In celebration of Just hike’s milestone of reaching 2,000 finds I
have decided to throw a hiking event in his achievement. He has not
reached 2,000 yet but he will make this event his 2,000 find. After
this event we will be having
2,001 reasons for an event for all to
attend. Regardless of caches or not, this is a really neat hike.
If you have any rappelling equipment, please let me know and
bring it along.
For those who would like to carpool and caravan, we will meet up
at 7:00 am at the Bashas’ parking lot on Ellsworth and Brown in
Mesa and it will be just under a two hour drive to the trailhead.
We will be taking Bush Highway to the Beeline over to Roosevelt
Lake. The hike itself will be pretty easy.
I made the ratings high only
for those who plan to take the jump or if someone brings out some
rappel equipment. The hike will begin about 9:00 am and we should
get back to the starting point some time after noon. If you check
the GPX or KML file, you’ll see the required part of the hike. Once
at this point is where we can jump in and then either walk back up
or walk through the slot canyon where it meets back up to the trail
that leads back to the trailhead.
I highly recommend you download the GPX track for the trail and
upload it to your GPSr. Here is the link to the
GPX file,
KML file and a
previous hiker’s experience where you can
get more information about the hike. I have done most of the
ones on the paved side of the Apache Trail but not the earth
cache down the road or the ones on the dirt road side of Apache
Trail so I plan to get those after the hike.
Out in the Arizona wildlands, beyond the end of the Apache
Trail, on the far northeastern side of Roosevelt Lake, is the
remote Salome Wilderness. Salome Creek runs from the Matazels in
Arizona Northeast of Roosevelt Lake into the lake. The "Jug" used
to be one of those "Top Secret" places few knew about, but in the
last five years the word has gotten out. The "Jug" is a fabulous
Canyoneering trip that is only a few hours from Phoenix.
Furthermore, it’s easily accessible as a day hike. Unlike many slot
canyons, this one is solid granite making it absolutely gorgeous.
It is rugged mountainous country, a land of rock and cactus where
the summer temperatures soar into triple digits and all man's
ingenuity is needed just to survive. Water is king here and the
winter storms create ribbons of life that manage to survive through
the baking heat of the summer sun. The rain funnels down into
Salome Creek, a river that drains a large area in the Sierra Ancha
Mountains and flows southwest into Roosevelt Lake. On its way
there, the creek has had to cut its way round the base of the great
rock monolith known as Dutchwomen Butte and, in doing so, has
carved deeply into the pink and white granite to create a
fantastic, mile-long ravine known as the Salome Jug. This narrow,
vertical-walled jewel of a canyon makes for one of the most
marvelous canyoneering experiences anywhere in the world. The
descent requires almost continuous wading and swimming through
ravine-filling pools, interrupted by numerous waterfalls and
cascades. Most are readily downclimbed though one spectacular 30ft
drop near the end requires either a rappel or a scary jump into a
deep pool.
The hike Statistics for the hike
Distance Round Trip: 5 miles
Trailhead Elevation: 3300 feet
Elevation Gain” -600 feet
Av Time Round Trip: 3+ hours
References
Brennen, C. (2008) ADVENTURE HIKES AND CANYONEERING. Retrieved
September 27, 2008 from
http://www.dankat.com/swhikes/salome.htm
Superstition (2008) Canyoneering the Jug. Retrieved September
27, 2008 from
http://ge.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripID=22300&mode=TripSummary
