Muddy Creek is a beautiful thirteen-mile walk through the Swell. There are many narrows sections, highlighted by the four-mile section known as The Chute where the canyon walls shoot straight up hundreds of feet on each side of the narrow creek. The first time I hiked Muddy Creek was in November of 2009 on an unseasonably warm day, and had the entire canyon to myself. While the air temperature was pleasant, the water temperature was pretty cold, especially in the morning. I spotted a bike at the Hidden Splendor Mine Trailhead, and then drove to the Tomsich Butte Trailhead to begin my walk.
I started hiking around nine in the morning, and tried to avoid walking in the creek as much as I could because of how cold it was at that time. But eventually you are forced to walk through as you enter the first set of narrows. Most of the time you are hiking this route you will be in the shade so you may not want to do it too early or late in the year unless you are in a wetsuit. A wetsuit would make this hike much more enjoyable in the cold seasons. My feet and legs were numb and freezing for the first several miles. However, the creek did eventually warm up as it got later in the day (or I just became numb to it).
Eventually you will enter The Chute. This is an amazing place. The cliff walls appeared to be five or six hundred feet straight up on both sides and continue like this for four miles. While in The Chute, I came to a section in which the water came up to my chest and had a muddy floor that sank in. Feeling especially cold at the time and trying to avoid a swim I back-tracked down canyon and attempted to walk around the section (I had mistakenly assumed I was near the end of The Chute). Once on top of the cliff, there was no way back down to Muddy Creek for several miles, plus the extra miles I walked going around deep canyons jutting out from The Chute. I eventually made it back down to Muddy Creek after The Chute ended and had to walk the last two miles in the dark. I was only able to find the Hidden Splendor Mine Trailhead and my bike by walking toward the GPS coordinate I had marked for my bike and using the light on my GPS display screen to help me somewhat see the ground in front of me. Just after finding my bike I was lucky enough to bump into someone camped nearby who was nice enough to give me a ride back to my car at the Tomsich Butte Trailhead, saving me a sixteen mile bike-ride in the dark.
So my advice on hiking Muddy Creek would be to do it on a warm day in the summer, or bring a wetsuit. Either way, be prepared to swim. Because of how narrow the canyon walls get, parts of this creek can be deep even in winter. Also, bring a dry bag for the things you don't want to get wet. And lastly, don't try to go around any sections. Once you start going down Muddy Creek, keep going down it. I added a couple hours onto my already long day by trying to avoid a cold swim. Better just to suck it up, throw everything in your dry bag and swim when needed. Give yourself plenty of time for this hike. It is thirteen miles, but it can be a slow thirteen miles trudging through mud and trying to avoid any sink holes or deep sections in the creek. If you are hiking this in winter, know that the canyon will start to get dark around five o'clock and will be almost pitch black by six.
I tried this hike again in March of 2013 from the bottom up starting at the Hidden Splendor Mine Trailhead. I did an out-and-back hike, to try to hit some of the spots at the lower end of the canyon that I missed on my last trip when I edged out. It takes a couple miles for the canyon to narrow up, but it was a pleasant walk. I don't remember seeing anyone else that day. Once the canyon narrows up, it becomes very muddy. In some spots you are walking through ankle-deep mud, which can slow you down. After about four miles Muddy Creek got above chest-high, and not having brought a wet suit or dry bag, I decided to turn back. Being March, the water was also really cold.
