Wandering About With No Supervision

Wednesday (2/13) was another new “canyon” hike for the club, and like last Friday, a long one.  Tony did the “Lewis and Clark” work on this route, and it is a good one.  The destination for the day is Martinez Canyon, the location of an abandoned silver mining operation.

This 13 mile round trip starts in the familiar environment of Box Canyon, a pretty (and easy) couple of miles shared with Jeeps and quads from time-to-time.  Because of the deep shadows this is a challenging venue for photographs, but always a very visual experience.

Leaving Box Canyon the route breaks out into an open area of broken bluffs and canyons.  We continue to use an old mining road (now a popular Jeep trail), so the walking is easy even though Dana’s GPS reports over 1,200 feet of accumulated elevation gain for the day.  Not worrying about your footing is a blessing which allows you to pay more attention to the scenery.

Can you spot the hole through the mountain above?

Scenes like this derelict abandoned corral (below) in a small canyon always trigger my imagination about the people who once made their life in these remote places.

As we approach Martinez Canyon the scenery becomes much more eye-catching, and the rock coloration transitions toward “red rock”, much like  the kind which you see in the Sedona area.

The interior of Martinez Canyon has a very riparian flavor.  Huge old cottonwood trees dominate the narrow canyon floor, hemmed in by steep rock walls.

Here we find Debbie, Judy, and Katie posing at the entrance of one of the old mineshafts in the wall of the canyon.

We took our lunch break at this old homesite, deep in the canyon.  What stories I imagine this old house could tell.

Only 10 of us took this hike.  Hopefully my description will “recruit” many more of you to make the trip next time around.  I’ll be there, because Tony, Peter, and Katie tell us of more sights “just around the next bend”.

The return route was over the same ground except that rather than come back down the length of Box Canyon, we took an earlier slot canyon route, about 2 miles in length, which is too narrow for ATV’s.  (This is the second half of the “Box Canyon Loop” route which others in the club hiked in place of the Martinez Canyon loop.)

This segment has an isolated character, and a few minor boulder choke points which showcase the athletic agility of some of our hikers.

A small commercial here.  I will not be hiking next Wednesday (Feb 20) because I will be displaying some of my photos in handmade frames at the Canyon Vistas crafters show, trying my hand at the “starving artist trade”.  Drop by after the hike.

Nine and a half miles.

One thousand, five hundred and forty one feet of accumulated elevation gain.

Hundreds of great photo opportunities, and a real sense of accomplishment.

Today (Friday, 1/18/2013) the hike was the “Bluff Springs Loop” in the Superstitions.  Yes as you see in the introduction above, it’s a little bit of an “ambitious” hike, but today was a perfect hiking day, temps in the 50’s  at the morning trailhead and low 70’s later in the day.

Like all loops, you can do this one either clockwise or counter-clockwise.  For us “mature” codgers, this one works best counter-clockwise.  We left the Peralta trailhead on trail 104 (Dutchman).

The first half mile or so is a little leg stretcher, as you climb over a small ridge maybe 300 feet tall, then descend into Barkley Basin. This a wide pleasant valley,extending for about 2.5 miles of mostly level hiking on the valley floor.

Your eye is constantly drawn to the front face of the Superstitions to your left, where the dominant formation is a volcanic plug called Miners Needle.

This formation (seen here in long lens shot) reminded me of some European castle, high on the ridgeline.

Straight ahead, some formations of the eastern Superstition range invite you to stay in the valley and explore further eastward.

But those beckoning mountains are not on the agenda today.  Soon you find yourself below Miners Needle (notice the “eye”), and it’s time to abandon the easy travel in the basin and head into the interior of the Supes.

At the base of this formation is a junction with Coffee Flat trail continuing eastward, and Dutchmans trail turns north out of the basin.

The next mile and a half sees you steadily climbing as you work your way around the “backside” of Miners needle.  Not a tough ascent, but relentlessly steady.  Stopping from time-to-time to rest, the views are worth the wear-and-tear on your legs.

Here is a view of our backtrail looking southeastward.  The distant hazy formation at photo center is PicketPost Mountain, thirty-some miles away.

As you gain altitude, the “backside” of Miners Needle is revealed, and from here the “eye” doesn’t seem so high above you.

At the crest of this climb at Miners Summit, a junction sign to another trail tempted some of the guys to take a side trip to fill their canteens, but we talked them into staying on route.

From this summit, the trial again dropped slightly into a broad valley with easy hiking on an easy trail, a nice change from the rocky climb behind.

At his elevation the dominant plant is no longer the saguaro, but upland vegetation like mountain holly and pinion trees.

At the head of this valley Dutchmans trail veers to the north, heading for the First Water trailhead, and we take a left hand turn on Bluff Springs trail, heading southward back toward the Peralta trailhead.

For about a half mile this trail slowly works it’s way up a rocky watercourse, giving some nice views of Weavers Needle to the west.

Continuing to climb,  the trail gets near the ridgeline giving long-horizon views again to eastward (center in the photo below is a reverse view of that “castle” seen earlier below from Barkley Basin), and views of the rugged country to the westward in “hoodoo” country.

