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| In search of Marion Spring, AZ | |
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| | In search of Marion Spring, AZ | | | |
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In search of Marion Spring, AZ
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| Backpack | 0.29 Miles |
28 AEG |
| | Backpack | 0.29 Miles | 51 Mns | | 0.58 mph |
| 28 ft AEG | | 32 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Ever since my first ever backpack trip (Little Saddle Mountain Trail #244) in February 2023, where I camped out at the junction of Sheep Creek Trail, in snow! (I'll say it for you. "What an idiot!"), I’ve been obsessed with Marion Spring. (As a possible water source along LSM.)
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Spoiler Alert: I didn’t find the Spring proper. But there was water in the ravine. But even tho only 0.3 miles away from LSM, it’s too hard to go to/navigate to for water.
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It rained a little last week and the MapDEX Recent Rain feature showed a quarter inch in the Sunflower area. So I figured it might be a good time to try to find Marion Spring. (And, too, there was a 3 week old Water Report here on HAZ saying water in one of the locations.)
I planned ahead for Marion Spring and downloaded Joe’s route (from Feb, 2024) into RS. And I thought I was being clever by importing the GPS coordinates of his @hikerdw ’s photos of Marion Spring proper (the latter from Feb 2020) into my offline sat map app. (Curiously, two different locations.) And I plotted routes on my sat map app that looked like paths to the Spring proper.
But perhaps my sat is too old or perhaps what appears to be clear paths on sat don’t show scrub. Whatever, it seemed impossible to go to Marion Spring proper. (Unless one walked upstream from where I crossed. But even that looked like a bushwhack.) But I’m getting ahead of myself.
My plan was to hike 3/4 of the way nobo along LSM to where I’ve camped twice before. From there a trail was evident that went west. I later found that it’s called South Fork of Sheep Creek loop, a mostly unmaintained trail with no cairns that I saw. (I ventured to Chalk Spring.)
Sure enough, there was water everywhere along LSM, including unmarked water sources. And water in the ravine where Marion Spring is located. (In fact, I saw water during the drive northbound on the Beeline at the first Sycamore creek overpass. (Although the 2nd Sycamore overpass was dry.)) Hint: If you see water in the stream east of Sycamore Creek Road/The Old Beeline Hwy/FR 627 to the Cross F trailhead, there’s a good chance that there will be water in the named water areas along LSM.
Still, I didn’t trust my “instincts.” (Since I have no backpacking instincts.) I carried 3 liters, just in case. (I only added a liter at the ravine to bring me back up to 3 in preparation for my overnight.)
The Cross F TH was empty when I arrived and empty when I returned. Temp at 8 am was 35 F. But it warmed up quickly as the sun continued to rise.(Although frost on the trail? See photo.) I started the connector (0.75 miles) at 8:30 am. I noticed horse hoof prints ... which I’ll mention at the end of this Report.
The LSM Trail remains in excellent shape. I only made one wrong turn on my return at one of the few cairns. (Thinking that I was supposed to veer at the cairn.) Even so, I set a new personal best speed (1.7 mph) on my return. (Admittedly downhill and admittedly 5 lbs less in my pack.) RS shows the mileage as 3.4 miles. So 1.8 mph? (I’ll be happy if I can ever reach 2 mph.)
I met only one person during the entire trip, a southbound thru-hiker on Saturday. He said he met a trio going nobo to Mt. Peeley. (A yo-yo? HAZ’ers?) But I never saw them.
Although I saw a lot of animal tracks (most which I still cannot identify), I saw no scat. (Except for cow and horse poop.) I saw no animals anywhere except for (wild?) horses at the end of my hike - on the connector near the TH - and one cow in my way on the connector.
I arrived at my old campsite earlier than planned, at 11:00 am. Ate lunch, then on to Marion Spring at 11:30.
As usual, I made a false start. I thought that there was a trail from my camp spot and I started down it. But it seemed too steep and I checked RS.
I’m learning to trust RS and my GPS more (amazing that they can resolve to 10 feet) and am leaning to not trust myself, checking RS any time that I think I’ve made a mistake. (I need a Heads Up Display!) I saw that I made two mistakes. There are two campsites, about 50 feet apart. So I might be confused as to where I had camped on my two previous overnights along LSM.
Anyway, I backtracked on my false start, moved 50 feet north to a second campsite, and started down the real trail. (South Fork of Sheep Creek Trail.)
This trail is an enigma. It’s not maintained proper. But there was evidence that someone had cut tree branches at some time. And perhaps that someone had installed a few steps.
There’s a fairly good tread for 85% of the trail, although I didn’t see any animal prints or scat to indicate that animals currently use the path. (Perhaps some cow poop every now and then.) I eventually explored to almost Chalk Spring. (Which was a more obvious trail.) No cairns anywhere that I saw. And although this initial part of the trail was fairly clear, it seemed unused because I had to trim away a lot of catclaw on the last half to the ravine where Marion Spring is located. I’m surprised that the tread was as good as it was in parts because of the parts that were blocked.
