I could see my breath. Chill air infiltrated my running tights, tickling my thighs, an imperative to keep moving. But I had to stop, assess. Sandstone walls twisted upward. A dark pool of water filled the gap between. What now? Walk on, that’s what, because the water was solid—two months frozen and 9 inches thick. I strode across, gliding with glee and smug with satisfaction.

In summer, I’d have been grunting my way through the cold liquid in a breaststroke. But here we were, Northern Arizona Uuniversity and NOLS instructor Aaron Devine and I, walking with ease beyond the biggest hurdles of a West Fork hike.

Conditions don’t allow for such simple strolling often. Most years, snow falls as the ice grows, and the boulders of the West Fork of Oak Creek are covered in a slippery obscuring blanket of treachery. But when the drought demons (or gods?) return and the shadowy depths remain snowless, winter West Forking is on.

I first hiked the West Fork in winter with my wife Lisa during the drought of 1995-1996, at the end of December. Pat Phillips went with me again in the non-winter of ’06. This year was my first January attempt, snowless 2025. It was the best conditions yet, although one pool midway down the canyon was ice-free. I can’t tell you how we dealt with this spot in decades past. We didn’t have packrafts then. Perhaps it was frozen. Perhaps we managed a sketchy climb-around. This time, it was packraft progress, even if we had to paddle with a hiking pole.