Pine Creek Like You Have Never Seen It

Today (2-10-2010), Kenny and I hiked through Pine Creek Canyon. In the 15 years I have never seen Pine Creek with this much water and I have been through Pine Creek about 100 times. As we drove we couldn't resist stopping and taking photos of the low hanging clouds over La Madre and Bridge Point.

As we walked the Pine Creek Trail we could hear the water below. It was tricky crossing the creek without getting wet. Knowing there would be tons of water, we tried to stay on paths as much as possible. In the first canyon we saw a awesome waterfall on the north wall facing wall. The water was unbelievable. See the video at the end of this blog.

Luckily we found several paths around the water. Most of the climbs were buried in water, some over four feet deep! As we continued in the south-south fork of Pine Creek there was snow in the canyon. It eventually became too snowy and my hands got cold. We turned around just before the turnoff to Shark Boulder.

Of course, all the canyons are full of water. With the rising temperatures and snow at the higher elevations, all waterfalls will be flowing for some time to come. Here's a photo of Mud Spring Waterfall from today. Brian led a group and David sent the photo.