Hellsgate Backpacking. Now with Cows!

Backpacking is exciting. This backpacking trip was incredibly exciting. First, it was my first solo backpacking trip, which was fun. Also, I didn't pass any other hikers or backpackers (one of the benefits to going on a Tuesday-Wednesday I assume). Also, the location is called "Hellsgate," which is suitably epic. Also, cows. Many Cows.

Map of where I went. From trailhead off the 260 to Hells Gate (mostely along orange dotted line)

To begin, Tuesday morning I packed my bag, got the last supplies I needed from REI (first-aid, sleeping bag, compass, whistle, lighter fluid, tarp, and Hellsgate Map), then contacted some friends to send the Rangers after me if I didn't come out, and drove to Payson and Hellsgate.

Packed bag, parked truck, ready for the Trail.

It's always good when they tell you "Do not assume you will be rescued." 

Leaving it behind to go into the woods.

So, the walk started out pretty fine, going down an old jeep trail for about a mile, with a moderate climb. Eventually, met trail 37 (Hellsgate Trail), and wandered into the woods. Still had a very clear path, complete with protective barbed wire (wouldn't want you to get lost would we?)

Gotta love the barbed wire protection.

Eventually, there was some decent elevation gain, which resulted in some splendid views.

Trees along the uphill leading to

A fairly nice view.

Now, at this point, I should mention that while I hiked the trail without other people, and never ran into other people I was not alone. I had seen chipmunks occasionally, though they scampered away before I could take pictures, and crows constantly. I also was mildly concerned about some large droppings I had seen on the trail that seemed recent, but figured it was probably fine.

some crows flying through the blue sky.

Closer crows

Around this time, I was watching ahead carefully, and spotted a shadow. I stopped, and inspected, and it was a cow! Can't say I was expecting that, and moreover, it was on my trail! I was about to just walk a couple feet off the trail and pass it when I saw it also had a baby cow with it. Rather than risk upsetting the mother, I decided to backtrack a bit, and hoof it through the woods to avoid the cows while singing (so I wouldn't spook them if I didn't see them and came across them).

Cow and calf (can you see it?)

After passing them, I rejoined the trail and trekked onward! Eventually, the trail entered the Hellsgate wilderness (as marked by this sign). Note that I'm holding the camera level. There were some hills in these parts.

Hellsgate Start! Leading to hill to: 

Another view from the hill at Hellsgate.

Eventually, I came across a strange shaped block in the trail. After photographing it, I saw more cows (and now have a guess for what the block was used for)

At this point, there were too many cows. So once again, I went off trail to avoid them. After going about a 1/4th of a mile, I finally rejoined the trail later on. Cows are annoying. Also very large. Eventually, I reached what my map called "El Grande Tank." The trail passed by it, and what else was there, but another cow!

Lake-ho! 

Cow-ho! 

Lake looks nicer up close.

Eventually, the lake/tank past (and all it's flies and cows), I began to get close to Hellsgate. Unfortunately, the trail kind of vanished. Fortunately, this close to the end of my hike, I knew that I just needed to descend into the canyon, and it's super easy to find.

Canyon in sight! Now to just get down. That seems steep.

Fortunately, there were a few paths down. Sadly, there was a cow guarding my favorite. So I'm going to my second favori-

SURPRISE COW-GUARD!

Ok. Cows don't charge people, so it's probably fine. Also, this cliff seems like just as good a descent. Rocks are more stable than loose gravel anyways right? So I took my third favorite path down, most definitely not the trail that the "trail" was supposed to go, but hey, it should be ok if I just maneuver around a bit once I hit the stream, and can then find the easy way up. Besides, it's only 1530, so I've got two hours until sunset, probably three until dark. Should be able to get down in under a half-hour, which gives me 2.5 hours to search for a campsite. Speaking of which, after going down a bit, I get a better view of my destination.

It's a rather impressive river. Also quite far down.

So, this route probably wasn't the best. After the initial 5-10 foot rockwall descent, it's back to gravel and cactus, with a 20+% slope. But slow and steady wins the raAAA-
Well, everybody falls sometimes. Why is my hand imitating a cactus? At least it doesn't hu-NOPE. Definitely hurts. Hmm... Maybe I should take a pict - nope. Pull spikes out of hand. 5 minutes later and I can grab things with my fingertips again (with minimal amounts of blood). For the record, everything is way harder when sitting on a canyon-side pulling spikes out of your left hand.

So the descent was a little harder than I thought it'd be. But, after paying much more attention to where cacti were below me, I made it down only falling twice more (and without any injuries, aside from a bruised knee and pain whenever I grab something (like a handhold) with my left hand). Well, that took about an hour rather than a half-hour, and I'm pretty sure it's impossible to go back the way I came. Related - apparently I weigh enough to shear rock off other rocks in this canyon.

The end of the route I took down. Probs not the best way down. Decided to take a different route up.

But, once I reached the bottom, glory awaited! Or at least, a nice river I could wash my hand in.

Technically taken on the way down.

There's some nice River! Nice cool water.

From here, I decided to look for a place to camp nearby, or at least the trail. Unfortunately, I found neither.

