Post by rangewalker on May 12, 2022 13:22:56 GMT -8
When you find that secret spring that opens an area in the Mountain West of the US, hikers' travels can be limited to the most intriguing areas. I have dreamed of hiking into this area and posting around with day hikes from a camp mile from the highway. It is a large chunk of public land with sagebrush steppe and lower elevation juniper and ponderosa pine forest.
On a random day hike with low expectations, I set off for a midday view of a nearby canyon, and I stumbled on this secret spring. It is not on any USGS quads, from 1900 to the present. It was not on the 1:1000000 BLM maps. Nothing on any of the digital sources I have. The real magic is there are several flat granite benches above the spring, more than 300 yards away, so I can take water to sustain me yet less likely to interfere with the area wildlife.
The photo doesn't do a great job of showing the outlet. Upper left quad.
On a random day hike with low expectations, I set off for a midday view of a nearby canyon, and I stumbled on this secret spring. It is not on any USGS quads, from 1900 to the present. It was not on the 1:1000000 BLM maps. Nothing on any of the digital sources I have. The real magic is there are several flat granite benches above the spring, more than 300 yards away, so I can take water to sustain me yet less likely to interfere with the area wildlife.
The photo doesn't do a great job of showing the outlet. Upper left quad.
