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epolomsk Posts: 17
4/3/2021
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Thursday april 1, completed 3rd crossing,box canyon,hidden spring,santa rosa, nicholias loop.
Went down nicholias.
Done this loop twice before.
Driest i have ever seen it.
Siphoned waterfrom a fist sized puddle atbox!
Shocked to see 2 backpacks at Stifferino spring
Near the martinez canyon trail.
Have never encountered anyone there on previoys trips.
Is this route advertized somewhere?
Becz, also encountered 2 ppl heading up box to hidden.
Very nice,butVERY unprepared.
4pm, and they had mistaken boulder alley at 3rd crossing for box canyon and thot they wete gonna get to hidden that day!
Later met them at the saddle above box on the old indian trail; they had again hotten turned around and thot they were looming at rockhouse canyon,vut were actually viewing santa catarina from afar.
They thought they were only 1 hr from Hidden (with backpacks)
And had no idea how little water there was there.
Seemingly no maps..yikes. fortunately they turned around from this life threatening plan.
Nicholias cottonwoods lovely and leafing out,
The route down nicholias was sadly very overgrown with tumbled cairns (fixed a few)
Hard, but great trip.
Zero wildowers except very few in box canyon.
--
"Except you are kindred with those who have speech with great spaces,
and the Four Winds of the Earth, and the infinite arch of God's sky,
you shall not have understanding of the Desert's lure. ...
If you love the Desert and live in it, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are a part of the pulse-beat of the Universe,
and you feel the swing of the spheres through space, and you hear through
the silence the voice of God speaking".
Idah Meacham Strobridge in Sagebrush Trilogy
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epolomsk Posts: 17
4/3/2021
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Meant to say siphoned water at hidden, NOT box canyob
--
"Except you are kindred with those who have speech with great spaces,
and the Four Winds of the Earth, and the infinite arch of God's sky,
you shall not have understanding of the Desert's lure. ...
If you love the Desert and live in it, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are a part of the pulse-beat of the Universe,
and you feel the swing of the spheres through space, and you hear through
the silence the voice of God speaking".
Idah Meacham Strobridge in Sagebrush Trilogy
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Brian Posts: 231
4/3/2021
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epolomsk wrote:
Meant to say siphoned water at hidden, NOT box canyob
That was going to be my first question. I didn't think there was any water in Box Canyon. I've done parts of the route you describe, but not the part from the playas above Box to Butler.
Did you start at 3rd crossing? How did you close the loop? Or did you retrace through Box?
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epolomsk Posts: 17
4/3/2021
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Yes, we started at 3rd crossing.
Retraced thru box.
Box is so lovely i never mind walking thru twice:-)
It even had a few blooming lupine!
Ijust doubled checked schad's book and he says 5 hard hrs each way to hidden. I seriously doubt the two backpackers i met read thst account, so really unsure how they thought they could get there when starting at 4pm from box. Yikes, they could have died.
--
"Except you are kindred with those who have speech with great spaces,
and the Four Winds of the Earth, and the infinite arch of God's sky,
you shall not have understanding of the Desert's lure. ...
If you love the Desert and live in it, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are a part of the pulse-beat of the Universe,
and you feel the swing of the spheres through space, and you hear through
the silence the voice of God speaking".
Idah Meacham Strobridge in Sagebrush Trilogy
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epolomsk Posts: 17
4/3/2021
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Btw, there is an old indian trail from playas to hidden. Its faint, and sometimes disappears,BUT the way down into Butler is very well worn and very well cairned.
--
"Except you are kindred with those who have speech with great spaces,
and the Four Winds of the Earth, and the infinite arch of God's sky,
you shall not have understanding of the Desert's lure. ...
If you love the Desert and live in it, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are a part of the pulse-beat of the Universe,
and you feel the swing of the spheres through space, and you hear through
the silence the voice of God speaking".
Idah Meacham Strobridge in Sagebrush Trilogy
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Brian Posts: 231
4/3/2021
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epolomsk wrote:
Btw, there is an old indian trail from playas to hidden. Its faint, and sometimes disappears,BUT the way down into Butler is very well worn and very well cairned.
I went down Butler about a month ago and saw the cairn at the bottom for that trail. I think some time I'll do that section starting from Butler just to see the section I haven't seen.
I have a hunch that the backpackers staying at Stifferino were much better prepared than the ones you encountered at Box.
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epolomsk Posts: 17
4/3/2021
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I enhanced that cairn in butler a bit with some big boulders, its quite fun to follow the old indian trail from there:-)
Too bad we didnt meet the folks at stifferino, would be interesting to know their route. From there we followed an old indian trail to santa rosa village and a well ducked trail up to nicholias; it even had switchbacks. Quite a pleasant route.
--
"Except you are kindred with those who have speech with great spaces,
and the Four Winds of the Earth, and the infinite arch of God's sky,
you shall not have understanding of the Desert's lure. ...
If you love the Desert and live in it, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are a part of the pulse-beat of the Universe,
and you feel the swing of the spheres through space, and you hear through
the silence the voice of God speaking".
Idah Meacham Strobridge in Sagebrush Trilogy
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rockhopper Posts: 668
4/4/2021
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Nice loop trek. Nicolas Guanche was one of the last Native Americans to live there. Interesting seeing the other hikers out there. Actually kinda nice if your soloing.
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Buford Posts: 461
4/4/2021
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That sounds like a nice long dayhike through some really cool areas. I would never count on Hidden for water or try and get water from it unless it was an emergency.
