Double H High Adventure Base

Crew 721-BB: Before

Crew 721-BB: After

This group photo was taken as we came off the trail. The mountains look, and are, a long ways away from base. Crews are shuttled across the plains at the start and end of their trek.

Headquarters

Located at Augustine Camp, the High Adventure base consists of one permanent building, a stable, a couple of trailers, a couple of containerized shipping units, and some awnings. Crews spend very little time at base.

Base Camp Dining Facility

Crews check in the morning of their first day, and hit the trail that afternoon. The only meal served at base is grilled buffalo burgers, lunch for day one.

Blue Mesa Well, evening

Blue Mesa Well, morning

Most mornings were surprisingly wet. The sky was clear just before sunrise on this morning, then fog began to settle in. By the time we broke camp around 7, visibility was less than 200 yards.

Old Canyon at Lower Medley, 4 p.m., July 23, 2004

Earlier in the day, this was a dry wash, which we hiked down. The rain started around 2 p.m.. It didn't rain all that hard at Lower Medley, but it must have come down in buckets farther up the canyon.

Same location, 7 a.m. July 24, 2004

The chunk of metal shown here is about 20 feet long; it wasn't here when the crew hiked into camp early afternoon on the 20th. During the flood, the water here was easily 4 feet deep.

High water mark

The crew leader points out the high water line just down the canyon from Lower Medley. The crew leader is just a shade under 6 feet tall.

Measuring stick

Before the flood, this area was nothing but sand. The stick being held by the crew member is about 6 feet long.

How high's the water. Poppa?

This hole is at least five feet deep. Before the flood, many crews hiked through this stretch of canyon; after the flood, crews had to detour up the canyon walls.

Redoing the dams in Thompson Canyon

All Double H crews spend at least 3 hours on conservation projects; many built check dams in Thompson Canyon, to slow water flow and stop erosion. Before the flood, a dam, 4-5 feet across, stretched across the wash here. Only a few stones remained in place after the flood.

Rebuilt dam

This is the same location as the previous picture. Crew 721-BB rebuilt this dam, and three others at the lower end of Thompson Canyon.

Hiking into Martin

Every Double H crew stays at Martin Ranch on Day 4, where they get a chuckwagon dinner, good water and a little rest.

Blackpowder range

Martin Ranch also has a blackpowder rifle range. Sharpshooters could earn special treats for their crews.

Martin Ranch hogan

Martin Ranch provides some opportunites for exploration, including this abandoned hogan located atop a nearby hill

Preparing to climb

Most of the landmarks on the Double H don't have formal names. Crew 721-BB crew members dubbed this rock formation near Martin Ranch "Gootem's Pile".

Scaling the Pile

It might not have been the best route, but the crew scaled the south face of Gootem's Pile on day 5.

Atop the Pile

The climb up was tough, but the view from the top of Gootem's Pile is worth it.

Canyon Confluence

Looking south from Gootem's Pile, you see the convergence of Old, Chavez and Dog Springs Canyons. Most Double H crews will take one of these canyons either into or out of Martin Ranch; if you look very close, you can see a crew coming down Old Canyon toward Martin Ranch.

Petroglyph

A canyon near Rock Hole is home to a collection of Anaszi petroglyphs, including this drawing of a mountain.

There are elk here somewhere

This fresh print is as close as we got to an elk in the backcountry. We saw plenty of sign that they were around, but never saw one in person.

Canyon Country

With no established trails at the Double H, crews need to consult their maps to figure out what canyons to hike, and which ones to avoid.

Camel Rock

One of the few named features -- though not identified on the topo maps, is this rock formation located in Long Canyon.

Rincon Canyon

This is one of those canyons you should avoid. We wish we had known that before we started down it.

A Guy on a Rock

Every crew members pauses for a he-man pose or two along the trail.

Cholla blossoms

There are plenty of colorful flowers in the high desert, but even without the leave no trace principles, you wouldn't want to pick these.

Dog Springs Ranch

We hit this abandoned ranch on a side hike to pick up a geocache.

Rock Scrambling

"Packs off" breaks gave crew members a chance to do a little bouldering.

Lower Medley Well

The calm before the storm. A few hours after this photo was taken, the wash was a raging torrent.

Out of the Hole

The view south after climbing out of the canyon near Rock Hole. Though not clearly visible in this picture, the railroad tracks for the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescopes end near the conical mound; they began many miles further to the south.

High Desert

When you're not hiking canyons at the Double H, you're often running or crossing ridges. This is the top of the ridge between Middle and Long Canyons.

33 Million Years Old Today

Many of the canyons have rhyolite rock formations like this which, we were told are the remnants of rock formed over 30 million years ago.

Lava Flow

Our climb up the Rincon Ridge, near the Pine Well, took us over this lava flow. Its much steeper, and much more exhausting, than it looks here.

The Goldfish Like It

There is no surface water at the Double H, but it sits over a large aquifer, so the ranch is dotted with wells. At several tanks, we used coffee filters, pre-filters and silt stoppers, all on a single filter, and they still clogged after pumping a liter or 2.

Goldfish have been added to many tanks to try to cut down on the algae.

Eau de Rock Tank, vintage 2004

With an interesting fragrance and a fascinating color -- similar to Mountain Dew when boiled -- Eau de Rock Tank was surprisingly light bodied and entirely drinkable, especially after allowing it to breathe overnight.