I learned several things on this 5 day hike through the West Clear Creek Wilderness in Arizona. I learned that whereever there is water in Arizona things will grow and that when the water flows year-round things will grow in profusion. Hiking into this wilderness I guess I just didn't expect so much greenery. The cool water and flora was a great relief from the shoots I have been doing in the scorching desert heat of Southern Arizona.
The object of this trip was to follow and photograph a team of botanist doing a plant survey of the entire wilderness area. This two year project is headed up by grad student Wendy McBride from the University of Northern Arizona. So far she has collected nearly a thousand plant specimens and it's expected the collection will grow to over 2,000 or more by the time she is done.
This was a remarkable team of scientist who were all very adept at working and moving in this rugged
boulder strewn canyon. Like the best expeditions I have been on this team looked after each other and had fun.
I worked hard to keep up, but since the botanist were so intent on collecting plants the pace was very civil.
I did have some gear failure. After the first swim I discovered my waterproof case didn't work or maybe I didn't seal it properly. Following the fifth long swim I realized that it is possible for a person, namely me, to become near hypothermic on a warm Arizona summer day. I warmed up by wrapping myself around a sun warmed basalt boulder.
Besides the photography my other lasting memory from West Clear Creek Canyon is the poison ivy. We walked, scrambled and climbed through miles and miles of this toxic weed. It was good that we could wash off many times each day during the 20 or so swims we did and the countless river crossings and down stream wading. This project still has a year to go and I already plan to return despite the poison ivy.
Yes, Wendy did collect a sample of the poison ivy for her study and yes after the trip she suffered the evils of this plant as we all did.
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