Eagle Creek (near Morenci, AZ)

Lower Eagle Creek, November 28-29, 2014

Here's the trip report for our trip to Eagle Creek near Morenci, AZ on 28-29 November 2014. Participants were Bob P. in his fullsize Blazer and John H., Buell J. and Brigg J. in John's 2002 Avalanche 2500.

After meeting at the Conoco station in Morenci on Friday afternoon, we started with a quick visit to the Morenci Mine Overlook. Then we drove down Lower Eagle Creek Road to the pump station. We headed downstream on Eagle Creek at a relaxed pace enjoying the colored leaves and scenery. The weather was sunny and clear near 70 degF. We stopped to look at the slot canyon where Gold Gulch joins Eagle Creek. Note that the entrance to Gold Gulch had a 5 foot high bank a few years ago, and now it is dead level with the raised Eagle Creek stream bed. It is always fun to see how the terrain changes from year to year. In one area a debris flow had moved rocks weighing about 1000 pounds about 50 yards out of the side canyon. We stopped to look at the "secret campsite" near the bat cave, but decided not to cut a new entrance. We passed a band of coatimundis although all but one of them were quicker than the photographer. Alison provided text updates of the UofA - ASU football score as we drove on the fringes of cell coverage - clearly we weren't far enough out in the wilderness. We stopped to fish at a number of holes, but didn't catch any smallmouth bass. Other wildlife sightings included quail, squirrel, and lots of cows. We camped on Friday night at the top of a high sand bank about halfway from the pump station to the Gila River. We had a lovely mesquite fire that started out with the traditional Eagle Creek exploding rocks. Dinner was either Italian sausage or beef-bean-jalapeno stew cooked in the dutch oven.

The temperature got down to 39 degF overnight (quite warm for this time of year). The sky was crystal clear with low scintillation - why don't I get this weather at the telescope? It was great for watching meteors and satellites before getting up in the morning. Breakfast was either skillet scramble or Pop Tarts toasted over the fire. We continued downstream on Saturday morning, with many stops for clearing fallen trees and fishing. By 11AM we were about 3 miles from the Gila in a place where we had camped previously (0.3 mile from the trail blockage that stopped us last time). At that point, we turned around and headed back upstream. The water was fairly low (25 cfs), so the deepest water crossing was only 30 inches deep with most crossings less than 18 inches. The most wheeling fun was climbing a slippery muddy bank with deep silt at the bottom. There wasn't enough traction without lockers, but lockers caused you to slip sideways into a bush. We were back out on pavement by 14:30 on Saturday.

We didn't see any bighorn sheep. We didn't catch any bass. We didn't see any bats (expected). We didn't use the winches, although it was close on 2 instances. We still had a great time. The only body damage was on Bob's arm and hand while we were clearing brush off the trail.

Total off-highway miles: 14
Total miles: ~300