Garfield Canyon- Caballo Mountains

We did this hike this past Sunday from late morning into the afternoon. We realized it was too warm for the last weekend of January very early on when in the first mile we were already bemoaning the lack of shade for our panting pups. The wide wash at the beginning of the hike was lined with acacia and desert willow with occasional hackberry as well, all of course leafless in the dead of our desert winter, no matter how unseasonably warm. In the second mile we entered the box section that started with jumbly cliffs of marine paleozoic  rocks. Huge boulders had pushed out onto the hillsides, and many more seemed  about to be squeezed out by the layers above. In the creek bottom there were tilted beds of limestone bedrock containing many indistinct fossils.

 On  our way we went, through several bends, using the little used road on the  benches at times.  A bushy tailed gray fox climbed up the cliffs.Views opened up to a tempting side canyon, and the rocky peaks that rose high above it.  We had our picnic where cliffs plunged into the creek bed at just the right angle to provide deep and welcome shade where the temps were easily 10 or more degrees cooler. We saw a  black metal sign for the "Olskool" 4x4 trail and as we continued on, some wooden stakes cemented in the hillside that may have been mining claim markers. The canyon got smaller and now seemed to cut through rocks that  had been altered extensively by secondary processes.  A few more bends and we called it a day and turned back.

 This  is the second hike we've done investigating the several arroyos that cut through the southern end of the Caballos. The first one was in Green Canyon that we did a couple of years ago. In the future, Mcleod and Broadhurst arroyos await exploration. Unfortunately the sun's path through the sky seemed to be perfectly aligned with the canyon which made the return trip equally as hot as the walk in, but we made it back, almost out of water, but in good shape.
NOTE: This was a nice hike but the road that accesses it is strictly high clearance 4 wheel drive.