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Tag: narrows

Grand Canyon of the Sonoran Desert: Aravaipa Canyon

Our First Time Backpacking Among the Saguaros
My 40th Birthday Foray into Arizona and New Mexico
Tuesday – Wednesday, February 11-12, 2020

Today was the part of the trip that I was looking forward to the most since I first started making these plans last year. I have wanted to hike through the perennial waters of Aravaipa Canyon, sometimes referred to as the Grand Canyon of the Sonoran Desert, for a long time and this experience was one of the main reasons I had planned this birthday trip into southeast Arizona in the first place. Back in November I secured an overnight permit for my 40th birthday when they first became available for the date, and chose to start from the more popular West Trailhead since I knew we would most likely be driving Diane’s Edge for the better fuel mileage and comfort on this road trip. For those not familiar, anyone who hikes into the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness requires a permit from the BLM in order to help preserve the wilderness experience of the area. A total of 50 people are allowed per day, from which 20 may enter from the East Trailhead and 30 may enter from the West Trailhead. This can be a popular hike during the busy season, but the middle of February is probably the lowest use season because of the colder water temperatures of the creek. This sounded like the perfect time of the year for us to hike among the saguaros into Aravaipa Canyon!

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Chute Canyon

The Edge of The Swell II | Sunday, January 14, 2018

After spending Saturday exploring northern canyons of the San Rafael Reef, we headed further south on Sunday morning near Temple Mountain and Goblin Valley to hike another canyon that cuts through the Reef. A few years back Diane and I had hiked Crack Canyon and really enjoyed it, so I thought it would be a good day to come back and hike it’s neighbor, Chute Canyon. Typically, these two canyons are linked together to make a nice long loop, but I’m actually glad we hiked them separately so we could spend plenty of time exploring each of them on their own.

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Professor Creek

Mary Jane Canyon
Saturday, May 17, 2014

The hike up Professor Creek through Mary Jane Canyon has been on my to-do list for a few years now. It’s not that far from home for me, but every time I thought about hiking it things never seemed to work out. Either something else came up or it was too cold to hike through the water since I wanted to go on a warm day. Everything finally came together this weekend. Diane and I wanted to stay close to home and the temperatures looked great for a wet hike through a canyon. We left home early in the morning and were the first vehicle in the trailhead parking lot. It was a little cool when we started hiking up the canyon in the morning, but not too cold that I didn’t mind getting my feet wet. As the day grew on and the temperature rose, walking through the water felt great. I stopped quite a few times along the creek for photos of the flowing water and we took our time with this hike.

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Eureka Dunes to the Mesquite Dunes

Death Valley Trip 2013 | Day 7
Friday, February 15, 2013

After spending much of the week exploring Death Valley and not running into many people, things would finally change today. I would start seeing quite a few more people and even getting stuck behind slow drivers and traffic on the park roads. At first I wasn’t sure why all of a sudden there were more people in the park, but later I remembered that Monday was President’s Day and that this would be a long weekend for a lot of people wanting to get out. I guess my time exploring the park without crowds was coming to an end.

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