Muley Twist water, mid-May

[jvd]

Going to CRNP, Lower Muley Twist loop, Post TH clockwise, May 13 - 19, 2024. Trying to get a sense of water in the canyon. Seems there is reliable water at Muley Tanks. True? Also reports of some water just S of Cowboy Cave. Again, true? What water can we expect between CC and junction with Post Cutoff this year?

 

[LarryBoy]

In half a dozen Lower Muley hikes (both spring and fall) I've always found at least a little water in the vicinity of Cowboy Cave. It can be slightly alkaline but not terrible. Muley Tanks water is great.

There's also a possibility of water in Lower Muley upstream of the junction with the Post, but that's unreliable, and I'd be skeptical of its existence in mid/late May.

 

[Devin Ashby]

Going to CRNP, Lower Muley Twist loop, Post TH clockwise, May 13 - 19, 2024. Trying to get a sense of water in the canyon. Seems there is reliable water at Muley Tanks. True? Also reports of some water just S of Cowboy Cave. Again, true? What water can we expect between CC and junction with Post Cutoff this year?

I was there last month, and the only water in the canyon we were able to gather from was at 37.79129, -110.99793
There was wet sand at the back of the cowboy camp overhang, otherwise there was no other water in the canyon. Muley Tanks had a lot available.

 

[jvd]

Going to CRNP, Lower Muley Twist loop, Post TH clockwise, May 13 - 19, 2024. Trying to get a sense of water in the canyon. Seems there is reliable water at Muley Tanks. True? Also reports of some water just S of Cowboy Cave. Again, true? What water can we expect between CC and junction with Post Cutoff this year?

Update: Seems it had not rained in a while and on May 14 we met a hiker coming out of Lower Muley Twist who said she found no water. She was glad when we told her we had seen water in Cottonwood Tank. That evening and May 15, it rained a bit. May 16 we hiked into the canyon. In addition to Muley Tanks (great water), we found one spring in a side canyon and 4+ potholes with water.We found no water near Cowboy Cave, only up-canyon. I don't know how long or consistently that side-canyon spring has water, but it looked like it would be there a while.