Eventually Bluff Spring trail again overlooks Barkley Basin, and after about a half mile negotiating our way down Cardiac Hill we are back at the parking lot.  If you didn’t do this route with us today, put it on your list for the next run.

On the road out Nancy spotted this scene, the remaining ribs of an old saguaro.

This isn’t really a hiking photo, but it turned out so well that I just wanted to share.  The shot was taken on an ATV ride with my daughter Gretchen and her family.  (Click the photo for a larger view)

Before you ask, I have no idea who was Butcher Jones.  If you find out let me know.

This is an easy trail, meandering along the north shore of Saguaro Lake for two and a half miles to a rocky overlook, then return by the same route.  Highest elevation above the trailhead is perhaps 300 feet, but the trail is a bit “roller coastery” so accumulated elevation gain might be around 800 feet (just my estimate).  This is a well established route, so no route finding skills are required.

Today was a cool day, ideal for this sun-exposed route.  Really not a lot more to say, so enjoy the views below.

Friday was cool — 52 degrees at the trailhead near Kelvin, AZ.  (OK, OK, so it’s a silly play on words.)

George introduced us to a new segment of the Arizona Trail, the Gila Canyons passage, which starts at a newly constructed trailhead just outside the town of Kelvin.  This segment of the Arizona Trail (which stretches some 700 miles from Mexico to Utah) heads westward and then north for some 25 miles to the PicketPost trailhead near Superior.

No, we didn’t hike the entire 25 miles, but treated it as an “out and back” of some 6 or 7 miles round trip.

The portion of the route which we hiked starts near the river level (Gila River) and meanders about 2.5 miles up a ridge line along the river course until it peaks out perhaps 700 feet above the river, then drops back down to river level in an open wide valley.

This trail segment is recently built, and is in excellent shape, perhaps the best we’ve ever encountered.  The layout takes best advantage of the terrain and the surface is near-sidewalk smooth, allowing you to enjoy the scenery rather than constantly checking your footing.  Thanks, Arizona Trail Association!

/Excuse me while I insert a plug here/

The Arizona Trail Association is a non-profit group of volunteers who work to construct and maintain the Arizona Trail network.  You can read about them at http://www.aztrail.org.  If you hike in Arizona, you have benefited from their work.  Consider becoming a member and/or volunteer to help them in trail construction/maintenance projects.

/End of plug/

The visual attraction of this hike is the Gila river, flanked by the color of cottonwood and aspen all along it’s length.

A railroad, serving the nearby Ray copper mine, follows the river.  Santa brought me a new Canon 60D DSLR camera, along with an additional 300mm long lens, so I used this railroad trestle to experiment with my new toy.  The following sequence of three shots were all taken standing on the same spot along the trail.

Thank you, Santa!  Hopefully I can take advantage of the capabilities of this instrument.

I have no idea why someone put a red and white ribbon atop this juvenile saguaro?

Another curiosity that I noticed along the trail…. usually saguaro cactus stand a polite distance from their neighbors, in order that their root web can absorb as much scarce moisture as possible without competition from another saguaro.  In contrast to that common situation, these four mature saguaro clustered together seem to be seeking protection from some enemy.  Their trunks literally touch at the base.

It was a nice hike on a cool day, George.  Thanks for leading us here.

As a final note, this part of Arizona is copper country, and the nearby Ray Mine is huge.  If you haven’t been there, stop at the visitor viewpoint after your hike.  The entrance is just a few miles north of Kelvin on route 177 on your way home.

Happy New Year to all.

January 2, 2013.  Todays hike was the old standard “Apache Tears” hike.  Actually not so much a hike, but more of a walk up an abandoned mining road to a defunct perlite mine near the town of Superior.  This is a popular destination for rock hounds, as the mining debris is a good source of obsidian stones, also called “Apache Tears”.  

The hike into the mine area, about a mile and a half, is an easy sojourn, with views of the “backside” of PicketPost Mountain to the west, and overlook of the town of Superior to the east.

The abandoned perlite mine consists of a few shallow caverns blasted out of a cliff face.  The exposed cliff face and the surrounding debris areas contain the Apache Tears.

A handful of us, not so interested in picking rocks, got bored and elected to “push on beyond Apache Tears” and follow a narrower trail which invited us to a possible route westward toward PicketPost.

Following this trail for about another mile, took us down into a gem of a canyon, lush with cottonwood and aspen trees which are watered by Arnett Creek at the bottom of the canyon.

Since this was “extra-curricular” activity away from the organized hike, we turned back without descending fully into the canyon, but the canyon looks too pretty to be ignored.  Let’s schedule another hike with the intent to penetrate further into this inviting place.

Wednesday (Dec 12th) we hiked one of our “old standards”, the Boulder Canyon Trail to the point just before it descends into LaBarge Canyon.  This is a well established trail, requiring no “route finding” skills and the footing is decent throughout from frequent usage.

Total “in and out” mileage is about five and a half miles which is about average for our routes, but the accumulated elevation gain is about 1,760 feet, so I’ll have to categorize it as a “leg stretcher”.

