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Mogollon Rim
August 21-22, 1999
by Ken Chaney
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Time it took: ½ day in and ½ day out Cost: Just gas to drive up Permits/campsite info: None needed No. of participants: 6 – Rudy, John, Bill, Machell, Eric and Ken Activities done on trip: We tried to fish, but the water was too muddy. We saw some ducks, a snake, and thousands of crayfish and found a large horned lizard. We also smelled a skunk at night. We fished, told stories, lounged around, and we also took a couple of side hikes. General comments: (please comment on if you feel this trip should be done again.) Rudy, John, Eric and Ken left from Scottsdale around 7:15 to 7:20 and made it the crossing without incident (about 10:30). We met Bill and Machell at the crossing. The first thing we noticed was that the water was a chocolate brown, from all the silt in it. Three weeks earlier, at the power lines, the water was clear enough to see the bottom of the creek. All the rains must have stirred up the creek. We started the trip up the creek, and followed the best trail. We new something was wrong when we reached the top of a cliff. We went back down and looked for a place to cross the creek. We ended up having to go almost all the way back to the cars. We had hiked for 45 minutes and had made very little progress. Eric said that he remembered making the same side trip, last time he went up the creek. If you try this trip stay left of the large rocks until you pass them at the beginning of the trail. You will have to travel through the thick brush on the right side of the creek. The water level was fairly high forcing us to circle around the creek many times. If the water was lower it would have been easier to walk next to or through the creekbed. We ended up camping at Durfee crossing (around 2:00 PM). We figured it would be late in the day to get to the next nice campsites. We set up camp, tried some fishing, did some side hikes and generally lounged around. Sunday morning we went up a side canyon to exit out of Chevelon Canyon, to avoid the brush and loose footing. We then cut across the top to find an old jeep trail that would take us back to where we started. We also were looking for an old ruin of a building. To our surprise, we found the ruins of a small community. We made it back to the Crossing at about 11:00 AM. If you go on this trip you will get solitude, we did not see another soul after ¼ mile from the campground. I was disappointed with the water clarity on this trip. Will try this trip again in late spring or early summer. I am hoping the water quality will be better if we go before the monsoons. Also if the water level is lower, route finding should be a little easier. Problems/concerns: The only situation to occur was that one of our members slipped and hurt their hand/wrist and bruised their knee. |
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Arizona Trailblazers Hiking Club, Phoenix, Arizona
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updated September 3, 2012