K, I got back Saturday afternoon from a 3 day trip down around the Walnut Canyon trail area and I have to say there is some of the best AZ scenery ever down there!
My gf and I got a late start on Thursday, headed out of Chandler sometime between 4 and 5, which I was figuring on 3 hours to get out there to a possible camp site next to the river. It took us at least 3 hours, because we took a little accidental detour on the trail that takes you to the Coke Ovens for a couple of miles. (Y's from the western loop) That accidental detour turned out to be good though, more about that later. So yes, it was dark by the time we found something, but thanks to headlights, 2 LED flashlights and a propane lantern, we were able to set up a good looking campsite. We ended up on the western side of the loop down at the river for the first night. We tucked ourselves under a few mesquite trees, which provided some good protection and what not.
So the plan for the next day was to head up to the White Canyon Wilderness to do some hiking. We made breakfast, packed up and decided to go on the eastern loop side to head around. (We came down on the western loop side the night before). Since I still consider myself a nub, I miscalculated the traveling time required to head where we were going, plus the eastern loop is so beautiful, we had to stop a few times. Well by the time we got close to the junction, it was already some time after 12 and things were starting the heat up. We picnicked at a high point, took a few pictures, and decided to head back down to the river to cool off a bit. We headed back down on the west loop, which is pretty quick, and got back to our campsite. We walked around a bit, to find a good place to jump in the water, but if any of you have been down there, the west side doesn't have many good places to jump in the water. Earlier that morning, we discovered the trail down to the water on the east side. We packed up camp and moved our butts over to the otherside, where we should've been all along. There is a nice open area for swimming, which doesn't get too deep, the current isn't so bad and we found rafting the next day, a couple of rope swings not far down the river. So yea, to camp down there, go on the east loop side to camp, so much better!
We enjoyed the weather, the water and most importantly, no work, school, and plenty of beer to drink.
Before we went to bed that evening, Friday, we decided to explore and head out on our accidental detour and see if we could get to the Coke Ovens. I'm naturally good with directions and I've looked at that area plenty of times on Google Earth, so I felt comfortable trying for it.
We woke up early enough and packed up camp pretty quick, so we could get an early enough start. Sometime during breakfast though, a guy and I think his daughter, showed up in one of those off road gold carts, seemed like they were out for a stroll or something. We waved, my dog sniffed and eventually we all started talking. I asked him about the trail to the Coke Ovens and he warned us that it's washed out about 4 to 5 miles out. He did mention the trail right across the river that heads up to the tower to the south, but again with my nubness, I wasn't sure if my truck could make across the water. I thanked them and they left, we finished up and got on the road.
We cut across to the western loop and decided to go ahead and check out the trail headed to the Coke Ovens anyways and see for ourselves how badly the road was washed out.
Now according to Mr. Wells, the Walnut Canyon loop is rated as moderate, which I would agree. 4 wheel drive and some good clearance is necessary. Not too many skills needed, but potentially can damage your vehicle if the skills are lacking. For the first 2 miles or so that we were on the connecting trail, the rating would stay moderate and sometimes easy. I was surprised on how well it was kept up. But then we started climbing more into the sides of the hills there, going up and down, with the road getting more and more washed out. There were a couple of places where I had my gf get out and spot me, just to be sure. She did an awesome job by the way, her experiences include the 4 days she spent with us out at Katemcy Rocks. Ok, back to the story. As we got about 4 miles in, we were on the side of a hill, pretty high up and the trail narrowed a bit, that's when we got a couple of scares. I hate being high on one side, cliff on the other, with washouts that have rocks stacked up in them. It's an eerie feeling. At about that time though, we had just gotten up over a hill and could see all the way into the valley to the West where the Cochran site is and the Coke Ovens trail. I used how the river turned and correlated that with the trails and was able to identify on how close we were and where to head. We eventually got down from that hill and was now within 30 feet of the river running parallel to it. Less than a half a mile from the descending point, the road was definately washed out. We got out to inspect closer and all of a sudden we heard voices. There were a couple of guys and their vehicles parked just on the otherside of the river, fishing. So what we found was the problem was a boulder buried on the passenger side, and washed out sand on the driver side. My front pass. tire would've been high and everything else low. I saw a tipping point and realized that my cruiser is too wide. Oh well. It was a bit disappointing and discouraging, mainly because I didn't feel like driving all the way back from where we came. So we took our time by having lunch and doing a little exploring up the canyon right by where we descended from. Again I must point out that there is some absolutely beautiful scenery around there!
We drove back, went a bit quicker because we knew what we were facing and eventually got back on the 177 and on our way to Chandler.
We drove, according to my odometer, about 45 miles on dirt roads. We filled in Superior on our way out and on the way back was down to almost a half a tank. So somewhere around 5 mpg.
We all had a blast, my dog is still sleeping and I so so so hope that they decide not to close any of the trails around there! If by some miracle that does happen, then I propose we fix that washed out part where we had to turn back. But we can talk about that later.
I highly suggest that if anyone hasn't been out there, go now, go as soon as you can. Experience it! I took a few pictures, which I'll ad up here soon. Sorry about the story book here, but I needed to share our adventure.
just to scare my self
