Carr Canyon Waterfall

The deserty terrain near the U.S./Mexico border, where my cousin lives in southern Arizona.

When I lived in Nevada years ago, I thought it was a sign of my cleverness when I could find water in nature. Not really, but it almost felt like I prize I had won, to be able to touch free flowing water in a climate so dry that I did not recognize any of the plants or animals. I have been visiting Arizona a lot in the last couple of years, and it feels the same there.

I spotted this from the gravel road and assumed it was a view of the waterfall I was looking for.

Forgive me the low quality of some of these photos, as my camera had died and I used only my phone.

My last post was of a man-made Dankworth Pond outside of Stafford, Arizona. The next day I hiked along the Carr Canyon Waterfall that is rather close to my cousin’s house. Earlier in the day we had hiked Ramsey Canyon. It was his first hike after recovering from Achilles Heel surgery, and then he had to rest and elevate his foot. I hiked Carr Canyon on my own.

Would you call this a trail? At any rate, this is the path I followed. And look! There is water.

It’s a good thing David did not come. This “trail” was crazy!! Just a hike up sheer rocks much of the time, with fancy footwork and good balance required at all times. It was a little crazy, but I did it, and I had a lot of fun with a fabulous view at the end.

Near the beginning of the trail, looking up at the ridge I see that there is a long way to go if my only path is a scramble right up the creek bed.

Sheets of ice still lay across the rocks in places.

Though I was warm enough for only a thin fleece pullover while I hiked, I could see that the nights must still be very cold up here because I spotted a surprising amount of ice. It is common for daytime highs and nighttime lows to be drastically different in the high desert.

I found this patch of unmelted frost. It was curious to me, because it had been near 70 degrees (21 C) during the day when I hiked with my cousin.

The creek slipped into this crack, and allowed me a lot of dry rock to climb up, which was safer than wet rock, which could be icy.

So I climbed, taking my time because I was alone. The waterfall is a collection of smaller waterfalls, each tumbling over a ridge. I would set my sights on these ridges, then manage to get on top of them, only to see the next ridge from there. It definitely had my heart rate up, from both the exertion and the fear of slipping.

Looking back down, as I rested atop one of the smaller ridges.

Graffiti that made me smile. It says, “Be excellent to each other.” A quote from a favourite movie from my formative years: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

There came a point where I faced the next ridge, rising dramatically above me, and I knew I couldn’t climb it. Running out of energy and determination at that point, I searched casually for a way to scramble through the bushes on the side and go around the creek bed instead. Sure enough, I found a bit of a trail. I’d describe it more as a game trail than a people trail, though it was marked with orange flags tied to branches.

I scrambled this way and was pleased to be gaining in elevation once more, when the trail hit an impossible spot again, that I did not trust myself to be able to climb. I hit my limit and decided it was good enough. I turned around with the plan to head back to the car.

View to the west as I made my way carefully back down.

Then!! That reliable fire inside me kicked up and a little voice inside my head said, “You can’t give up now, silly! You’re so close!”

I turned around once more, and found a new route, and retraced my steps and this time I made it past the tricky spot. I returned to the creek bed, because the route is easier. If you have good shoes with a good tread, it’s actually easy to climb the sheer face of a sloped rock. Place your foot flat on the rock and trust your weight to hold you there, and just walk on it. If you get nervous, or if you try to walk on your toes, you will slip. So it requires faith and calm. I think my days hiking this way will eventually end, because as I age, I am able to trust my feet and legs less.

The views were wonderful in the sunset! See my cute little rental car down at the beginning of the trail?

I was getting pretty high up that canyon. And pretty high on the exhilaration of it all, too.

Finally I came to another tricky spot that I had low confidence I could climb. This time, I called it quits for real. The temperature was dropping. The light was waning. I still had to get myself safely all the way back down. It had been a good climb and I felt proud of myself.

In the center of this photo, what looks like the final small ridge before I reached the base of the waterfall. But I decided not to try to climb it.

I had climbed 530 feet (161 m)!

On the way down, I spotted a place where water spilled over the ridge and it looked a little like those infinity pools at fancy hotels. I played with my phone camera a little, and got this shot: