closing note on the topic of “be careful out there”.  One of our company had a footing-malfunction on a rather benign section of the trail and fell, badly dislocating a finger.  He’ll be fine, but a reminder “safety first”.