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 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

Day 62 - Colorado National Monument

Established as a national monument early in 1911, Colorado NM is known for its high canyon "rim road" and sandstone spires of Monument Canyon.  The canyons of west Colorado are pretty--as they have more green trees and shrubs than the more famous Utah canyons. This gives them a more alive feeling, although the sandstone spires were formed many thousands of years ago by erosion.  Rim Rock road curves up the the top of the canyon cliff, goes through several round tunnels and is lined with scenic viewpoints. The best views were in he Monument Canyon section, and included in sequence, the Coke Ovens, The Kissing Couple (behind my head), and the most famous of all: Independence Monument, the tall spire in pic 3 and viewed from the side in pic 4.  The original promoter and caretaker of the park, John Otto, was the first person to climb Independence Monument and now it's a climbing right of passage. Every July 4 climbers ascend and mount an American flag at the summit. Fun! ...
2 comments
Read more

Day 82 - Yellowstone to Montana

My alarm sounded at 5:30am, a time early enough for me to arise before someone found me secretly camping. The geyser prediction said Grand at 6:15am so I set out toward it.  I ran into geyser gazer Jim there and he said it likely erupted at 4:30-- missed it. Early morning eruptions are hard to predict as someone needed to have seen the previous overnight eruption in order to make a prediction. I walked on toward Artemesia, an unpredictable geyser at the far corner of the basin. I had seen her erupt from a mile away and wanted a closer inspection. The early morning setting was momentous, yet I didn't see a geyser erupt up close until Grand at 10:30.  Then Sawmill erupted with its twirling thirty foot action (pic).   The only remaining geyser left to experience on my mental list was Beehive up close. With a predicted window of 810 to 1210, I arrived at 1030 and waited until 1pm, before giving up. The sun was hot, I had read the geyser book cover to cover, and while seeing e...
Post a Comment
Read more