Reavis Falls

[Arizonaheat]

Photo link at bottom of page

I awoke bright and early Saturday morning looking forward to our planned hike, Reavis Falls. Around 5:30 AM I was checking out Arizonahikers.com and HikeArizona.com for new postings and messages. On HAZ, I noticed Lizard had posted a photo set of Reavis Falls, 2/28/03. There was one photo showing snow making me think it was a current photoset. The rest of his photo’s gave the impression of no water at the falls. (Fortunately this couldn’t have been farther from the truth) Disappointment came over me.

I soon departed to pick up Cactuscat, and told her what I saw on HAZ, as we headed for the Supes. We decided in lieu of doing the falls, we would depart from Tortilla Flat and hike the drainage up toward Peters Canyon, an off trail hike we have been wanting to do. Well we arrived at Tortilla Flat to find a large amount of water flowing across the road, with pools over our heads. Since this drainage was to be our trail for the day we had to abort the plan, it was a regular river of water. We took some photo’s and decided to head up the road to Reavis Trailhead and do Reavis Falls. This was best hiking decision of our lives!!!!!

We departed the trailhead making our way to the spur trail that takes you to Reavis Falls. As we continued to climb on Reavis Trail 109 we soon found ourselves hiking in the clouds. It was kind of an eerie feeling, as you couldn’t see anything around you. I told Kelly maybe this is Cloud 9. (It was). We followed the Reavis Trail 109 for exactly an hour when eagle eye Cactuscat spotted the spur trail. There is presently a cairn at the spur, but you must be paying attention.

We departed on the spur, made the climb up past the fence and gate to the saddle, then began the long steep decent to Reavis Creek, oblivious to the magnificent adventure and spectacular sights that lay ahead for us.
We soon found ourselves crossing a small gently flowing creek, giving us encouragement that there would definitely be water at Reavis Falls. We continued on and soon found ourselves paralleling a deep rugged drainage near Lime Mtn. Spring, that was roaring with water, utterly spectacular. As we continued on we made the final decent to Reavis Creek to find it flowing at an awesome level. We looked at each other knowing that we were going to see the falls at their best.

At the point to where we began to work our way up Reavis Creek toward the Falls, things became very mentally and physically challenging . Do to the creek being at flood stage it was not possible to follow the normal route to the Falls. It was necessary to cross the creek about half a dozen times on the way to the falls. On several occasions we thought we may not be able to make it because of the high water levels. Crossing the creek was a great mental exercise in itself and not for everyone. One misstep or slip and it would be serious if not fatal consequences at some of the areas we were forced to cross, others weren’t bad.
With great determination and a will to conquer the challenge we eventually made it to the MOST SPECTACULAR SIGHT, we have seen in all our journeys so far, REAVIS FALLS flowing a peak capacity. (By this I mean we saw the falls flowing with the maximum amount of water possible coming off of them where it is still possible to access them. If Reavis Creek would have been flowing at a little higher level it would be impossible to get to the falls)

The falls were absolutely awesome, so much water was coming off that it had its own ecosystem going complete with rain and a strong self created wind. When we stood in front of the falls the wind was enough to knock you off balance and I had to hold my hat on my head. If you hiked up to where you were along side the face of the falls it was as calm as could be. We ate lunch, took photo’s and hung out for quit some time, totally awestruck by what we were seeing and experiencing, knowing that very very few have ever seen the falls flowing at these levels.

We departed the falls and started making our way down Reavis Creek. We had made two creek crossings and low and behold we ran into to AzHiker96 on his way in. We waited for AzHiker96 at the trailhead then we all went to Tortilla Flat to celebrate. We all agreed that the high water levels made this hike the most mentally and physically demanding hikes we have done. We all felt very blessed that we chose to do this hike and were rewarded with the falls flowing a levels few ever see in their life time. This has to be one of the most spectacular and rare sights in the Sonoran Desert. ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!


http://hikearizona.com/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=537&TNI=99

[Tom Treks]

Wow. Nice pics Kent! That must have been an awesome jaunt.

My ankle seems to be healed up now. I'm chomping at the bit to get out there again. I was tempted to do Peters today, but felt it was too soon.

