Aravaipa Canyon, AZ
May 15-17, 2010

Participants

Description

This was my fourth hike in the Canyon. Pictures from my hike in Fall 2007 are here, those from my Fall 2008 trip are here, and those from Spring 2009 are here.

The official BLM web page for Aravaipa Canyon, with info and an online permit request form, is here. Further information, including free topo maps of the Canyon, can be found here.

My Photos

	Medium Large	Getting ready at the trailhead
	Medium Large	Free walking sticks, sandal, and machete
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	Medium Large	Tadpoles
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	Medium Large	Break near Hell's Half Acre Canyon || || \/
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	Medium Large	Do not try this at home...
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	Medium Large	Little minnows. There were some ~6-8 inch fish in some of the deeper pools in the river, but nothing too big.
	Medium Large	One of the Canyon's many frogs
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	Medium Large	Checking out an interesting rock || || \/
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	Medium Large	Large chunk of rock embedded in welded volcanic ash
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	Medium Large	Another interesting rock, probably also volcanic with lots of embedded pieces
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	Medium Large	At our campsite for the next two nights, but it's still pretty early in the afternoon
	Medium Large	Looking upstream to Horse Camp Canyon coming in from the right
	Medium Large	Rick's shirt covering our food bags
	Medium Large	Ants dragging a seed around
	Medium Large	Heading to Horse Camp Canyon || || \/
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	Medium Large	There's lot of little pools in this canyon, and water seeping out of the porous rock in many places. It was actually drier this time than any previous time I've been there, so we could hike further than I've done on previous trips.
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	Medium Large	This obviously gets some pretty big floods from time to time!
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	Medium Large	The canyon was full of boulders like this, containing large visible crystals. I believe the rock type is called "porphyry"
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	Medium Large	Neat cholla bud
	Medium Large	Another neat rock
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	Medium Large	Tree reflecting in one of the pools
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	Medium Large	Back at camp for the evening...
	Medium Large	...and waking up on Day 2
	Medium Large	Lone saguaro up on the cliff
	Medium Large	Lizard on Joe's tarp
	Medium Large	More lizards around the campsite || || \/
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	Medium Large	Heading upstream towards Hell Hole Canyon || || \/
	Medium Large	Looking back, you can see Horse Camp Canyon coming in from the right
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	Medium Large	Joe finds a good swimming hole
	Medium Large	Small natural window in the rock
	Medium Large	Remnants of some kind of cocoons on the rock
	Medium Large	Taking a break before heading in to Hell Hole Canyon
	Medium Large	Hell Hole Canyon || || \/
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	Medium Large	There were lots of spots where plants were taking advantage of water seeping from the walls
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	Medium Large	Nice spring-fed oasis, with a pretty impressive flow rate!
	Medium Large	Rick fills up his water. As far as I know, there were no ill effects...
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	Medium Large	Joe napping under a very deep overhang
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	Medium Large	Natural shower! Not the kind of thing one would expect from a place called Hell Hole Canyon...
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	Medium Large	This is about our turn-around point. No more flowing water, and the canyon is starting to open up a bit.
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	Medium Large	Rick washing the gravel out of his shoes
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	Medium Large	A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, I believe. It was about 2-3 feet long.
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	Medium Large	Joe in his swimming hole, again
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	Medium Large	Mother spider covered with baby spiders, which we found at our campsite
	Medium Large	Waking up on Day 3 || || \/
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	Medium Large	Neat bug at the campsite that was in the same place since at least the night before
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	Medium Large	Cool-looking rock
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	Medium Large	Back at the trailhead!