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| Canyoneering | 5.10 Miles |
175 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 5.10 Miles | | | |
| 175 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | We took the quads out hiking, which is what we call an activity compromise between Tony ("Walk?! Why? Are we out of gas?) and me. We rode the quads on the Jeep road and in the wash from the parking lot for Willow Springs to the trail head for this hike. Let me tell you, that was one tough ride! I lost count of how many times I got off my quad and let him drive it over something nasty for me. Flipping it over is not my thing. Doing wheelies and going airborne is his thing. Even on terrain that I thought I could handle, I still managed to nearly get thrown off it once. Had it not been for my white-knuckle grip on the handlebars, I would have gone flying. Even so, half of me went flying and I bruised my ankle pretty good. Fortunately, this was on the way back after the hike. Unfortunately, I had an audience of three hikers not 10 feet away to see me perform this stunt.  Yeah, I'm cool.
I was quite relieved when we finally reached the trail head and were forced to park the death machines. This is when my fun starts and his gets put on hold until the ride back.
The canyon is very scenic, getting better as you go. Not surprisingly, it reminded me a lot of Lower First Water... much of the same geology. It was dry nearly all the way, with just a few small, stagnating pools. Reaching the end, I was bummed because I couldn't see the water. The small inlet was wall to wall with 4 - 6 foot high cattails, so dense that you couldn't see the ground they were growing in. There was a boat in the water there and we could just see the top of it. The people in the boat couldn't see us, and I'm sure they thought they had found a private, little hideaway, so I think it freaked them out when they suddenly heard us talking.  I had to laugh, remembering every single time I ever tried to get away with anything. No matter how slick I thought I was, there was always somebody there to bust me... every single time.
Turning around, we headed back to our 'horses' for the spine-jarring ride to the parking lot.
I hadn't really expected to see anyone else out there, but we saw ten people along the way (not counting the sheriff who pulled into the parking lot right behind us to make sure we had OHV stickers on our plates). |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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I'm at home in the wilderness... it's civilization I have problems with! ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") |
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