We awoke from a comfortable night's sleep in the Prius to some particularly chatty desert birds, high up in the enchanting Superstition Mountains outside of Phoenix. A quick breakfast and mostly quick packing prepared us for the short drive to our trailhead. I'd never been to this part of Arizona before and found the monument-like volcanic peaks and dense saguaro forests to be a refreshing change of landscape. We parked at the saddle near Black Cross Butte and walked down the switchbacked gated road into lower Fish Creek Canyon. Access to this canyon was formerly quite contentious as there were concerns of people walking the road all the way to Horse Mesa housing facility, but the canyoning organization CAC and the Salt River Project managed to come to a very favorable agreement to secure access. I usually don't enjoy walking on roads, but we did not see anyone else and the morning temperature was cool and comfortable. Before long we reached the Canyon Lake Reservior drowning what must have been a very scenic stretch of the Salt River. A very short walk upcanyon brought us to the dynamite shack where the steep and somewhat exposed "sheep route" to the start of the canyon begins.
While the canyon was certainly excellent, this scrambling, ridge-clinging approach was one of the more fun and scenic canyon approaches I can think of and certainly added to the trip. We threaded our way up several short cliff bands, eventually reaching a steep gully. I was pretty sure we were on the route but surprised and how formidable the view looked from the bottom and the amazing lack of cairns and established trails. Once at the top, what appeared to be a crux climb with 100ft of exposure was actually a facade that could easily be scrambled around the back of.
At the top of the gully
From here we traversed a wide ledge with stunning views of some of the best volcanic slickrock I've ever seen. Crossbeded sandstone slickrock is certainly hard to beat but the colors, textures, and forms in this slickrock were excellent too. We continued up to gain the narrow and exposed ridge seen in the images below. Most of this was walking but there were a few exposed scrambling moves thrown in to keep things spicy.
Unfortunately the crude track I had marking this route was not terribly accurate, which led to a 20 min detour looking for a break in the cliff in the wrong direction. We did get to see some monstrous saguaros on the way though. Truly amazing life. Finally on the right track, we continued climbing our way up two more cliff bands and across an exposed traverse to finally top out.
With the climbing behind us, it was now a simple matter of traversing a sloping plateau and dropping into the head of the canyon. This plateau was a neat contrast to the steep terrain below and was actually completely coated in swirly chalcedony which had eroded out of hydrothermal veins in the volcanics. It was hard not to look at the ground and avoid walking into a cactus!
We dropped into the canyon easy enough and after about 10 minutes of scrubby wash, found the obvious place to suit up with our wetsuits. There was a pleasant light trickle and the sculpting of the volcanics by the water suggested good things downcanyon. Almost immediately downcanyon was our first of many pools and rappels. Although yes it was winter, we found the pools to be exceptionally cold!
Water did a superb job sculpting the volcanic rocks in this canyon. The canyon cut through many such layers, which each behaved a little differently leading to a nice variety of features- sculpted chutes, deep potholes, large drops, fun downclimbs.
This canyon had a nice length to it, good bang for our buck with the approach and exit. We maybe only counted about 7 rappels at this point and were told we'd find about 12 and, while we could see the reservior, we seemed to have a lot of vertical to go.
One final narrows led to an awkward boulder chute rappel followed by a beautiful lush hanging garden area complete with frogs and aquatic plants. An oasis in the desert. Just beyond was the dramatic horizon line of the final rappel, a ~120ft mostly free-hanging drop into a deep pool, the Punchbowl after which the canyon is named. This was probably the best rappel in the canyon and a great way to end it (frontispiece). A stone throw beyond was the road which would lead us back to our car. Once de-suited, the walk back was easy enough though I felt noticeably exercised after the day's adventure. Truly a beautiful area I look forward to returning to again.
Thanks to Sara and to those that came together to allow access to this beautiful spot.
