Today's hike was a loop which began at the Fletcher Canyon parking area, lead up the roadside wash to Rainbow, crossed the Kyle Canyon Rd. to the Stanley B trailhead, up to the lead mines, up to the ridge, down through upper Fletcher Canyon, through the "rabbithole," and, finally, out.
The climb up to the ridge from the lead mines, went steeply up the wash which has been recently "washed out" from thunderstorms. At times, the going seemed easier than before. Other times, the route was interrupted by fallen trees or moved boulders.
The closer we came to the ridge, the steeper the hike became. We headed out of the main wash at a point where there were two fallen trees ahead. Climbing up to the right, we found another smaller wash and followed it to the top where we gladly took one of two snack breaks with a gorgeous view of Mummy's Toe. (For future reference, always be prepared for two snack breaks lest you run out of food!)
After this first break, we crossed the ridge and headed steeply down into the wash which becomes Fletcher Canyon. We carefully hiked down the slippery slope, walked the tree which was lying in the way of the trail from root to limbs, and came to a screeching halt at a 30 foot dry waterfall. The view was nice but the obstacle meant we needed to go around. In the picture to the left, you will see a portion of the trail we encountered as we went around the waterfall. The hillside was very steep and slippery but everyone got down with hiking aplomb.
Scenery in the next portion of the hike was some of the best that the area has to offer with waterfalls and slot canyons. The picture at the beginning of this entry comes from this segment. Since October is rather late in the season for this hike, the sun was not shining on a lot of this segment and the shade provided a new look. We could also feel it getting colder and colder as we neared the narrows of Fletcher Canyon.
The stream provided accompaniment to the song birds which seemed abundant throughout the hike. The eight hikers were cool and happy as we strode through the fairyland of an alpine scene. Finally, we arrived at the narrows feeling like we had been funneled into a whirlpool of cold air. One by one, we literally slid through the "rabbithole" created by Obstacle Rock. The rock surfaces were extremely slippery from use and there was very very little stopping you once you committed to the jump of a foot or so onto the pile of rocks meant to catch you at the bottom. We kept knocking the rock pile over and each time, we reset the rocks as best we could. After the last hiker came through the hole, we sat for another break.
The hike back out to the road and our cars was uneventful except that we were thankful for the sun as it hit us at the end of the canyon. As a side note, the graffiti that had been marked on the canyon walls is now cleaned up. The people who did the cleaning did an excellent job and you could not even see where the graffiti had been.
The hike, as we hiked it today, was around 6 miles with an elevation gain of around 1700 feet as the graph below confusingly shows. (I'm not sure how we ended higher than we began!)
The Mud Springs hike actually begins with an exciting ride 2.85 miles out Mack Canyon Road. This small road which is used for camping is located not far past the Sawmill Trail picnic area. It starts out decent enough but the further one drives, the worse the bumps get; therefore, a high clearance vehicle is required.
After reaching the trailhead which is somewhat hidden at the right side of the road, 18 hikers started off on the undulating path which ascended and descended the same 100 feet several times over the course of the 5 mile out-and-back hike. We hiked below Mack's Peak for most of the time in a wooded area with nice views of the peak and the desert below. One of the ridges held a giant joshua tree which seemed to be a bit out of place among the white pines and juniper.
At around 1.4 miles, we reached the first mud spring which was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and posted with the sign seen to the right. It is difficult to get 18 hikers in a long line to be quiet but there didn't seem to be any elk in the area at that moment anyway. We saw plenty of scat but no elk were drinking at one of their favorite watering holes.
We passed a second mud spring which looked similar to the first then made our quietest approach to the third and final spring. Again, no elk. However, since the elk were not at home, we were able to cross a low part of the fence going into the spring area where we got the photo above.
We ate our snack at the third spring and waited hoping to see an elk wander in but "nothin' doin'." The trip back out from the spring was very pleasant. Some of the best views are seen better on the way out. We were careful to retrace our steps correctly as this trail can be deceptive otherwise. In fact, a small boy was lost in this area for 3 days a few years back. They found him and he was fine but ....
We found this vertebrae bone in the area. As you can see, to the right, it is very large. Perhaps it either belonged to one of the elk or maybe a horse or burro. We all enjoyed the hike and hope we remember the location at a future time.
