Ten hikers from the
Portal Rodeo Hiking Club met at the
Silver Peak Trailhead to sort out vehicles and then drove up South Fork Canyon to trail head. South Fork canyon was full of birders, with many hanging out near the bridge in South Fork, presumably looking for the Trogons that had been reported.
The plan was to hike up South Fork canyon to the Burro trail then up to Red Rocks where those wishing more adventure would continue down the trail to a point where it intersects a side canyon (Log Canyon). Then proceed downstream to the next intersection and head back upstream. Eight hikers continued past Red Rocks and dropped into Log Canyon while the remaining hikers waited and waved from the ridge top several hundred feet above. Log Canyon contains several 8-10 ft waterfalls which were dry making the down climbs fairly easy. These should be quite active during the monsoon season and a return trip would be well worth the minimal effort in accessing the area. Upon reaching the next intersecting canyon the group headed upstream and within 30 minutes was rewarded with another Chiricahua Mountains waterfall. Approximately 25-30 ft in height it is clear that a significant amount of water passes over this falls during wetter periods as evidenced by logs jammed against one another and only supported on one end by friction just downstream of the falls. After finishing a snack the group headed back down the canyon eventually intersecting the trail in South Fork. The route covered between 4.5 and 5 miles (GPS coverage was lost in Log canyon) and the elevation change was around 900'. The map for this hike may be found
here or in the sidebar.
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| Illuminated tree above the waterfall |
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| Friction, a 20' log suspended over the creek bed | |
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| Close Friends |
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| A waterfell in Log Canyon |
sorry I missed this hike. I was with my sister having our own stroll along the beach at Sanibel Island collecting shells.
ReplyDeleteI would be happy to see this place with water flowing or not flowing. The smooth rock in your photo is intriguing.
Sounds like you had a good time with quite different scenery.
ReplyDeleteJonathan took some nice photographs of the sculpted waterfalls along the route and put them on the map. And after looking at the maps I suspect there are other canyons with waterfalls that might be worth investigating.
Sorry to have missed the hike, it is always nice to view all these areas in the Chiricahua Mountains.
ReplyDeleteAlthough half the hike is off trail it is well worth the effort to see the series of waterfalls. Glad to read you had a nice vacation in Wisconsin.
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