Spread the wealth. Let me know when and where you're heading next weekend. I'd like to tag along. If you don't mind that is. You always seem to "hit the nail on the head".

[dennisbench]

One word sums it up, WOW! Thanks for the great write up and pics!
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"In the first place you can't see anything from a car; you've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees...When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you'll see something, maybe."
-Ed Abbey

[CatValet]

Great pics AzHeat! Sure looks like ol' Brer Bear is expanding his range in the Supes. I've never seen one whup up on a tree down low, they always try to show how big they are by reaching up. Did you see any tracks or scat? -R

[Arizonaheat]

Nope didn't see any sign of the critter that did that, Just assuming (guessing) it was a bear from the looks of it. It had just happened prior to our arrival as it was very fresh. Do you have any ideal what other type of critter could have done this? If I were in CO, I would possibly suspect a porcupine, they like to eat bark. This was scratched off though, not chewed.

[CatValet]

Dunno, I've seen lots of bear sign around reavis and on the Frog Sp. Trail though. There are Badger in there. Mebbe the wild Fritzski sharpening up its claws for a climb....

[Nighthiker]

You modified your plans to take advantage of a great opportunity,. Great hike and pictures. Thanks for sharing with us. Probably was a bear though did you note any indications that it might have been coati-mundi.

[cactuscat]

As usual, Arizonaheat summed it up nicely. This was certainly an unforgetable hike - I can't imagine a more spectacular sight to be seen in the Supes!
The hike up Reavis Creek was a great adventure, and would have been worth doing even without the amazing reward at the end. We had to use a few brain cells and even some engineering skills to negotiate the creek crossings - Kent built us one "bridge" out of large rocks, and I built another out of small logs. We were lucky to escape with nothing more than a few foot dunkings, one banged shin, and one agave to the heart!
The falls were more beautiful than I even hoped - there aren't enough superlatives to describe it!
Lucky, lucky us!!

[Nealz]

Reavis Falls really is spectaculer... when it's running that is. You hit it perfectly. Any time I've hiked this one I've had to tootle back and forth from bank to bank as well. Any way that get's you to the falls with minimum wetness is fair game!

The last time I was there we saw a tour helicopter from AJ hover several times over the falls for the lazy man's view. It was loud enough to drown out the falls and on one pass I noted the choppers numbers and reported it to the FS. They thanked me and explained that it's not legal for tour operators to overfly the Supes wilderness. At 196 feet, Reavis is taller than Niagra Falls. I'm envious.

-Nealz

[plummer150]

Wow! Those pics are amazing. I really like the top right one and the middle left one. Those turned out the best I think and are the most scenic.
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[mike]

I'm headed to Reavis Falls today!!
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[Arizonaheat]

Mike hope you guys had fun. Can't wait to see your pics to compare water levels from last Sat.
We went up Tortilla Creek today as far as we could go, lots of good water and some unbeleivable swimming holes. Lots more water than Lower Barks had yesterday.
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Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life.

[mike]

Well, unfortunately, you won't get to see those pics. Suffice it to say that there is a particular large rock in Reavis Creek which I now consider a MORTAL PUMPKIN ENEMY!!! End result, pulled thigh muscle and one hell of a hike back out of the canyon. But, I made it, I'm alive and somewhat well. And all things considered, it was a great hike. We could see snow on Four Peaks, Ord, Aztec Peak and the Mogollon Rim. The weather was perfect!

We saw your truck as we passed Tortilla Creek on our way out there. Glad you guys had a good trip!
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[Arizonaheat]

Man that sucks. The climb out of that hole is wicked enough without a pulled thigh muscle. Your thigh will heal, but to ruin your camera really sucks.
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Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life.

[mike]

Wasn't the camera. It was dang near my head, though! We only got a short ways up Reavis Creek before it happened, and given that we'd gotten off to bit of a late start, and that it was going to take twice as long for me to walk out of there we decided to bail. I did get a few pics on the way in and back out, but no waterfall. I was rather amazed to see water in both creeks down there. Last time, there wasn't any running, just a few pools right after you cross Reavis Creek the first time. We camped next to one of them 2 years ago. Those pools were a lot more full, and water was running out the end of them this time! Very Cool!
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