Skip to main content

Day 16 - Superstition Mountains - Siphon Draw

The majestic, prehistoric peaks of the Superstition Mountains, 60 miles east of Phoenix Arizona, welcomed me to this new state on Easter Sunday. After driving five hours from Joshua Tree through a scenic area of JT and then east through a valley surrounded by Smoky Mountains-Esque vistas, I arrived to my next campground at Lost Dutchman State Park. Still early afternoon and restless from the car ride, I decided to hike up the 3000 foot ascent Siphon Draw trail, to the Flatiron mountain seen in the middle of this photo.


The last mile of the hike turned from hiking into rock climbing, scurrying over boulders, making sure of your footing and looking closely for faded blue dots of rocks that marked the trail. And I mean faded like they were painted thirty years ago. At one point I lost the trail and found myself below a vertical cliff, with handholds making it possible to ascend, but clearly too difficult. I retreated left across the mountain and soon found an easier path that looked well travelled-- the trail. I made it up to the top and had this picture taken by another peak hiker. 


A very fit and good looking couple came up ten minutes after me and laid out a blanket and had an Easter picnic on the flatiron top. Very adorable, I took their picture for them. I continued across another mountain down another path for a half mile and came to an incredible view of the Superstitions. This is truly an exceptionally beautiful mountain range. You expect dinosaurs to be flying over head. 


With Sunset two hours away and not wanting to descend in dark, I went down. I passed several groups-- all college aged, coming up the mountain trying to make it by sunset. Adventurous but stupid if you ask me, but they continued up as I went down. I passed one more view before arriing back down, showering, watching a glorious sunset and retiring to my luxury van-bed accommodations.







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park.  A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view.  Yes sir!! The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reef...
1 comment
Read more

Day 35 - Escalante River

Our group of eight intrepid but novice backpackers and two incredibly experienced guides gathered for breakfast at 8am to meet, greet and bulk up for 5 days in the Escalante River area. We laid out all our gear to ensure we had the needed hiking, camping and survival supplies and drove to our trailhead for departure.  We hiked along a trail following the course of the Escalante River for a mile or so before getting to our first of many river crossings. Wet feet were not something we could avoid so we simply hiked across and sometimes down the river. When the river ran close to the canyon walls we knew we would have to find a shallow entry to the river, then cross the river to the bench on the other side.  Guides Andrew Skurka and Alan Dixon offered instruction along the way on map reading and route finding and information on local vegetation and geology and how the knowledge of both helped make your off trail travel more efficient. For example in geology their were two main ro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 104 - Glacier to Vancouver

The hike up Balu Pass was supposed to be fairly easy, beautiful and dotted with waterfalls, but when I talked to the park ranger and learned that Vancouver was an eight hour drive away, I decided to skip Balu and drive west.  I left behind this pretty view.  And drove many hours through pristine mountains, fewer and fewer snow-capped ones the further west I drove. Some of the valleys were flooded to make reservoirs, leaving scenic sights.  I eventually made it to Vancouver and drove right on through to Point Roberts USA, a five mile by five mile coastal land just below the 49th parallel and thus in the USA. The park ranger had suggested this as a good place to camp but being late of the Thursday night before the Fourth of July there were no spots available. I drove around instead and stopped at a forested coastal park. After ten minutes of walking I came to my first grand Pacific view with Mount Baker 60 miles east.  The San Juan Islands and Orca Islands could also b...
Post a Comment
Read more