White Canyon Wilderness

On Saturday Steve Yahner and I attended a hike sponsored by the Sierraclub.This hike was a 11 mile off trail exploration of the eastern rim of theWhiteCanyon Wilderness. At the heart of the Wilderness is White Canyon itself, adeep drainage ringed by Soaring Cliffs.This hike had countless vistas of wild and spectacular slickrock terrain,resembleing the slickrock terrain in Southern Utah close to Moab. Animalsresident in this watery environment include the Sonoran Mud turtle.We had never tried a Sierra Club hike before and thought that this onewouldbe a good one to try.There was a group of 15 that assembled at the trailhead. Ken Mcginty, thetrip's leader asked everyone to identify themselves and their favoritebeer.El lobo hates to participate in this type of activity but was a good sportandresponded cheerfully if not a little sarcastically, with "Fosters" thatsAustralian for beer. Steve replied "rootbeer". How boring. Many of theyounger Sierra club singles responed with a micrbrewery beer. This was suchgreat fun to start out on. At this point we were looking at each other andasking what did we get ourselves in to?I was dubious of this group's ability to handle this rugged terrain, butmosteveryone proved to be strong hikers. There was only one incident where ayoungdamsel got in trouble on a steep climb to a peak and fell and could not getup. She was on very loose, crumbling rock, and in a dangerous situation.ELlobo came to her rescue, and she was very greatful. She told Steve that Ihadsaved her life, and he was very Jealous of El Lobo's heroism. When I toldSteve that she had to grab my leg to get up, he was really upset.The hike was great. We hiked relentlessly up and down hill, ascended highridges, and bagged peak 4023.The views from above were incredable. Never ending panoramas!!!The ascent to the ridges were clogged with sharp brush . We went throughCholla cactus and pulled spines out of our bodies most of the day. Webalanced our way along knife sharp ridges and fought through the spiny,brushy, truculent vegetation.I will bring gloves next time!The group was a fun group, and we really enjoyed everyone, although wewouldprefer not to be hiking with a herd.We saw no one else but our group. Steve was up to his old antics, makingloudnoise on the trail-quite an embarassment- and generally anoyed anyone hecould. He did bond with a broad named "Sudsy"Overall this hike is rated a solid 9.0. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves inthis beautiful area.It is a great alternative to hiking the Superstitions.We do plan on going again, perhaps this weekend. Ken McGinty has a 9 mileexploratory off trail ridgetrek, north of Carefree. Plans are to bag 5,013Kentuck peak then follow a series of ridges to Maverick Butte.MEXICAN WOLF UPDATETo date, 5 of the 11 Mexican wolves reintroduced have been shot. El LoboGrande, conservationists, and all Sierra club members are outraged. ARichardHumphrey of Tucson shot the first wolf in April near Turkey creekcampground.The US fish Wildlife service refused to prosecute him even though it wasclearthe wolf was shot from the side while standing still and was not a threattoHumphry's family as he later claimed. The other 4 wolves were shot fromAugustthrough November.Anyone that believes that they have information that might be helpful inapprehending the perpetrators should call US fish and Wildlife specialagentsat 602-835-8289.