La Barge Canyon and more

[Arizonaheat]

Will post photo link when posted


GTG and Arizonaheat met at the Canyon Lake Marina parking lot, from which they would depart for their adventure for the day. The sunrise on the way in made the clouds burst with color. We put on our daypacks, readied our hiking poles and were off . Today’s adventure would be mainly an off trail excursion.

We departed the parking lot, crossed Apache Trail and followed the Boulder Canyon Trail a very short distance before dropping into La Barge Creek. As we began our decent to La Barge Creek we weren’t yet convinced that we would be able to negotiate our way up the creek bed as there was still a large amount of water occupying the creek bed. Once we got down to La Barge Creek it was obvious we could make our way using some creativity.

We were surprised to still see water running after three weeks of dry weather, although Louis Ruiz, the 88 year old proprietor of the Blue Bird Mine Store, told Cactuscat and Arizonaheat, last week, that the water will run approximately three weeks after a rain like the one we had. He is obviously right.

We worked our way up La Barge Creek to a point where Boulder Canyon and La Barge convene, we then followed Boulder Canyon to where it intersected Boulder Canyon Trail. This completed the first segment of the trip which was approximately three miles of rock hopping. The view of the front of Battleship Mountain coming up the canyon was awesome.

The plan from here was to head up to La Barge Box via La Barge Canyon, with a couple of exploratory side trips thrown in. We followed Boulder Canyon Trail a short distance, past the Painted Mine to a point to where a side trail departs down into La Barge Canyon. We worked our way up La Barge Canyon a distance before taking in our first side trip, which took us to a place where an old prospector by the name of Chuck Aylor lived for a time after he left his famous camp, Aylor’s Caballo Camp. There are varying stories as to when, why and how he lived there. It all depends on who you talk too. Some stories are probably more legitimate than others. A synopsis of one story is that after leaving Aylor’s Caballo Camp, he lived in town for awhile with various friends and relatives do to poor health. All Aylor wanted to do was return to his beloved Superstitions and live out his remaining days. As the story goes his friends and relatives obliged him, by building him this place in a gorgeous, hidden location. Other stories vary tremendously.

After leaving the Aylor residence it was back to La Barge Canyon and onward toward La Barge Box. We came upon a point where the water was making navigation difficult and it would be necessary to do a bit of climbing. I left the creek bed first and made my way up the vertical face of a large boulder ( keep in mind some of these boulders are several times larger and taller than a house). This was somewhat nerve racking as this particular boulder was comprised of very fractured soft rock without much substance to the hand holds. I made it to a ledge and point of safety, Todd then began his ascent. He was making his way up the vertical face looking for good foot and hand holds. He had one foot planted firmly and his right hand on what appeared to be a good secure hold. As he went to pull himself up onto the ledge on which I was standing his hand hold suddenly gave way, dislodging a chunk of rock approximately two times bigger than a basketball and probably weighing in at 30 – 40 pounds. It was like watching something in slow motion. Todd fell backwards landing flat on his back, with the large chunk or rock right behind him. The rock just barely glazed the side of his head on the way by him, before splashing into the water behind him. Luck was with us, no injuries were sustained, his camera came to rest square on his chest and the rock disintigrated like a cluster bomb. Todd was soon back on his feet and we managed to get him up where he needed to be.

We continued up the canyon to our next testosterone driven adventure, which entailed a fairly steep long climb up the side of a mountain, through tons and tons of blasted rock and loose scree material in hopes of discovering or at least finding an old mine. The climb down was worse than going up, but again we made it without any serious mishap or injury. Oh did I forget to tell you what we found. Sorry!!!

After making it back down into the canyon from our climb, Todd pointed out another interesting detail to me, that involved a symbol that could have been left by the Spaniards, the Mexicans or modern man. The fact is we just don’t know how old it is. From here it was up to the confines and water wonderland of La Barge Box where we enjoyed the many pools of water and took a long well deserved lunch.

Our next adventure will have to wait until another trip. Todd had plotted out a route on a picture I had taken of La Barge Box from the top of Battleship Mountain. We were going to try to make our way to the top of the vertical cliffs that tower above La Barge Box, then follow the ridgeline of the Box until it intersects with the Calvary Trail. We were running short on time and energy for that attempt, plus it looked very challenging trying to get up there.

We made our way back down La Barge Canyon to where it intersects with the Boulder Canyon Trail and followed the trail back to Canyon Lake. While having some liquid refreshment back at the Lake, We were entertained by the biggest congregation of Turkey Buzzards I had ever seen. We counted 25 of them soaring and circling about La Barge Creek. Then to top it off a Whooping Crane flew over. Per usual it was another great day with Lady Superstition, and I really enjoyed the company.

Total distance was approximately 11 miles.

[Arizonaheat]

http://hikearizona.com/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=565&TNI=229

[ck1]

Arizonaheat...dude, you are the man! You are constantly doing some awesome hikes!

What a trip. Sorry I missed it you guys. Sounds like it was much more fun that reseeding the front yard.
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-Colin

"The Journey is the Destination"

[GTG]

Truly an enjoyable day. La Barge Creek was the best I have ever seen it. There was water everywhere. Places that I had wondered what they looked like full of water, were full of water. We saw places in the creek where there were wave marks in the sand indicating water at depths of six feet. I only got wet once, and that was while playing dodge-rock. The climb up the remants of the blasted rock face of Geronimo Head will go into my list of my 3 steepest climbs. Neither of the other two climbs involved prospector's blast schrapnel though. Among the crushed cactus and trees you can find areas of the rock with burn marks that we assumed where where the blasts had occured when the rock was removed. I had always assumed that the rock was blasted from the base of Geronimo Head, but further inspection showed us the rock was blasted from above. As always with a trip into the Superstitions, I saw something I had never seen before and learned something as well. The Box Top will come another day.

GTG
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Good things come to those who walk.