Christmastree Springs.

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Christmastree Springs.

Postby surfsteve » Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:57 pm

Yesterday I took my bike up to Christmas Tree springs.
http://www.blackturtle.us/DV_SITES/SOUTHARGUS/map.html
The main site of interest in Wilson Canyon is probably Christmas Tree Springs. The springs consists of a pipe from which water constantly trickles into a small pool. A cottonwood tree grows next to this pool. The BLM recently blocked vehicular access to the spring and so you have to walk a couple of hundred feet now to reach it. A tunnel is located right next to the springs. To reach Wilson Canyon drive to the corrals in Pioneer Point and follow the dirt road that extends beyond the corrals. (To get to the corrals turn west at the Trails Restaurant and drive to the top of Cedar Street. Take the final right near the top onto 3rd Street, which takes you north a couple hundred yards to the corrals.)

I had to walk the bike most of the way up but it was fun coming down till I almost scared a guy off his horse. When I put on the breaks and tried to stop the skidding only scared him more. Sorry dude! Whoever you were.

Actually all there was, was a tree and some grass and a little water coming out of the ground. The tunnel it talks about is a little square of cement barely big enough for a person to squeeze inside. I didn't go inside it but I peeked inside and all there was, was some wet sand.

The pipe that was supposed to have water coming out of it was all rusty and dry. But there was a little water dribbling out of the ground below it.

The only tree there was the cottonwood tree it mentioned and some suckers growing out of it. The whole area was fenced off with barbed wire. I could have easily crawled past but all there was, was the tree, some weeds and some grass. I wonder where it got it's Christmas Tree name from. If there was a Christmas tree there at one time. Somebody must have chopped it down a long time ago.

When you get to the base it is barricaded off. Not that anyone could drive up it anyway. You will probably need a four wheel drive if you are going to drive there. It's probably a few hundred yards up a steep hill from where the road ends. The whole thing is probably about three miles from the Trails restaurant. You can see the tree from way off in the distance, (it looks like a small green dot,) from the horse corrals and there is a small mountain you have to go around just out of town that obstructs it's view. Going up I took the foot trails which led in the opposite direction as the road. It looked more direct but I had to do a lot of doubling back.

Seems like a long way to go just to see a tree and a little trickle of water. Especially coming from someone who is used to the Columbia river and the ocean.
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Re: Christmastree Springs.

Postby pcslim » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:11 pm

There is actually another spring about two-thirds of a mile before Christmas Spring. It's on the south side of the road and basically it's just a small tunnel with a pool of water. I haven't been up there for awhile and so I'm surprised that no water is coming out of the pipe. The fencing around the tree is to keep the burros from munching on the vegetation. You'll find fencing around several springs in the area.
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Re: Christmastree Springs.

Postby James Sel » Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:46 pm

You'll find more water up there at high tied. :twirl:
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Re: Christmastree Springs.

Postby wildrose » Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:33 am

Christmas Spring is believed to be the "Providence Spring" found by Manly and Rogers around 1850. As for the "high tide" remark, I understand that the entire valley was underwater at one point in ancient history and at that time there probably actually were tides. How far up Wilson Canyon the body of water extended is hard to ascertain, but there are signs of a shoreline all around the valley.
:sunshine:
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Re: Christmastree Springs.

Postby James Sel » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:35 am

wildrose wrote:Christmas Spring is believed to be the "Providence Spring" found by Manly and Rogers around 1850. As for the "high tide" remark, I understand that the entire valley was underwater at one point in ancient history and at that time there probably actually were tides. How far up Wilson Canyon the body of water extended is hard to ascertain, but there are signs of a shoreline all around the valley.
:sunshine:

.............I bet that explains the pinnacles.
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Re: Christmastree Springs.

Postby desertrat » Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:40 am

There's a tunnel right behind the pipe/pond/tree, BTW. I guess according to the first post there is no longer water coming out of the pipe and so the pond might not still be there, but it used to be a great frog hang out!
:biggrin:
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Re: Christmastree Springs.

Postby surfsteve » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:33 am

The tunnel is still there but there is no small pond. I didn't see any frogs either. Was the pond supposed to be inside or outside the tunnel? It looked like just a lot of wet sand inside. It wasn't level like you would expect to find either. I thought that maybe a huge piece of dirt fell off from the ceiling. It looked like the earth had been freshly moved.
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Re: Christmastree Springs.

Postby desertrat » Fri Jun 10, 2011 7:51 am

surfsteve wrote:The tunnel is still there but there is no small pond. I didn't see any frogs either. Was the pond supposed to be inside or outside the tunnel? It looked like just a lot of wet sand inside. It wasn't level like you would expect to find either. I thought that maybe a huge piece of dirt fell off from the ceiling. It looked like the earth had been freshly moved.

There used to be a pond under the tree. Water trickled out of the pipe and supplied the small pond with water. A small number of frogs/toads lived there... and life was good...
:violin:
You can still find ponds and frogs/toads a short distance from Wilson Canyon in Indian Joe Canyon and so all is not lost...
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Re: Christmastree Springs.

Postby cactuspete » Thu Nov 24, 2011 8:39 am

Wilson Canyon (October 2011)
I just got through browsing the blackturtle.us site under the SOUTHERN ARGUS RANGE area and it appears that as of October 2011 there was a small puddle/pond and water coming out of the pipe at Christmas Tree Springs.
:thumb:
LINK: http://www.blackturtle.us/DV_SITES/SOUTHARGUS/
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