West Clear Creek Backpacking 2020

Jun 30, 2020
2 min read

A couple weeks ago a few friends had decided to go backpacking for his 36th birthday. We had a small group and ended up going to West Clear Creek. We started the trip off with a night camping on the rim. It was quite chilly and everyone came in at different times. This night was kind of a slow meet and greet night. After everyone made their way down to the campsite just outside of happy Jack, Arizona, we called it a night.

The following morning we all woke up, ate breakfast and got everything packed up for the descend into the canyon. We started our hike down with beautiful views in every direction as we dropped over 1000 vertical feet from the Maxwell trailhead. As we got to the bottom we were welcomed by crystal clear water with breathtaking views of the canyon walls towering over us. We made our way through the creek for a couple more miles seeing all sorts of wild life and plants. We finally came to a clearing in the woods that had previously hosted campers. We set up here because it was close to the water, well shaded and had some natural built chairs. After finishing setting up camp we packed a couple day packs and left camp to venture farther down stream. We hiked for several miles through water crossings and river rocks. The water was brisk especially for a chest deep crossing to get to the bottom of Sundance Canyon. Definitely want to canyoneer into camp next time with this wicked rappel. The after was growing and decided to head back to camp. As we got back to camp, everyone changed into some warmer layers and busted out the jet boils. I made a wonderful little backpack meal while bottles of whiskey, beer cans and wine bags were passed around camp. We all caught the buzz and just sat and talked around a little fire pit we build up. After lots of interesting conversation we all stopped to just look up at the stars and listen to the sounds of nature. We turned in for the night shortly after that.

The next morning was an early morning with pack up and proceeded to make our way up and out of the canyon. After the few miles out we finally arrived at our vehicles. This trip was a quick three days. With some people I knew and the new friends made this weekend, it was one that I will always look back at. Thanks for the invite for the birthday trip.