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Oct 31, 2015 — Arizona Hot Springs is a delightful hot spring on the Arizona side of the Black Canyon Wilderness. Officially named Ringbolt Hot Spring, it seems that name has since been somewhat overruled by its more popular predecessor. I highly recommend doing this hike as a loop, which requires hiking down to the hot spring on an official trail before continuing north along the Colorado River in order to return via White Rock Canyon. This is rightfully a popular loop that serves as a great introduction to the Black Canyon Wilderness and all it has to offer.
From the standard trailhead, we headed underneath an overpass and followed a wash heading southwest. A sign points for the trail to reach Arizona Hot Springs, but there are multiple trail options all leading there. On my attached map you'll note an alternative Class 3 option, which uses the main drainage system rather than the trail. Going this way results in some scrambling down dryfalls before merging with the official trail farther down, though it seems the NPS would prefer folks use the trail instead. The official trail ascends a couple hundred feet to a minor pass with a great viewpoint to the surrounding buttes before descending through a drainage and down into the wash below.
Now within Arizona Hot Springs Canyon its clear where to go since the trail just follows the wash. There are a couple of short narrow sections with some light scrambling, but overall it's an open hike down with nice scenery. Quickly the canyon narrows for a final time and a slot is formed. Shortly after entering the narrows the first and hottest pool is encountered. I'm never able to sit in this one because of the temperature, but the pools decrease in heat until the slot opens at the top of a short waterfall. There was an old rickety ladder in place for a long time to aid in descending the drop, but the NPS has recently installed a full-on set of stairs. Most people see to turn around at the hot spring, so the remainder of the hike is a bit less crowded.
The canyon continues pleasantly with flowing water and colorful walls until reaching a junction with the bypass route that would take us over to White Rock Canyon. Continuing within the drainage leads to the Colorado River, where often people are camped out on the beach after accessing it with their boats. We took the bypass trail into the cliffs, some light navigating required since there are a few misplaced social trails, but much of the time the route is marked and we quickly made our way up and down over rock outcroppings along the bank of the Colorado River.
We entered the mouth of White Rock Canyon, a much longer and wider canyon from the slot we'd been through earlier. The sheer walls are pretty stunning, though the ground is sandy and might be annoying to some after a while. After a few miles hiking through the gorgeous canyon we emerged into the wash we left earlier to take the Arizona Hot Springs Trail.
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