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As of November 2020, a short section of Whitewater Creek is closed about a mile from the trailhead.
Oct 13, 2020 — "The Catwalk" is a troublesome feature that the NFS seems to have struggled keeping open to tourism over the last few years. Each time I've tried to visit, it's been closed to due construction or flash flooding. Finally, I could check out the metal walking platforms leading through the narrows of Whitewater Creek. I feel like they probably should have just put the likely exorbitant amount of money to maintain this silly attraction elsewhere, perhaps to maintain the ever-degrading Gila trail system or add bathrooms at popular trailhead. To be fair, I did visit when Whitewater Creek wasn't flowing, so I could have just walked along the creekbed, whereas other times of year I suppose not having The Catwalk would mean you'd have to *gasp* get wet to hike through the narrows. Also, historically The Catwalk was little more than a plank on some piping so this whole getup seems a little silly to me.
The Catwalk National Recreation Trail? begins from an overly-developed trailhead, and soon after I found myself scurrying along the metal platforms above the narrowest section of the canyon. It's definitely an interesting and unique trail, but any sort of hardware bolted into canyon walls when unnecessary never sits well with me, especially since the canyon is nontechnical. Some stairs led down to the canyon floor, where the trail continues on a trail, gaining elevation out of the narrows. The walls became tall and pretty, and along the way I passed a couple of tiny waterfalls and creek crossings. I noticed the remainder of parts of The Catwalk that were not repaired on my right, heavy erosion on the cliffs wiping out large sections of the narrower metal/plank system above.
The trail continued along the bank of Whitewater Creek, some concrete along portions of it, before coming to the remnants of what seems to have been a bridge spanning a boulder-strewn portion of the canyon. The trail contines up the left side of the canyon and meets a junction with the Gold Dust Trail (apparently used more by horses to access Whitewater Creek since they're not allowed on The Catwalk). The trail continues on the left side of the creek for the rest of the hike from here, where it undulates a bit. At one point, the trail gains a bit of vertical and I was happily surprised to see a gorgeous view to the east up the canyon. The trail stayed high for a while before sloping back down to Whitewater Creek. I followed the trail a bit longer, and when I realized it was getting late, turned around. Unfortunately, a better turn-around point would have been a quarter mile away at some old power plant ruins, which I marked on my attached map. I only learned about these later. I should note that the Whitewater Creek Trail was overall is good shape, but did have some eroded sections that made it a little harder to follow than the much more obvious and developed section of the hike.
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