Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Aravaipa - August 9, 2003

There was floods a week ago or so I noticed on the stream flow charts above 1,000 cps in the canyon!! There was 5 crossing on the road to the west trail head that still have dirt and gravel from floods still visable. The ranger (substitute) told me that there was no one in the canyon on the flood days - but a group of native americans were in the canyon a day or so after (without permits) that was a worry to them because of the high water still flowing after the floods. The rainfall amounts per the ranger was .75 and 1.00 inches of rain that produced the flash floods.


My permit was for the west trailhead. There was an early greeting 15 minutes into the hike by a rattlesnake on a foot path on the side of the river!!! There would be three more rattlesnakes by the end of the trip!! These are the first sightings of rattlers I have seen in the wild outside of a zoo. Each time the snakes were along the streambed on grassy areas.

There was 2 areas I encountered deep water levels above my waist and waded. There were high sand areas that I followed to navigate the deep water.

The high temperature was 101 and the low was 84 along with high humidity! It was still in the 90's at 11pm - could of used a portable ac unit!!

Day one didn't encounter any other hikers and day two saw two people on a three day trip and two day hikers.

Date: 8/9/2003
Time: 2 days
Distance: 11 miles
Average Elevation Gain: 200 feet