Aravaipa Canyon, April 6, 2017

Mary Ann and I hiked up Aravaipa Canyon. This is Mary Ann’s favorite place “in the galaxy” (as she likes to say). We try to go at least once a year. There are no birds in this post – just canyon shots, and some butterflies, etc.

You have to plan ahead to hike in the canyon because a permit is required, and only 50 people are allowed in at a time. We got our permit about 6 months in advance. There is no trail as you would normally think of one. You have to hike in the water a lot, and make your way along the creek side when there is room.

This year we made it just a one day trip. We left home about 6:30 AM, and it is a 2 hour drive (we stopped for breakfast to-go). By the time we were on the trail it was 9:30. The weather was awesome. We got back to the car at about 5:00 PM, and stopped to eat at Casa Denogean in Superior.

In past years we spent a lot of time looking at wildlife, and never made it very far into the canyon. This year we decided to take less pictures, and focus more on hiking, which is why there are no bird pictures in this post. We were only partially successful in this. Our goal was to make it to the Horse Camp Canyon. This is a side canyon with a creek flowing into Aravaipa creek. It has a small waterfall and some pools. It is about 5 miles from the trailhead. We didn’t make it that far. 5 miles doesn’t seem like much, but hiking in the water and making your way around the creek side is slow hiking, and we did spend some time enjoying the canyon. I used my GPS map application on the phone, which indicated that we hiked up 4 miles (only one mile short of Horse Camp), so the total hike for the day was 8 miles.

Here are the pictures: