After a long previous day covering 13 rough miles of hiking in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness, we were looking for a comparatively mellow and dare I say fun day to round out our eastern Arizona trip. It had been years since I had been to Salome Jug and I knew the others would get a kick out of this pink granite waterpark so it seemed like the obvious choice. Highs around 90F likely meant pleasant water temperatures that would probably outweigh the hassle of Memorial weekend Sunday crowds for this popular canyon. We drove without incident back out Cherry Creek Road, stopping once to admire some of the many saguaro blooms spotted along the way. The comparatively rough A Cross Road led us to the Salome trailhead where we joined about 8 other cars. Someone next to us was rappelling 2ft off their car, clearing a first rappel- yes this was clearly this sort of canyon and certainly a harbinger of things to come. 
Despite the mid-morning hour it was already getting hot and it took only a few steps along the dusty trail to crave water. At least after the steep and rough trails of the previous day, it felt like we were flying along the evenly graded trail and even passed a couple groups on our approach. After 2.5 miles we reached the head of the granite gorge area. Happily the water was a warm but refreshing temperature. Among the four of us we has varying degrees of thermal protection from none to full wetsuit- happily everyone was happy with their choices and we waded in.
The canyon starts as a series of wading pools linked by short bedrock falls but soon becomes more enclosed and the drops taller. The smooth polish of the salmon pink granite is unmistakable as was the surrounding desert of ocotillos and saguaros. As we worked our way down I took advantage of a couple optional jump spots. We passed a couple groups on our way down, including someone that asked me for help down a waterfall. The canyon was busy! I think it is fair to say we saw at least 40 people over the length of our hike.
The sculpting and water features just gets better and better as it cuts deeper through the granite bench with a few nice twists and turns and deep pools. In higher water we would have a few tricky maneuvers to make but at this flow we made good time working our way down. Finally I could see the traverse line for the waterfall rappel or jump and so we all put on our rappelling gear before the pool before. I got in one more nice extra credit jump into the deep pool above the "jug" part of the canyon.
The geometry of this drop was a little different than I remembered but I led the charge out along the traverse line and began setting up our rope, thankfully arriving before an additional 2-3 groups piled up to queue. Kari first, then Heather rappelled down without incident. At this point the group behind us more or less begged us to help someone in their group down that had never rappelled before. They had a rope that was too short and did not seem to have a lot of confidence in what they were doing. Keith then jumped down to provide a fireman's belay and I set up up on rappel on the top. Thankfully not much time was added and they were quite appreciative. Happy to help avoid a potential rescue I suppose. I packed up the rope and jumped into the near-bottomless pool. We watched a couple more people jump their way down then began the long swim down the flooded hallway, certainly the standout part of the canyon. We found one more optional jump and worked our way down to the final turn in the canyon. As I had remembered, the end of the canyon is certainly its most surprising aspect. The natural waterpark framed by vertical cliffs abruptly gives way to a wide open desert wash providing a dramatic end to this fun and scenic canyon.
Unsurprisingly the exit trail was much improved since my last visit to this canyon over a decade ago! And certainly much more popular, we were by far the most experienced canyoners in the canyon. Back up the sweaty trail to the car. The carpark had well over 20 cars in it at this point with even more people hiking in to the canyon. It was midafternoon at this point, but we considered our options and decided to drive for broke back to southern California, making it back around 11pm. On the drove out we spotted an excellent roadside crested saguaro that made a particular nice parting shot.
Thanks to Keith for driving. I am glad that everyone enjoyed this canyon and it formed such a contrast with our previous day's rough and tough hike.
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