Eagle Canyon

If you would like to test your navigation skills without the fear of getting utterly lost, Eagle Canyon and it’s hidden waterfall is a good challenge. That’s not to say this hike is easy. You can very well take a wrong turn and add some extra mileage to your trip like I did but your never more than a few miles from the nearest road.

There are no markers on this trail nor any signs. In fact I am not even 100% sure this trail was designed to reach the canyon. It was clearly initially built for off-road vehicles and horses, both of which I encountered along the way, but a lot of the trail has been over run with grass fields that hid the remnants of a once prominent trail. Basically there is no real way to describe how to get to the canyon and the waterfall if someone asks, which is why it makes for a great test of your sense of direction. There are a thousand ways to get to the canyon and its really up to you to choose best route. You can shoot for a high elevation climb with less miles, or a longer yet not as steep loop or not even use the trails. Just pick your poison and hit the ground running.

To find the canyon I had to do some scouting via Google Earth. Once I located the canyon, I had to trace the small creek running through it to eventually lead me to the waterfall. Finding the waterfall was the most challenging part as it can be tough to spot from a birds eye view. You actually have to tilt the perspective to find the blurry drop off. Once you mark the canyon and the waterfall as waypoints on your map or GPS, you can begin to choose your course.

I choose to the most direct route with a lot of elevation changes because I felt like it would be a better workout. The trailhead is marked by a fence listing the property as private and off limits to certain off-road vehicles. This gate mainly protects the land from people driving their cars through and tearing up the horse trails. As I ducked under the fence, ignoring the spent shotgun shells, I continued onwards and upwards to meet several others hikers and horse riders along the way. I actually ended up missing my first turn after stopping to trade warnings about ticks with a fellow hiker and his hunting dog.

After recalculating my directions and getting back on the right path I continued through the foothills until I reached a cattle road. I crossed the road and climbed to the nearest peak to get my first view of the canyon. The canyon stood out  among the rolling hills and  looked as though a giant drove an ax through the middle of a foothill. I quickly descended from the vantage point and headed down to the cattle trail which led me straight to the canyon. I could hear the rushing water through the canyon as I winded my way down the road and I felt a cool drip go down my back. At first I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, I mean I had just hiked 5 miles in the heat. (There is no shade anywhere on this hike so make sure to go in the mornings  when its cool).  But reality slapped me on the back of the head and I came to the realization that my new reservoir was leaking. My dumb ass didn’t put the cap on all the way after giving the dog some water on our last break. I also failed to pack my water filter so I would have to continue onwards with no hydration. However it didn’t bother me as I was fascinated by the view of the deep ravine. My dog and I explored the canyon from top to bottom. The rocky sides had an astounding variation of colors and their jagged formations created an excellent contrast to the budding wildflowers.

After exploring the canyon a bit, I ventured on towards the waterfall. You cannot see the waterfall from anywhere on the trail but if you listen closely you can hear the falling water so trust your ears and your map. The path I was traveling ended in a clearing and I continued on following my GPS down a small slope and through an outcropping of rocks and BOOM! A raging river flowing off a small cliff to a deep pool below, the echo of the water bouncing off the surrounding rocks. Maybe raging river isn’t the best way to describe it, but it was a lot bigger than it I thought it would be.

After taking a few pictures I decided to head home. I don’t usually like to do out and backs because obviously I have already viewed the scenery and I am the type of person to rarely do things twice, so I attempted to create a loop. Probably a mistake to make serious changes to a route mid-hike with no water, but I wasn’t as tired as I thought I would be so I went for it. I decided to avoid most of the up on this leg of the journey and chose to stick to the flat lands. This worked well for me until I saw where I thought I had parked. Turns out there was a 3D archery tournament that day that I was unaware of (or I totally would have entered it) and they created their own parking lot in an open field. Thinking that parking lot was where I had initially started from, I put away the GPS and headed that direction. It wasn’t until I got to the parking lot did I realize my mistake and calculated I was 2 miles away from the trailhead in the wrong direction. I had to work my way around the archery course but luckily ran into a cooler filled with water bottles left over from the early stages of the tournament. It was a godsend! I deposited $0.50 into the cooler and took a water for myself and filled the dog bowl with the melted ice. Feeling refreshed and ready to cross the finish line I took a little shortcut and strolled through the rest of the course, hopped a barb wire fence and finally made it back to my truck.  I traveled a total of 11 miles making this my longest single day hike .

So what did I learn?

• Bring a small pair of binoculars so can make sure you recognize where you started from.
• Make sure the damn cap on your water is screwed on all the way
  

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Chad Albright

Chad can be summed up by his idea of a perfect day: Waking up early to watch the sunrise over the mountains, warm cup of coffee in hand then grabbing his camera and fly rod, hitting the trail to explore some uncharted territory followed by cold beers and campfire steaks. Chad is often joined on his adventures by his wife, Tori, and their dog, Kona.