Last year, after we had hiked
The Beehive, we were checking out Google Earth to see what other interesting things we could explore in the Canaan Mountain Wilderness area. To our surprise we found an alcove that held a small body of water and was called Amphitheater Lake - never heard of it before - better add that one to our list!
Surprisingly, there isn't much "out there" on this hike (you can click
here to find the only article that we came across that details some of the early history and exploration of Short Creek). It certainly looked interesting and one that not a lot of folks had done, so we made plans to do this relatively easy hike on a nice spring day!
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| We got an early start . . . the creek was flowing nicely and the birds were chirping |
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Right away we noticed a lot of tracks, then we spooked up some Bighorn Sheep
(Allison managed to get a picture but it didn't turn out too well - sorry!) |
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| Hmmm . . . not sure how to explain this! |
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There were a few pools that didn't appear to have a way around them . . .
We finally gave up on keeping our feet dry and waded in - only ankle deep! |
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| We could hear this little waterfall before we found it just around the corner |
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We took the hard way up, not realizing there was trail that bypassed this section
(If you don't want to get your feet wet, it'll get you around these narrow pools -
but then what fun would be in that?!) |
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Looking down on the waterfall flowing into the pool below . . .
That's quite the little trough the water has eroded over the years |
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| Allison spotted this baby bighorn sheep skull just as we approached the lake |
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| Up ahead is the amphitheater that holds the lake we have come to see |
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Amphitheater Lake is fed by several springs seeping out of the sandstone cliffs
and looks to be quite deep in the center
(We couldn't see the bottom and suspect that this is where a good portion of the pool is
fed by an underground spring) |
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| Water flowing out of the sandstone |
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| Not sure why this ladder is here??? |
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| This lizard was enjoying the sun |
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| We enjoyed having the lake all to ourselves |
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| Can you see the reflection? |
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Kent is doing the "butt scootin' boogie" back down the hard way . . .
Allison discovered the previously aforementioned bypass and descended the "easy" way |
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| At first we thought this was a string . . . it's a jelly string of toad eggs |
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| Working our way back down Short Creek Canyon and back to the Squirrel Canyon Trailhead |
For much of this hike, which ended up being just shy of nine miles (r/t), was following an ATV trail along Short Creek. We were glad when the canyon walls "closed in" and the ATV's couldn't go any further. This last mile, or so, was the most enjoyable part of the canyon, as we wandered through some narrows that had interesting slits that the stream had cut through.
As we were leaving, we met another hiking party and received an email from them the following day saying that they had found a way up through the Amphitheater and then went north of The Beehive and came down Squirrel Canyon. I suspect it added a few extra miles, but was a great idea for making a loop hike out of this excursion.
