vitamind
04-27-2013, 07:20 AM
Had a great day yesterday in upper fish creek canyon. Navigable trail with minor adjustments made due to creek, boulders, vegetation and cliffs with impending doom. The "trail" is like very few in the phx area with its lush trees, birds, fish and lizards. I took my trusty canine companion and set off just west of the bridge to the very visible cliff out cropping, it was tagged with graffiti and littered with beer bottles but we pushed on and descended to the creek. We switch backed and boulder hopped over stagnant pools and low flow streams. Most of the pools were filled with rampant algae It was hot and I was looking to get wet so we pressed on. About an hour into out trek we hit a wall of boulders where water flowed freely behind and trickled from between two massive rocks. At their base a magnificent and clear pool just for me! Being naturally curios to the sound of heavy water behind the boulders I jumped right in! I was instantly over my head, the clear pool was much deeper than anticipated. "That's cool I can swim." A little doggie paddling to the crevice of the two boulders and I was able to scramble up to a few more knee deep pools and sit under some great little falls before convincing my canine it was worth the swim. Shes a lady and often requires coaxing. We wedged ourselves to higher ground right by the falls and snaked through a small opening in the rocks. We laid on the warm boulders and dried ourselves in the sun. We assessed several ways of decent (a minor) jump into a not so deep pool... or back the way we came... traveling solo and not wishing to be airlifted from my new found favorite place we opted for back the way we came. Snaked back through the hole, wedged down by the little falls and through the pools, plunged again into the deep clear pool back to our belongings... The return trip took about half the time because we already knew how to traverse the stream. We ran into a family with two younger kids (9 -11) the dad said they live for this stuff I said yeah me too! He asked if I had made it to the slides about six miles in... Nope, but now there's a goal for next time, when I'm a little less solo! Took only a few pics and I dont have a go pro or water proof but it is becoming evident I NEED one. Wish I could show you guys the cool spot! I followed little rock stacks from previous hikers... if that helps.65574655756557665577655786557965580655816558 26558365584