Monday, March 23, 2009

Powers Cabin backpack

The goal of this backpack was to reach the cabin where in 1918 the Powers family were involved in a gunfight with local law enforcement. The Powers family was mining gold in what is now the Galiuro Wilderness in the Coronado National Forest near Wilcox, AZ. The Powers sons failed to register for the draft (likely because they were illiterate and didn't understand the letter requiring this). Local law went up to the cabin at dawn and a gunfight ensued in which the father was killed, the sheriff was killed and the sons fled on horseback. It is theorized that the failure to register for the draft was just an excuse and that the real reason for the gunfight was control over the gold mine. Whatever the reason, this led to one of the largest manhunts in Arizona history.

The backpack epic started with a small adventure on what might be loosely called a road. We were supposed to start from FR 159 but a section that went through a private land area was closed. We went on a 'workaround' which was a road fit for an ATV but was well handled by Wilma in her 4WD truk. This was more of a problem because we missed the turn off to get to FR 159. This section of the "road" so hectic that we were hanging on with white knuckles. When we realized that we were in the wrong place we debated bushwacking to the right place. Instead we backtracked in the truck and found the turnoff. The next obstacle was a road closed sign. After a bit of discussion we drove past that to the trailhead hoping we wouldn't get a ticket) (which we didn't) . Finally at the trailhead we started the climb. The heavy packs slowed everyone down. Each person carried between 35 and 39 pounds. We knew that coming out would be better because most of the food would be eaten and the stove fuel used up.

We climbed 2000 feet to our high point (Skyline). On the way there were a few questions as to the correct direction to take however between the gps, topo maps and common sense we made it the top and were rewarded with amazing views. Then we had a few miles of downhill dropping most of that 2000 feet to our camp site. I had concerns that we were arriving quite late and went ahead to scout the turnoff for it. On the way I found water and a closer campsite so I decided to hike back up and tell the others. After I found them we discussed our options and decided to fill our water bottles and move on to Holdout Spring where we planned to camp.

We initially thought that holdout springs was one of the places the Powers boys hid during their flight from the Law but later found out it wasn't. Once we got there we filled our water bottles with water from the spring and checked out a nearby cave. People had built fireplaces and a loft into the cave. We discussed staying in it but were put off by the bats and the insects in the cave. Instead we walked back to a near campsite built a campfire, set up the bear bag and pitched our tents in the dark. Dinner was quite late and I sacked out soon after.

The next morning we got up, ate a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal (breakfast of choice for backpackers) and explored another nearby cave. We decided to watch sunset from this cave as it was high above our campsite. Afterwards we headed downstream to Rattlesnake Creek (but luckily didn't see any snakes) and up to Powers cabin. I was feeling quite poor with a nagging headache. At the cabin the girls re-enacted the Powers family shoot out and we had lunch. As the others were reading the Powers story I explored the nearby Powers gold mine and decided to head back to camp to rest and try to get rid of my headache. I am not quite sure how it happened but I took a wrong turn on my way back. I soon realized and returned to the junction. I reviewed the map and headed out three times making the same wrong turn each time. Eventually the others came down from the Cabin and set me off in the right direction. On the way back we stopped at some nice pools in the creek. There were more of the Powers story was read while feet were soaked in the water. It was getting late so we started heading back. Unfortunately, half of us missed the turn off for Holdout Springs. We barely made it back by sunset. I felt like I should get the bonehead backpacker award by this time.

We walked up to the cave to watch the sunset. Wilma found some ancient artifacts from either Indians or early man by the cave. How cool was that? After the sunset we set out to eat as much food as we could to lighten our packs for the hike out the next day. It was a great meal of chana masala, cous cous, sundried tomatos, rice pilaf, and beef stew (not for me). We discussed our plans for the next day (an early wake up to try and beat the heat walking up the mountain). I hit the sack early (as usual) and the others stayed up reading the Powers family story.

The next morning we were up before six but still didn't manage to break camp until 7:50. I guess these things always take longer than you think. We headed out and up the side of the mountain. We were a little concerned about Carolyn's knee which had significantly swollen over the last two days. I lent her my hiking pole and we wrapped her knee in an ace bandage securing it with duct tape. With that she was able to make it out. We had lunch at Skyline (our high point) and were out at a reasonable hour.

During our backpack we saw very little wildlife (mostly ravens and squirrels) but did see indications that larger lifeforms were there. We saw lots of bear scat. One particular scat was next to a big hole dug out of the ground and the scat had lots of hair in it as if a rabbit or something had been dug up and eaten. We also smelled a rather musky smell that Wilma thought might have been a mountain lion. Needless to say we were all happy that we did not encounter either of these creatures up close. Driving back we saw a couple of Northern Harriers.

My full size photos are here. Below is a slideshow of the same but smaller images.

9 comments:

Erica said...

Looks like a wonderful time with friends. The boys wanted to know if you were able to explore into the cave very far?

Kris Olson said...

The caves were not that deep You could easily go to the back of them. I did not go in the mines. They are not safe.

Brent said...

Sounds like you had a great experience. One thing though, (and I'm not an expert) but I understand that mountain lions don't really have a smell because they are very clean. You may have smelled javelina. Typically, bear and lions are afraid of people and if you do see them, you see their rear ends as they are running away. Thanks for sharing your experience

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