This fourth trip to the G.E.T. started with one of the great canyon hikes of Arizona (not THAT canyon though). It required a peaceful, easy road hike. And it took a 30 mile backpack that used up all we had for three very hard days.
Day One:
The (online) Grand Enchantment Trail guidebook makes these points about Aravaipa Canyon:
- It’s widely considered to be Arizona's "Grand Canyon of the Sonoran Desert."
- Like its neighbor to the north, Aravaipa Canyon is a place born of water, uplift, and erosion - a great curving and carving of the land into a sheer-walled labyrinth of light and color, liquid and life.
- This grand canyon is small though - a fifth as high as the Grand Canyon, its main passage walkable in just a day or two.
- Aravaipa’s perennial creek, fed by subterranean waters from past Ice Ages, harbors more native species of fish than any low country stream in Arizona.
We’ve been waiting for this hike ever since we saw the canyon’s west entrance a year ago.
The only downer about today’s hike is who in not here with us. My longtime friend Dave Harden was to have joined but couldn’t at the last minute. Dave’s spent a lot more time in Arizona than I have; most of it climbing. I was really looking forward to his company down there and I know that Jon was pleased that he’d get to know him better.
But a bunch of things came up on the eve of departure and Dave couldn’t make it (among these were lots of very low snow at home combined with power outages - Dave opted to make sure his wife wouldn’t be stranded at home if he left).
We were down here, we had the permit and the weather wasn’t terrible. So on we went.
We stayed 12 miles from the canyon’s west side trailhead. We went to bed with a very nice weather forecast.
What we woke up to was a little different though:
Still, clearing was still in the forecast (instead of clear right now). So we just lingered a bit, delaying our departure:
The trailhead was still cloudy, but we were going no matter what (so, smiles all around; or, in my case, what passes for one):
Down to the Creek:
And then the crossings started, right away:
As will be seen below, Aravaipa Canyon is quite narrow and deep (not a slot canyon though). It has year-round water and is a relatively cool place. Plant life thrives there (so does animal life - we saw several huge piles of what could only be bear scat - but the animal life does not affect the hiking). Add in periodic flooding that sometimes uproots full size trees? There's no way to maintain a trail down there - one walks on use-trails or in the creek. When the use-trails end (every 50 to 500 feet or so), one crosses the creek:
Before we reached constant cliffs, the canyon walls had lower-angle sections. And so we saw a beautiful riparian corridor... with saguaros just beyond the trees:
Such gorgeous scenery:
More Creek Crossing (we thought we crossed around 60 times in 13 miles):
The cliffs started closing in:
Jon found a cool bypass to wading the creek:
Others didn't:
Huge side-canyons joined Aravaipa - but they had much less water (apparently without a year-round source):
The canyon features several nice camp sites (we'd considered doing it in two days but carrying large packs seemed just too much):
Jon couldn't skip the crossings every time:
Huge Towers loomed above:
Here's my favorite shot of the day. I call it "Taken By the Scale:"
More cliffs and more use-trails:
The way the cliffs and the water flows interacted was incredible:
More great places to camp made us realize that this might be a place to linger (with a different schedule - but we had more trail to hike beyond Aravaipa):
At just under 11 miles, the trailless canyon reaches a junction with Turkey Creek. Turkey Creek is quite similar to Aravaipa and also has a perennial water source. A road which ends here continues to the east end of the canyon - so cross-country-like hiking ends. The beauty doesn't end though:
The canyon opens up some to the east and the constant cliffs end. Plenty of rock though and some of it quite impressive:
Aravaipa's east side trailhead is only 13 miles from that on the west side. But the canyon cuts through tough mountains and there is no easy way from one side to the other. The drive around from west to east? Ahem... it takes three hours (!!). And of course, Vicki was there to pick us up (what in hell would my life have been like without this woman??):
This was a great hike, one of the greatest. What a day! Tomorrow would require only six miles of road hiking and so now we could consider a bit what we'd committed to in two days - 30 miles of hiking that sounded just ominous.
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