Gila National Forest - Hidden Springs, Cox Canyon

The dike

The dike

Behind the dam

Collins Park

West side

The dam

Oak growing out of the rock

Dam and dike

I look at Google Earth a lot. One of the fun things to do is look at the satellite images  going back through the years Not every area has an image every year or even every  two or three and as you go back in time the resolution gets significantly less sharp and zooming in for detail is pointless. However, photos from about 2010 on, there can be seen many small changes in the landscape. In one instance I believe I was able to bracket when the bulldozing of an archaeological site occurred to four months.  I have also been able to pinpoint hidden areas of deciduous trees ( aspens, oaks and maples) especially with the rare pictures taken in October (most of the images are taken in early spring or winter it seems for the greater chance of cloudless skies), or at the right moment in April or May when they are at their most electric green.

So while looking through this particular area of the Gila National Forest (part of my new stomping ground: a circle with a radius of 50 miles with the center point being our cabin on Horse Mountain) at least 2 photos showed quite clearly a waterfall in a rocky passage just downstream from Hidden Springs in Cox Canyon. Now the very straight line at the top of falls gave me reason to believe that it was not a natural one, but rather water flowing over a now filled in dam site. Still, one can always have hope.

 Well, on an overcast early October day that threatened rain, we went out on the very long drive using FR 94 out of Apache Creek. The road is mostly good, although very narrow as it approaches a couple of passes. It also contains enough typically pleasant Gila scenery (especially the section along Cox Canyon, which had many nice oaks in Fall color, and the entrance into Collins Park) that it could qualify as a worthwhile diversion just for the drive.

 We did the short hike westward through a landscape that been burned (I'm not sure if from a natural fire or prescribed fire) fairly recently and was now an unappealing mix of slash, black stumps, weeds and juvenile junipers. Hopefully grasses will reassert themselves in the long run. On the low rise a short ways in, it was bit nicer as we approached the precipice of Cox Canyon (a major tributary to the North Fork Negrito Creek).

Looking across Cox Canyon

Elk Mountain

Collins Park

Elk Mountain

Somewhere near the spring

Behind the dam

Elk Mountain

From there I made my way very steeply (although with the aid of a sometimes livestock trail) down to the bottom to discover with only small amount of disappointment that it was indeed an old, but very stoutly built dam that was wedged in among the crags and weathered humps of a natural dike across the canyon. I easily crossed over to the upstream side where weeds flourished in the now filled in completely pond that. once backed up behind the dam. 

Top of the dam

Behind the dam

I walked on in search of any flow from Hidden Springs on the west side of the canyon There was a fence, perhaps built at one time to keep livestock out of the spring area, but I neither saw nor heard any water anywhere (even though I'm sure I was at the location of the spring) save for a puddle beneath dam. Going back over to the other side of the dike, I used an odd improvised "gate" of sticks and wire to get a look at the dam. 

Near Hidden Springs

Gate

The continuation of the canyon downstream looked nicely lush and scenic, but  my time was limited, and shortly thereafter I made the short, lung-tester of a hike back up to the mesa where Andrea and Nessie had been waiting for me. 

Collins Park, Elk Mountain

Back at the 4Runner we decided to make the drive to see the impressive expanse of treeless grassland known as Collins Park. The hulking, mass of Elk Mountain loomed large with the orange of scrubby oaks growing in the burn scars stained the upper ridges.