While much of the trail was obvious, and the obvious was way was down to a well defined ravine, the closer I moved toward the ravine, the more confused I became. (There were a lot of false paths.) I would still be out there, both going and coming, if it weren’t for Joe’s Route and RS. (What if I drop and break my phone?)
It’s only 0.3 miles to the ravine. But it took me 45 minutes. That was slowed due to clipping brush and going off course a few times. It took about 30 minutes on my return with no cutting, but becoming lost twice. So you all could probably do it in 15-20 minutes. Still, I don't think it's an easy way to obtain water. Especially if you don't know for sure that there's water there.
Even with my right ear that can’t hear crickets, I could hear the trickle of water as I moved closer a ravine. Not a large stream - maybe two to three foot across. But good flow. And very clear. (No green tint unlike similar water in the Superstitions.)
I had made such good time that I thought that I would try to find the Spring proper. And I could see a stand of trees changing colors, to the NW about 400 feet away, probably marking the Spring. My map said that the photo locations were “only” 450 feet away.
I don’t know how Joe and Hikerdw did it. But I didn’t see any clear way to the Spring. So forget that. I didn’t even try.
From the ravine, it was an obvious path straight up and out. I had seen where I wanted to camp from the other side. And I had seen a photo that Joe posted of a similar “campsite.”
There are these strange green circular oases of thick, tall grass. (I saw two.) I don’t understand where the water comes from, because the trees there don’t look like they have water.
Someone (or some beast of burden?) had carried the bottom third of a (heavy) steel barrel there. (It had been cut with a torch.) I don’t know its purpose. And there was something that could have been a salt lick (a small cube with its top eroded away) although it was reddish-brown. (Should have taken a photo.)
I arrived at “camp” earlier than planned again, at 1:35 pm.
Cow-poop city in the oasis, although nothing fresh and no cattle Saturday or Sunday. A half dead/alive tree to hang my equipment and food on. The tall, thick grass made a lovely mattress for my tent.
I set up camp and, with nothing to do after that, I decided to explore further west.
I set out at 2:30 pm toward Chalk Spring.
Again, another enigma. Not a maintained trail in that no cairns, signs. But the trail crossed a barbed wire fence where the wires had been lowered. And there was a “gate” with no gate that the trail passed through. So apparently someone uses this trail for something.
The trail was fairly easy to follow. I didn’t have to cut any brush. (I left my clippers at camp anyway.)
I made it as a far as maybe 500 feet from Chalk Spring, which had a Marion Spring look to it. Another ravine with lots of brush. I figured that I would become lost trying to navigate it. So, without clippers and becoming late in the afternoon, I didn’t try. Turned around and went back to camp. About 4:30 pm. Ate an apple.
It was super quiet there. Very few birds during the day. No animal noises at all at night except perhaps some crickets chirping for a while.
It started out cold that night - 38 F at 8 pm. But, surprisingly, it warmed up over night (45 F), despite the clear sky, as a west wind started to blow.
The wind was still blowing in the morning, until about 10 am. Which makes packing up harder. I finally left camp at 11:10 am.
The water in the ravine at Marion Spring was still there, although perhaps a little less strong.
I climbed up and out of the ravine, taking a few wrong turns, per my usual. I spent about a half hour total being lost. But back on LSM at 12:15 pm.
It’s mostly downhill from there and I was back at the TH at 2:20 pm.
There’s one small gate that you pass through along the connector and as I was locking the chain back up, with my back toward the TH, I heard what sounded like ATV’s with no mufflers racing behind me.
I turned to look and caught the glimpse of the back side of a few horses running northbound.
I don’t know if they were being ridden or if they were wild. If the latter, I don’t know if I spooked them.
Hard to believe that I spooked them because a hundred feet later, there was a cow blocking the trail.
Unlike other cattle I’ve seen on trails, this one wasn’t bothered my presence. It just stared at me. I asked it to move. But it waited a few minutes before I moved on across a creek to the south. (I stayed about 25 feet away. I don’t know if they’ll charge you. (No horns on this one.))
Should I tell you that I failed to bring a back up lighter to light my alcohol stove? And I also failed to bring matches this time? That you can use a plastic film Fresnel lens to light a dead twig? Naw. (Cold breakfast for dinner and hot cheesy chicken with broccoli for breakfast.) I need to make some char cloth. |
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Marion Spring |
Gallon per minute |
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| | | There is no way that I could bushwhack to the Spring. But the stream I crossed 450 feet downstream was flowing well. Super clean water too. | | _____________________
| Be careful. It's not quite "a jungle out there." But history shows that it can be dangerous out there. |
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