Buehman Canyon

Bob(s) Peterson, John Waack, Mike Drake and John Hill took their respective 4x4s out for a drive in Redington Pass on Saturday February 7, 1998.. First we drove into upper Buehman Canyon (via the road that turns off at Piety Hill). This provide no wheelin' challenge at all since the trail has been graded the whole way into the old boiler and winch. We rate this trail as a 2 until the next floods erode it. Nevertheless, the weather and scenery were quite lovely. We gave our skidplates a workout by trying to cross some boulder fields after the graded trail ended. We went about a quarter mile upstream toward Brushy Corrals, but decided to bail out before serious vehicle destruction occurred. We went out the trail on the East side which is also easy going.

In the afternoon, we drove around to lower Buehman Canyon for some fun running up and down the sand flats in the wide part of the wash. The recent rains left enough water running to make this a great deal of fun. We made it the whole way up into the second narrows without driving through more than two feet of water.

Warning: Do not enter the Buehman narrows when there is even the slightest hint of rain in the area. Also beware that the holes in the narrows are quite deep and can be full of soft sand. We have come close to leaving trucks there on occasion. Conditions in the narrows can change very quickly.

Mike left us about 4PM for another engagement. Everybody else went on a late afternoon run in through Italian Trap and out through Three Feathers. This was particularly exciting since Tanque Verde Creek was significantly higher than on our previous trips through the Trap. It helped significantly that we had all seen the obstacles when the water was lower. It was also good that Mike and his stock Cherokee did not come with us. This was a run for the locked and lifted, and we did it at a rapid pace. We were back to the pavement by 6:00 including a half hour spent at Three Feathers watching ourselves and others fooling around on the various obstacles.

Buehman Canyon is named after Tucson photographer Henry Buehman.