| |
| East / West Divide south loop, AZ | |
|
| | East / West Divide south loop, AZ | | | |
|
|
East / West Divide south loop, AZ
| | |
|
| Backpack | 52.20 Miles |
11,700 AEG |
| | Backpack | 52.20 Miles | 3 Days 6 Hrs 4 Mns | | |
| 11,700 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | I've been eyeballing doing a loop through the southern half of the Galiuros for awhile, and the water situation seemed very promising, so I gave it a go. Plan was three nights, starting at Ash Creek, and making a clockwise loop over Bassett, down to Jackson Cabin, then up West Divide, and back via Rattlesnake and East Divide.
Friday
Got to Ash Creek TH at around 9:30am, with temps already in the 70s. Nothing notable, other than the fact that it was impossible to stay dry at the first few crossings. Ash had surface flow about half the way up. We decided to tag the summit since my friend hadn't been up there. Made it to the top of Bassett in about 3 hours.
I was really worried about the stretch of trail down from Bassett, given the FS doesn't have it on their maps, but it actually turned out to be a breeze most of the way down. Someone put a lot of work into building that thing, and the grade is intact in all but a couple of spots. The going didn't really get rough until we were all the way down into the canyon, where the vegetation got pretty thick. Eventually we decided to stop looking for the trail and just go down the wash, and that made things much easier.
Got to a stretch with light flow about a third of a mile before Jackson Cabin, and decided to camp there since I didn't know whether there would be water near the cabin (there was). Warm enough down there to leave the rain fly off.
Saturday
Got up at 6am, left camp by around 8am IIRC. We decided to poke around the cabin for a minute, and seeing water in the cabin and downstream in Jackson Canyon, decided we should've camped there. Stretches of trail in Jackson Canyon were apparent, but it was usually easier to stay in the creek.
When we got to Redfield, it was apparent water would not be an issue for awhile. There was surface flow for all but 100 feet. The walking was easy up to Hooker Cabin; it somewhat reminded me of hiking in Aravaipa Canyon. Took a short break at the cabin. The rest of the canyon got more difficult to move through, but it also got prettier. The upper part of Redfield was the highlight of the trip for me.
At around 1:30pm or so, after a bit of poking around, we found the trail back up to West Divide. A little brush, but not by any stretch the worst. Cedar Flat was really pleasant; the terrain there was grassland and large Junipers. Occasional water in the drainage. The trail was well defined most of the way down to Gold Gulch, where there was intermittent flow and a couple of nice campsites. By now it was after 3:30, so I proposed we camp there, but that would probably put a day hike to Powers Garden out of reach. My friend seemed to want to continue, and proposed we decided by coin flip.
So with less than 3 hours of daylight left, we continued onto what I expected to be the worst stretch of trail all trip. Probably 2/3 of the way up the divide there was no trail to be seen, and half of where there was trail, it was through very thick vegetation. It took us two hours to reach the divide, and I was really worried we'd be bushwhacking in the dark. Fortunately the trail down the north side was well-defined and somewhat clear, so we made it down to Kielberg Tank in short order. Found a corral, with water below the tank, and decided after 10.5 hours or so of hiking, it would suffice.
Sunday
Woke up in the morning feeling good knowing the Kielberg Divide was out of the way. Started hiking around 9am, took a short break at Powers Cabin, then down to Rattlesnake. We dropped packs here and hiked down to Powers Garden and back, and this was the most pleasant hiking of the trip. Warmer than I expected through Rattlesnake, but there was surface flow most of the way. Took about 3 hours to get there and back.
Rattlesnake trail was a lot rougher than I expected, with a lot of brushy stretches. Took a couple of hours to get up to the Holdout Spring area, where we set up camp (we used the flat area along Rattlesnake just east of the spring spur). Walked up to the spring to check it out, but I actually liked the water in the creek better.
Monday
Got up a little earlier so as to get home at a reasonable hour, and started hiking by 7am. The rest of Rattlesnake Trail was in pretty solid condition, other than one bad washout where I thought for sure I was going down (based on the satellite, it looks like there's a way to avoid the washed out area). The climb up to East Divide felt long, but not too bad overall. Got up there by 8:40am.
The first mile and a half of East Divide was outstanding. Trail was clear, and the upper part of Paddys River was pretty. After High Creek we hit our first stretch of thicket, but it was clear sailing for another mile or so after that. About half way through, we passed through one really bad thicket that had me nearly at my breaking point, so we took a little rest. The rest of the way wasn't as bad, with some clear stretches, some climbs, and some brush, but route finding wasn't really an issue at all. Took 5 hours to get from the Rattlesnake junction to Ash Creek trail.
Having closed the loop, we were feeling pretty good, and made good time down to the creek. The last mile or two really dragged, and I think I was running entirely on fat metabolism at that point, which made Ash Creek seem longer than it ever had before.
Overall
This was a phenomenal trip, and an amazing loop, but one that involves a lot of suffering. Highly recommended, but I'll never do it again. |
  |
Cedar Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| | | Drainage has intermittent light flow the whole way up to the spring. |
|
Echols Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| | | Not at the spring, but there's light intermittent flow in Gold Gulch along West Divide trail. |
|
Holdout Spring |
Gallon + per minute |
Gallon + per minute |
| | | Box is full but just a seep, plenty of water flowing into the pool 20 feet upstream. |
|
Jackson Canyon |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | Intermittent flow from the uppermost spring down to Redfield. |
|
Kielberg Tank |
76-100% full |
76-100% full |
| | | Tank overflowing the dam, intermittent flow in the creek below. |
|
Knothe Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Nothing in the box. There's a little water in the drainage below the spring. |
|
Lower Ash Spring |
Gallon + per minute |
Gallon + per minute |
| | | Lots of water from here all the way down past the FS boundary. |
|
Negro Canyon |
Medium flow |
Medium flow |
| | | Looks like it had as much water coming from it as Redfield. |
|
Powers Garden Spring |
Gallon + per minute |
Gallon + per minute |
| | | Tons of water, surface flow in most of Rattlesnake. |
|
Upper Ash Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| | | Nothing in the box, light flow in the creekbed above and below the trail. | | _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