There are way too many unprepared people out there. You probably saved SAR from a mission.
--
Links to my photos: ABDSP photos, Bighorn sheep photos, ABDSP time lapse video, Wildlife photos (mainly birds)
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2624
4/4/2021
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Those were our packs at Stifferino, we day hiked the ridgeline that day and came back down near the old village. Gary and I backpacked for 7 days last week out there, sounds like you back tracked our route. Will post a TR hopefully this week.
Hidden spring had maybe a dixie cup of water, would never depend on that water.
--
http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2624
4/5/2021
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rockhopper wrote:
Interesting seeing the other hikers out there. Actually kinda nice if your soloing.
Gary and I were out there from Thurs-Thurs that week and we only saw a single hiker on day 1 that was coming back from the lower rock houses. I looked out into the valley every day and never saw anyone, even at the top of the santa rosa ridgeline, I am surprised someone saw our packs. There were a lot of footprints in the main wash to the cottonwoods via the dry fall...many footprints.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2624
4/5/2021
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epolomsk wrote:
Thursday april 1, completed 3rd crossing,box canyon,hidden spring,santa rosa, nicholias loop.
Went down nicholias.
Done this loop twice before.
I am not quite visualizing your loop, can you share more info or a map? You started at 3rd crossing, went over box to hidden spring, up to stiffereno, over to nicholias, down dry fall, back down rhc to hidden spring and then back over to box/3rd crossing?
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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rockhopper Posts: 668
4/6/2021
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dsefcik wrote:
rockhopper wrote:
Interesting seeing the other hikers out there. Actually kinda nice if your soloing.
Gary and I were out there from Thurs-Thurs that week and we only saw a single hiker on day 1 that was coming back from the lower rock houses. I looked out into the valley every day and never saw anyone, even at the top of the santa rosa ridgeline, I am surprised someone saw our packs. There were a lot of footprints in the main wash to the cottonwoods via the dry fall...many footprints.
Epolo, Daren and Gary,
I was out hiking the on the east side of the Santa Rosas on the other side of Rabbit a few days before you guys. Going thru photos to post.
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tekewin Posts: 371
4/6/2021
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I am really unfamiliar with the route you took. Could you please post a map of your route? Sounds like a big day.
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epolomsk Posts: 17
4/7/2021
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Hi Daren et al.
I'll post a map and more info in a couple days, Im a professor and got 100 tests to grade this week :-)
BTW: Its a *VERY hard route. not possible to get to stifferino in 1 day from 3rd crossing.
Schad mentions it in his book.
He says, IF you follow the faint, eroded indian trail, its 5 hrs to Hidden from 3rd crossing.
It took us 7 cuz we lost the trail, but was faster on the return.
Daren: we skipped the dry waterfall in Nicholias, theres a use trail around it.
Hidden spring: I agree not reliable, but even this year, we were able to siphon several gallons, after digging it out a tiny bit.
We dug where the bees were drinking.
Lovely docile bees, picked some up in my fingers, no problem!
Other BTW: wonderful close up encounters with poorwhills at Hidden Spring!
--
"Except you are kindred with those who have speech with great spaces,
and the Four Winds of the Earth, and the infinite arch of God's sky,
you shall not have understanding of the Desert's lure. ...
If you love the Desert and live in it, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are a part of the pulse-beat of the Universe,
and you feel the swing of the spheres through space, and you hear through
the silence the voice of God speaking".
Idah Meacham Strobridge in Sagebrush Trilogy
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epolomsk Posts: 17
4/7/2021
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quick video of siphoning water at Hidden Spring
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UxLnfsf937nROnSDV1UHt7jqWWWbuWOd/view?usp=sharing
--
"Except you are kindred with those who have speech with great spaces,
and the Four Winds of the Earth, and the infinite arch of God's sky,
you shall not have understanding of the Desert's lure. ...
If you love the Desert and live in it, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are a part of the pulse-beat of the Universe,
and you feel the swing of the spheres through space, and you hear through
the silence the voice of God speaking".
Idah Meacham Strobridge in Sagebrush Trilogy
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
4/8/2021
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epolomsk wrote:
quick video of siphoning water at Hidden Spring
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UxLnfsf937nROnSDV1UHt7jqWWWbuWOd/view?usp=sharing
Very nice. All I saw there was thick mud. Is this further up the area or did the grass get cut?
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2624
4/8/2021
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Rocko1 wrote:
Very nice. All I saw there was thick mud. Is this further up the area or did the grass get cut?
If you walk 20-30' up cyn from the main hole in the ground there is a bunch of grass and there is a small water hole that had some water in it.
--
http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
4/8/2021
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dsefcik wrote:
Rocko1 wrote:
Very nice. All I saw there was thick mud. Is this further up the area or did the grass get cut?
If you walk 20-30' up cyn from the main hole in the ground there is a bunch of grass and there is a small water hole that had some water in it.
Ah, good to know. Thanks. Have you had the water from this spring, is it palatable?
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epolomsk Posts: 17
4/8/2021
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Its quite tasty water,better than stifferino imho :-)
But not as good as nicholias.
--
"Except you are kindred with those who have speech with great spaces,
and the Four Winds of the Earth, and the infinite arch of God's sky,
you shall not have understanding of the Desert's lure. ...
If you love the Desert and live in it, and lie awake at night under its
low-hanging stars, you know you are a part of the pulse-beat of the Universe,
and you feel the swing of the spheres through space, and you hear through
the silence the voice of God speaking".
Idah Meacham Strobridge in Sagebrush Trilogy
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