I provide a free route map, but you can also download a hike/drive GPX to assist you and to help support my site. Before sharing my GPX tracks with others, please remember my site is a free resource and I'm charging nominal fees to offset my substantial costs.
GPX track added to your cart.
Jun 05, 2020 — Parker Canyon (aka Parker Creek Canyon) was an excellent add-on to The Jug, which we did earlier in the day. The road to the head of Parker Canyon quickly became awful, so we parked just off AZ-288 and walked to the canyon head instead. A heavily-traveled social trail led us off the dirt road and into a minor drainage, which brought us to a small dam that is apparently used to determine the water flow before starting the canyon. It was clear that we would have a low flow day, and I'm sure the Class C rating would add some more fun to Parker Canyon, but we had a great time even with minimal water. Very quickly we knew it would be a good one. The overcast weather conditions meant great lighting, and the rock walls were unqiue sight for all of us.
The rappels were short and in my opinion, not the highlight of the excursion. Really, the colorful watercourse and incredible pinnacles of the canyon walls are what made it a gorgeous canyon. We were looking up in awe for the majority of the route. After a few straightforward rappels, we dropped down the final (and longest) rappel, which landed us a hundred feet or so from the escape gully. I used Google satellite as the background of my attached map rather than a terrain topo since it seemed more helpful to see the correct gully to exit out of. The exit included some low Class 3 and far less brush than we anticipated. After a steep scramble to the rim, we hiked cross-country on animal trails back to the dirt road that would lead us back to our cars.
Please consider helping me out if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all site fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing these trip reports is unpaid. You can also hire me as a web developer. I really appreciate it!
If you find my site helpful, please help me replace my many broken cameras, fund my website fees (hosting, APIs, security), or just support my countless hours of work. I pay for all expenses myself, and all trip reports I post are unpaid and unsponsored, so any support is really appreciated!
If using PayPal, please select their option for "Sending to a friend" so they don't take out fees, thank you.
My site is free to use, but consider sending me a few bucks to help keep it running. Thanks in advance!