Trap Canyon, AZ :: Single Day?

[RowdyandMe]

Can this be done on a single February day?

[SuperstitionGuy]

@Widowmaker Yes but you would have to be traveling so fast that you would never enjoy it. To fully see and enjoy Trap Canyon you should base camp at one end or the other and then spend a day searching it.

[RowdyandMe]

@SuperstitionGuy I only have one day. I done everything around there so I'll hustle and take my time in the canyon and hurry out when I am done.

[RowdyandMe]

@SuperstitionGuy I plan on entering Trap Canyon from Hoolie Bacon which should make it all down hill to Red Tanks Trail.

[Dave1]

I only have one day. I've done everything around there so I'll hustle and take my time in the canyon and hurry out when I am done.

That'll work. It's a really fun canyon and definitely worth the effort.

[SuperstitionGuy]

@Widowmaker
The trap is best found when hiking upstream. If you enter from the east end turn around after the big boulders, keep to the right and look for the cave like entrance that will take you up to the crossing of the trap. Keep in mind that the trap entrance is high and just before the exit of the boulders above you. Good luck...

[big_load]

I still wonder if it would be fast to enter over that high saddle on the south rim instead of the normal entrance. It's a lot more vertical work, but it would be fun to try.

[big_load]

@Widowmaker
The trap is best found when hiking upstream.

It's full of raggedy-clothed, long-bearded hikers sent by SuperstitionGuy. Who knows, maybe you'll find me stuck in there.

[FOTG]

@big_load
I have gone in that way myself..some contemporary mining stuff along the way..I found it more dog friendly than the section near sheep wash..but have done both ways with dogs and lots of water..

[FOTG]

@Widowmaker
I would go in from Hoolie Bacon, you can do easily in one day, a very primitive cave dwelling near that end not much but you won't be a le to miss the several grinding holes outside of it..did Trap pretty much in full with dogs in fall and really didnt take long, you will be able to probably fly right down canyon..will be a tight spot that will require wading this time I year or going high on ledge you will figure out..good luck

[SuperstitionGuy]

@Widowmaker
Don't go through the canyon. Instead find the trap which is at the east end and give us the approximate GPS coordinates for it. Keep in mind that you will not have access to the satellites when your at the trap. Your still under the boulders although quite high from the stream bed.

If your very good at reading trail sign when approaching the boulders from the downstream side you should be able if your really paying attention to enter the cave like structure, climb up to the tunnel/pass that takes you over the trap. After passing over the trap you will have a significant drop which is why nobody finds the trap searching for it by going downstream.

[FOTG]

@SuperstitionGuy
Out of curiosity, what do you consider the Trap? I wonder if I have also walked by, or noticed and just not registered it as the "trap"...any pictures?

[big_load]

@big_load
I have gone in that way myself..some contemporary mining stuff along the way..I found it more dog friendly than the section near sheep wash..but have done both ways with dogs and lots of water..

That's good to know. From both inside the canyon and from a little south on LaBarge Creek, it looked like a viable route. Based on that, I looked on the topo to fill in what I couldn't see from those vantage points, and it still looked feasible. I don't think it would be nearly as nasty as where Dave1 and I went to explore the cliff face, so maybe I'll try it next time.

[FOTG]

@big_load
do you know what area is being referred to as the "trap?"

[big_load]

@big_load
do you know what area is being referred to as the "trap?"

I don't think Dave and I made it quite that far up. As I recall, it is easier to identify when traveling downstream than it is going up. I think I was told that's because downstream exit is obvious from below, but not from above. Or that could be as much a figment of my imagination as the photo of the historic-era stone house in a cave.

[The_Eagle]

@friendofThundergod
We could swear that this is the TRAP, but S-Guy says no....
http://hikearizona.com/photo=137205

[Dave1]

Here's me a little further down in "not the trap": http://hikearizona.com/photo=171296

[SuperstitionGuy]

If and when you cross over the trap you will definitely know it!

[RowdyandMe]

@SuperstitionGuy
So there is know way to miss this? I want to do this hike more and more just from all the replies I have been getting. Makes me wonder if there is something everyone has missed and I need to find it.

[SuperstitionGuy]

Oh yes you can miss it! Countless people have. Hiking upstream and approaching the east end of the canyon you will encounter the very large boulders and almost all hikers at this point tend to go to the left and miss the tunnel / cave route that will take you up and slightly to the right that requires that you cross over the trap. You have to cross over a gap in the rocks about two and one half feet across. The trap or room below you is maybe 12 to 15 feet deep with no apparent entry or exit at the stream bed level. 'Take a strong flashlight with you to look down into the abyss if you want to examine what may be down there. If your going to rappel into the trap do so at your own risk and be sure to have someone with you in case you have trouble climbing out.

I discovered the trap on my first trip through the canyon and used this route many years guiding older Boy Scouts on five and six day backpack trips during the Christmas breaks. They loved the canyon and were very good at backpacking in rough and difficult terrain. We would also backpack Fishcreek Canyon as part of this trip from where the old cowboy trail enters it from the Tortilla Ranch site and then proceed to Angel Basin where we would spend the night. These boys were all 14 years of age or older, backpack experienced and had to be Life Scouts to qualify for this adventure. Our last night would be spent in the old Reavis ranch house and one year the temperature the next morning was eleven degrees outside. We would then proceed out the north trail, get picked up by the parents and go to Tortilla Flat where we occupied the rear part of the restaurant where we had dinner and a Boy Scout Court of Honor.