Hike: Badger Spring

Badger Spring is a pleasant 1.5-2 mile hike down Badger Springs wash to the confluence with the Agua Fria River (usually only running in Spring or during flash floods). There on creek side left you'll find several panels of petroglyphs. My folks were visiting and really enjoyed this area. Birders are likely to dig it too. One thing: beware of skunks...my idiot dogs found out the hard way. For more info see this link: http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/recreation/hiking/badger-springs.html

Prior to the skunking

What winter is supposed to look like.....

This is from mid-December I think....this winter has been a weak one to say the least with our last decent snow that stuck around some 2 months+ ago. I might have to wait 'til next season to really break in my new snow shoes.

Thankgiving....Bacon Turkey

I just uploaded a bunch of photos from late 2011/early 2012 so I thought I'd retro blog a bit. Above is a shot of our bacon wrapped Thanksgiving turkey done by my roommate. I'm not sure what was better: the bacon infused turkey or the turkey infused bacon.

Happy Holidays from my Household to Yours!

Joe, Ian, Wicket (angry cat), Joe and Bo The Dog

Little LO Canyon

On July 14 my buddy Matt and I descended Little LO Canyon in the northeast corner of Sycamore Canyon Wilderness. It was the most technical canyon I've done to date in that it had a "keeper" pothole and a deadman's rappel. A "keeper" feature is essentially the equivalent of a bug jumping into a glass of water that's only partially full: yes, you got in the glass....but can you get out? To escape this particular keeper was relatively easy to do via a buddy boost (aka Indian boost). I boosted Matt out, swam back to the where we had rappelled in, rope climbed up to a ledge, pulled and stacked the rope, jumped back in the pool from said ledge, swam across, and was lifted out by Matt pulling on one end of the coiled rope while I clung to the other. It wasn't super difficult but the problem solving nature of escaping the pothole was a fun challenge in itself.

The Deadman is an anchor built off a non-fixed rock that weighs less than the rappeler. You then stack anything else you can find on this rock to try to ensure it won't move. This particular Deadman was already built and was placed above the lip of the rappel ledge, giving the rappeler some extra rope friction against the slot canyon as he/she descends. The anchor held well, not budging an inch. No, a Deadman anchor is not ideal but sometimes it's all you have.

Technical aspects aside, Little LO has an amazing set of narrows that seems to stretch for at least a mile. While it did take 90+ minutes of rock hopping down a creek bed and getting cut my locust bushes in order to reach the top of the narrows, it was well worth it. Enjoy the shots.

Matt at the top of the Narrows.

First wade

Looking down the 30ft chute that fed the keeper pothole

Matt goes first

Below the keeper was another pothole that was easily escaped

and then a butt slide/jump to this narrow pool.

Slot Shot

Rapping off the Deadman

Slot Shot # 2

Disclaimer: Canyoneering is epic but is inherently dangerous. Stupid people die stupid deaths. You are responsible for your actions, not anyone else. That includes the author of this blog.

Tonto Creek - June 28 - July 1

For anyone wanting to attempt this trip, I have to issue a disclaimer. This is a true wilderness experience for intermediate level or higher outdoor enthusiasts. As the sign at the trailhead attests, if you get hurt back here, you are probably on your own for at least several days, maybe period. There are long swims, some sketchy down climbing, and lots of tough, tough slogging. Go when temps are in the 90s or 100s so you don't risk hypothermia. Excellent footware is a must; I suggest the 5.10 Canyoneering shoe. You'll need a pack with grommets to drain water or you'll be breaking your back after every swim triples the weight of what you are carrying. Dry bags inside the pack will keep your gear safe and also add some buoyancy for the nearly constant swimming. Finally and most importantly, if there's a significant CHANCE of rain, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS TRIP. You will die in a flash flood and we'll all be reading about you thinking, "What a moron....didn't he see the disclaimer?". Don't be that guy.

Part of Tonto Creek lays in the Hell's Gate Wilderness Area near Payson, AZ. To descend it is to commit to an epic 2.5-4 day hike down what one author calls the "grand daddy of Mongollon Rim canyons". I couldn't agree more.

My roommate (also named Joe) and I successfully navigated this 22 mile trip over 3.5 days by hiking roughly seven miles overland to the confluence of Haigler and Tonto Creeks (the actual "Hell's Gate"). Though this was not an easy portion to open up with, it was a trail. The next 15 miles is more of route: you follow Tonto Creek as it meanders and cuts through red quartzite, pink granite, and numerous volcanic formations gorges, many of them flooded with crystal clear water. To do this, we would rock hop 'til we came to a pool, wade in 'til it got deep, swim to the other side, and repeat with the next section. Yes, it's slow going at about a mile/hour on average, but with the geology changing around every bend, 100 degree temps making the many pools down right inviting, and not another soul in sight for ALL of the trip, we certainly didn't object.

For your viewing pleasure ladies and gentlemen, I give you the mighty Tonto:

One of the first major pools

Near the first night's camp

Polished pink rock (granite?) that dominate a fair portion of the upper canyon

One of the first wades on Day # 2

Undulating shapes and crystal clear water.... perfection

Me cliff jumping into a deep pool just above camp on Day # 2

Other Joe's turn

Okay, so this shot is crap but the smooth gray rock of this section, though brief, was a place I could only have previously imagined. The canyon dropped into this narrow gorge forming small water falls and a natural arch......very cool.

Swimming again

Tidal wave wall

Saguaro x2 and blooming agave at small but wide bend in canyon

100 foot face across from Day # 3's camp

Other Joe navigating the beautiful but slippery pink granite section

More awesome shapes and colors

Me above one of two large waterfalls in the final section of Tonto

Same pool above the waterfall....you could swim right up to the top of the falls and look over

Waterfall from below (easily descended on creek left....the next fall which I didn't get a picture of was much more challenging to descend....some parties may want a rope though that be a pain to carry for 22 miles.....)

Babe's Hole Canyon

Babe's Hole Canyon is located in the northeast corner of the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Area. It's a great entry level technical canyon with gorgeous Coconino sandstone slots accented by crystal clear flowing water (at least when we did it). There's a total of four rappels from natural anchors if you start descending from the highest point possible. This was my first trip down Babe's and my roommate Ian's first technical canyoneering trip period. I think we'll both be back to do it again next spring. For more specific info on this canyon, I suggest picking up "Arizona Technical Canyoneering" by Todd Martin.

Some pics:

45 minutes of rock hopping down basalt with numerous springs a flowin' will bring you to the.....

....first rappel down into Babe's bowels!


Looking down into rappel # 2

Prepping for the 2nd rappel

The church has failed this soul.....
(side note: both hands should be on the rope at all times!)

Ian rockin' rappel # 4 (rap # 3 was short and unworthy of recording)

Babe's Narrows

One of many frogs we saw

Ok, so a canyoneer's worse nightmare is the rope getting stuck so that you can't pull it after rappelling. Obviously this could be disastrous if you have 4 raps and get it stuck on rap # 1, 2, or 3. We got the rope stuck on # 4 of 4 and almost had to cut the rope........ after some serious elbow grease we were able to free it. Victory shot followed.

View of Little LO Canyon from above on the burly hike out (Babe's connects to this canyon).