Camping At West Clear Creek

by Nick Coons
Jul 21, 2004

This past weekend was the first camping trip of the year for me, but it didn't start out that way. My Dad and I were taking part in a bowling tournament located at Rim Country Lanes in Payson. Start time was set to be 1:30pm. Since we were there, this turned out to be a really good time to go camping. Especially since the Willow Fire had just been put out and the area had received rain all week. Unfortunately, this did not aid to lift the statewide fire restrictions.

As always, we awoke early with the intention of actually leaving early. Showing up only 10 minutes before the start of the tournament would indicate that we weren't successful. However, it was an interesting tournament, and we had the wilderness to look forward to.

On the way to our campsite; which was a long, winding, and bumpy dirt road; we passed by many cows that had been let out for grazing. Some of these cows ended up very near our campsite. We stayed at the end of the road, which then became the trailhead to hike down to West Clear Creek. The weather was absolutely perfect, lingering in the 50s all evening.

The next morning, I awoke to breakfast cooking on the gas stove just outside the tent – Sausage, eggs, and potatoes. This would be a very nice start to what seemed to be a very long hike.

Going down to the creek was fairly easygoing and took a mere 20 minutes. Though for every minute down, I knew it would be another 2-3 minutes back up, and much more strenuous. The area around West Clear Creek is extremely green, and many parts are almost jungle-like. Walking through some of the thick vegetation proved to be very difficult, especially in areas where you couldn't see the ground. Certain areas had almost a swamp quality to them. This is something that you don't see much in Arizona.

We went as far as we could along the creek until the trail completely disappeared. Not preparing ourselves on this trip with our water shows, this is where we turned back. Along the way, we found various fishing holes and plenty of places to take some very nice photos. The water was warmer than what I had expected, and I was almost tempted to jump in – Almost.

Now it was time to hike back out. As we began the hike upward, it started to shower. The breeze and cool water falling from the sky made the trip out that much easier. Oddly enough, it last just about until we made it to the top – 40 minutes later. This was a feeling that stayed in my calves for quite some time.

Lunch followed, and then we packed up and moved on out. All of this had earned us a trip to the Dairy Queen on the way home.