The trailhead for this hike is the marina parking lot on Canyon Lake.  Park your vehicle at the fence on the south end of the lot.  Head out to the south, crossing the Apache Trail and you immediately find yourself steadily working your way up to what seems like an easy summit a few hundred yards ahead.  Welcome to the world of “false crests” — in fact, this first upward leg of the trail is about a mile long and you gain about 900 feet of elevation to the highest point on the route.

Looking backwards you’ll have great views of Canyon Lake and the marina complex.

Somebody spend a lot of time (and energy) constructing this cairn to mark the summit!

Like any summit, this is a “long horizon” opportunity, giving spectacular views into the interior of the Superstition range and also the Mazatalzan and Mogollon Rim wilderness areas to the north.

From here the trail meanders in gentle roller-coaster fashion for another mile and a half until you reach a spectacular high viewpoint with breath-taking views into the central basin of the Superstitions.  The view below is unfortunately a poor photograph because we are south-facing, and the low winter sun overwhelms my poor little camera.  I have to include the picture though, just to provide you a hint of the scene.  Far below, left of center, is the bed of Boulder Creek, dry when this photo was taken, be probably now with a stream from the rain of the past couple of days.  The large formation at photo center is Battleship Mountain, and far away, peeking over the right corner of Battleship is the ever-present signature of the Supes, Weavers Needle.

After a pause for lunch and rest, the hike just retraces the same steps northward, back to the trailhead.

Friday (Pearl Harbor Day) the club hiked what we’ve called the “Apache Lake Overlook” route. The hike actually takes you to the top of Black Cross Butte high above the Horse Mesa dam complex on the Salt River. Apache Lake isn’t visible, or maybe I overlooked it (pun intended). A small patch of Canyon Lake is visible a few miles westward from the mesa edge.  (Bottom center of the photo below)

But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

This hike starts from an ad hoc trailhead at the security gate at the top of the road down to Horse Mesa dam.   On the north side of the road, a faint trail starts you on a northwesterly leg along the base of some rugged buttes.  Total distance (in and out on the same route) is just over 3.5 miles.  Total ascent is on the order of 1,100 feet. This is not an “official” trail, sees no maintenance; footing can be kind of gnarly in spots, and there is a fair amount of exposure steep (not sheer) dropoffs.  Wear strong shoes, carry a staff, and mind your footing (especially on the downhill return).  But go.  It’s a great hike.

As you head out, the scenery becomes quickly rugged and beautiful.  You’re already at pretty decent elevation, so the views are “horizon to horizon”.   The peaks of the western Superstitions lie to the south and west.  In the scene below, Flatiron is seen at the horizon, perhaps 15-18 miles away.

The trail works it’s way steadily up the butte faces, and your sight lines shift in a more westerly direction over the canyonlands of the Salt river, and eventually northerly towards  Four Peaks in the Mazatzal wilderness.

The scene below was shot from the top of the mesa.  Four Peaks is at the center horizon, the mid-distance cliffs are north of the Salt River, and off my left elbow you can see the settlement where the staff of the Horse Mesa dam lives.  Those homes are more than 2,000 feet lower in elevation, and a couple of miles away.  As you can see by my perspiration-soaked cap, this was a strenuous climb on a coolish day (temp mid 60’s at this elevation of about 3,200 feet).

Occasionally in the back country you find reminders of the dangers of this canyon wilderness environment.  In the photo below, note the small white cross just to the left of the rock spire.  Someone perished here, and is memorialized by this obscure wilderness monument.

Just beyond the spire is a shear drop of hundreds of feet.  Did someone venture too close to the edge?  Or foolishly try to climb the tall rock finger?  The cross is silent.

Nearby, less than 20 feet from where I stood to take this photo, is evidence that even nature took the time to note the passing of the adventurer who died here.  This small staghorn cholla cactus, perhaps a foot tall, overlooks the same scene.  The plant is so perfect it looks “made up”, but I examined it, and it is natural growth.  Never saw one like this ever before.

RIP, traveler.

Yesterday (Wednesday, Nov 28) was my first Arizona hike of this season.  Great to be back “on the trail”!  We hiked the White Canyon south of Superior, a route we first hiked last year.  Then I called it the Walnut Canyon hike, but I’ve since learned the real name.

This is a pretty easy hike (nice, when you don’t have your “trail legs” in condition yet).  Because we don’t all drive high-clearance Jeeps, we parked about 3/4-miles short of the trailhead, and walked in on the road through an open valley environment.  This gives some nice views of eye-popping layer-cake mesas which frame the valley.

At the trailhead you enter the canyon via the streambed, and the hike sticks close to the canyon bottom for as far as you want to venture “up canyon”.

While it would be difficult to get lost (just head back “down canyon”) the trail is somewhat fragmented and often overgrown by disuse, so pause often to take your bearings.  This is not a bad thing, because the canyon is a continuous showplace of sculptured and tumbled rock.

This is “young” country, craggy and sharp-edged.  Nature isn’t done here, and reminders of change are evident all around.  Many slope side boulders seem balanced “just so”, and you wonder if you should make any loud noises along the way.  This recently split boulder causes you pause to wonder about the forces at quietly at work out here.

All-in-all, a nice hike to start the season among old and new friends.