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Houston Canyon - Hellsgate
Wilderness, Tonto National Forest
| Summary: |
An out and
back canyon trip in a pink granite tributary
of Tonto Creek. |
| Directions: |
From Phoenix
head north on Highway 87 towards Payson. Just
after you pass the sign for the Barnhardt
Trailhead turn right following the sign
towards Gisela. Follow this paved road up and
over Black Mountain staying straight at any
branches. The road becomes well graded dirt,
continue straight until you reach a 'T'
intersection with mail boxes in front of you
and Gisela Valley Farms on the right. Turn
left and continue to follow the main road
until you reach a metal gate with pull off
area on the right. Park here. |
| Road Conditions: |
Passenger Car |
| Navigation: |
Easy |
| Length: |
~5 miles
depending where you turn around |
| Date Hiked: |
February 2002 |
| Weather Conditions: |
Cool and
breezy |
|
Required Skills: |
 |
| Hike Description: |
From the car
park duck through the metal gate and follow
the road 0.5 miles to the end. You will see a
crude sign on the left for 'Swim Hole'. Follow
this sign on a well used trail down hill and
through a gate. The stream immediately in
front of you is Houston Creek. Turn left and
head up the stream, hopping the barb wire
fence. The first part of the canyon has been
decimated by cattle & you'll have to dodge
the cow pies as you go. There is a large pipe
on stream right (the right side of the stream
facing the direction the water is flowing)
which must carry stream water to the farm
below. When you reach the pipe intake the
evidence of cattle fades away and you can now
follow the clean water up canyon. Don't bother
trying to keep your feet dry as you'll be
forced to wade many times on this hike.
Basically you just rock hop and bush wack your
way upstream, be careful on the rocks, they
are polished smooth and are extremely slippery
when wet (the author wiped out twice on this
hike, and was lucky not to be injured). After
20 minutes or so, you'll come to a dry
tributary which enters from stream right. If
you head up this side canyon you will be faced
with 3 dry falls. The first is easily climbed,
the second is quite difficult, the third
looked like it might have a route around on
canyon right, but the author did not attempt
this last fall as it looked like the canyon
became shallow and uninteresting above. Back
at the main drainage, continue upstream. The
pick granite walls and rocks form a very
pretty scene, but they never really close in
to form any good narrows. In several spots you
will be forced to wade some deep pools, the
deepest of which came up to my chest. After
about an hour and a half of walking you will
come to a very pretty section with a 30'
cascading waterfall which tumbles between pink
granite walls into a pool below. You can get
right up to the falls by climbing the rock on
stream left (or if it's warm enough you can
swim right up the stream). This is probably
the best place to turn around. The author
continued upstream for another 45 minutes, but
the canyon becomes rather shallow and
uninteresting beyond this point. When ready
return the way you came. |
| Rating (1-5 stars): |
 
The author stumbled on this canyon using topo
maps. Given the narrow contour lines around
the stream and the geologic features the
canyon cuts through, I thought it might be
promising. Unfortunately it didn't pan out to
be as good as I'd hoped. The author spent 5
hours exploring upstream and in the side
canyon. |
| Maps: |
USGS Topographic Map
(printed from AZ Topo! software) |
| Photos: |
Click picture for larger view, click your browser's 'Back' button to return to this page. |
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| Pink
granite and falls. |
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