Made it down!... Now what?

So, after exploring up and down the river a bit, and determining that I didn't want to wade through 4+ feet of water, or jump and catch myself on a rock with my hand across the river while on a solo-backpacking trip at least 8 miles from anyone else, I decided that I should return to one of the places I had passed earlier to set up camp. Unfortunately, that meant I needed to climb out of the canyon... and I hadn't really found a better route.

But, no sense in waiting around! Sun sets in about an hour and a half, it'll be dark within an hour after that. If it took me an hour to get down, it'll probably take a similar amount of time to get out. No sense in waiting around, no time to take pictures, let's leave while I can still see.

About an hour and 20 minutes later

Made it out successfully! But... where's the trail?

So I made it out of the canyon, it's now about 1745, the sun's set, but I'm definitely not on the trail. Good thing I've got a map and compass! Hmm... would be super convenient if my compass hadn't broken about 2 hours into the trip (note: make sure you get an actual compass, not a 4-in one whistle, thermometer, compass, magnifier). Fortunately, there's a landmark!

Yup. Sun's gone. But there's a peak! And it's labeled on my map! With that, the river, and the sunset, I've basically got GPS (Gulch Peak Sun)!

So, eventually, I found a forest, which I wandered in a bit, and found a trail. I didn't take pictures, because I kinda didn't want to be wandering in a cow-filled wilderness at night. I wound up back-tracking about a mile up the trail past the lake I had passed earlier, and found some nice hammockable trees in the area, where I set up camp. I decided to mix up my meal order, eating my pop-tarts tonight and my mac-n-cheese in the morning, because dark.

I also got to practice setting up my hammock, tarp, and making a bear-bag (though, in this case, it was more of a cow-bag).

Safely ensconced within hammock. Lights-out!

Wednesday morning brought a new day, new sore muscles (I did do about 9-10 miles of hiking yesterday, complete with canyon descent and ascent), and cold! I woke up at 2 AM with cold feet (I'll be wearing socks in the future, sleeping bag was a little colder than I thought it'd be), but managed to sleep until about 6 AM (so, just about 11 hours).

Whistle/magnifier/compass/thermometer reads 30 degrees

Speaking of sights, that's a great sunrise. Let's look at it in more detail.

Mmmh. That's some nice sunrise. Also, a decent case of lack of contrast in my phone-camera (note this picture and the one above were taken at basically the same time)

After getting up and cleaning up camp (taking down the bear-bag, collecting my bag, taking down the hammock tarp, setting up a cooking location, etc.) I cooked breakfast, using the last of my water to make mac-n-cheese. As I ate I contemplated my water situation. I'd drunk the 3.5 liters that I brought with me, and while I could get out without too much problem, I'd be very unhappy. so I should definitely get more water. Also, there was the canyon, which had glorious fast-flowing, particulate free, cold refreshing water. Not sure why I didn't fill up yesterday... Probably something to do with cacti, cows, and canyons. But I didn't really want to hike the mile to the canyon, then descend again, then ascend. Especially without water until I reached the bottom. So I settled on the lake right next to camp. Unfortunately, it was kind of a murky lake.

Tasty! Has good texture.

With my water acquired, I returned to camp to rest and read a bit. After-all, what's the point of a hammock if all you're doing is sleeping in it!

Rainproof sleeping hammock!

Sunny reading hammock!

After reading James and Esther, I decided it was about time to hit the trail (~10 AM). After finishing packing up, and deciding maybe I should also bleach my water I start the hike back. At least I finished up all the hard trail-finding stuff yesterday, so it should be a pretty easy hike back to the truck (well, 6 miles, 1500 feet elevation gain, 30 lb pack, but easy to find).

Packed and ready to go!

So, now it's just a final walk out, make sure we avoid any cows, and we should be good. Yep. Nothing exciting here. Wait. Where's the trail? Hmmm.... problematic. Good thing I have a map and compa-- a map! And can see the sun, know the time, and can identify two peaks. Unfortunately, I'm kinda in the middle of a forest on a hillside. Oh well, just head north, I'll find the truck eventually.

Eventually, the trail is found again, and I think I only lost about a half hour. I really need to get a better compass. Or pay more attention to where I'm walking. Or take trails that AREN'T OVERUN WITH COWS!

Cow Cow Cow

Cow

Other than the occasional cow, the rest of the journey is uneventfu- wait... what's that sound behind me? COWS CAN GALLOP! Wait. those cows are galloping towards me! Defensive positions! 

* singing "Oh the Deep Deep Love of Jesus" * - cows scatter about 30 feet away and run past me.

Ok. Cows are gone. I really don't want to see more cows.

The rest of the walk was quite uneventful, just the occasional lizard, chipmunk, and many flies. It's a fair bit hotter today than yesterday (whistle/compass/magnifier/thermometer reads 80 degrees).

Ultimately, a very satisfying and moderately thrilling trip. Also informative. Didn't know cows could move like that. 

Final stats: ~16 miles, ~4000 feet of elevation gain, ~6 liters of water, ~2500 calories (probs should have eaten more), a murder of crows, 1 river, 4 streams, 1 lake, 20 cows