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Entries Tagged as 'Superstition Mountains'

Siphon Draw Hike, Superstition Wilderness, Tonto National Forest

Today we hiked up the Siphon Draw. The trailhead starts in the day use area of the Lost Dutchman State Park and goes up through the siphon draw. We ended at the basin, 1.96 miles from the parking lot at 2,995 feet. The trailhead is at 1,916 feet. The trail is pretty steep for most of it’s length, with very few areas where it levels off for even a few feet. At the basin, the trail continues up a rock chute, that becomes a waterfall when it rains, to the Flatiron, at about 4100 feet. Needless to say, we didn’t go the additional 0.8 miles up Flatiron.

I’m including several photos, this time without comment.

View out of the draw along the trail.

Another view down the draw.

View up the trail into the draw.

The trail crossing a solid rock slope.

Cholla cactus with Superstition Mountain in background.

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Tags: Arizona State Parks, Superstition Mountains by john
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Fremont Saddle, Superstition Wilderness

Yesterday we hiked up to Fremont Saddle. The trailhead is at about 1800 feet, with the saddle at 3640 feet elevation, so it was about 1800 feet of elevation gain in about 2.25 miles. And the car said 90 degrees when we got back to the parking lot!

The views along this trip were awesome, well worth the trip.

Although not out fully yet, the desert is blooming.

Yellow flowers along the canyon wall

The Saguaro cacti provide a green contrast to the rock wall and blue sky.

Saguaro cactus on the canyon wall with a deep blue sky behind.

View back down the canyon from the saddle. Notice how green it is.

Looking down the canyon with ranges in the background. Green trees and bushes in the foreground.

Loved these rocks stacked one on another, like a giants cairn.

House sized boulders stacked one on another along the rim of the canyon.

Over the back side of the saddle, you look into a bowl with the Weaver’s needle rising 1200 feet from the floor of the bowl.

Weavers needle from Fremont Saddle.

A bonus shot of the trail along the canyon wall. A blue sky behind. Again, notice how green everything is. The desert got a wet winter, so the spring is spectacular.

Trail along canyon wall with blue sky bahind.

Photos copyright ©2009 by Nikki Ahrens. All rights reserved.

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Hike to Hackberry Spring, Superstition Wilderness

Last Sunday we hiked to Hackberry Spring. Well, that was the plan. Except we didn’t find the spring. So we had a great hike past this abandoned farmyard (corral, loading chute, broken windmill and some fencing) down along the creek that goes through a pretty good canyon. At one point about 75 feet wide and 200 feet deep or so.

On the return trip we came back up the canyon and turned up a side gorge that bypassed the farmyard in favor of a hike up ravines, ultimately returning to the parking lot.

The first part of the trail was really an abandoned road that went over a ridge down into a bowl where the farmyard existed.

Farmyard from the ridge

This stream went past the farmyard down into the canyon.

Stream past the farm

The stream enters the canyon.

Stream entering the canyon

A lizard. These guys are all over the place.

Lizard on a rock

The red rock adds color to the desert landscape.

Red rock

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Massacre Grounds Trail: Superstition Mountains

We hiked the Massacre Ground Trail in the Superstition Mountains. This is a great hike, approximately 1.9 miles from the trailhead to a waterfall in the back of a canyon.

In Hikers Guide to the Superstition Wilderness: With History and Legends of Arizona’s Lost Dutchman Gold Mine Jack Carlson and Elizabeth Stewart tell us that in 1848, the Apache Indians had a running battle with the Mexicans along the northern slopes of the Superstition Mountains. The last Mexicans killed were at what is now called the Massacre Grounds, along the north slopes of the mountains.

The spring wildflowers are coming out in the desert.

pink desert wildflower

Cactus are also starting to bloom:

Pink cactus flower

These next two, besides the sticks in the air, provide a view of the terrain off into the distance. Note the green. The desert is growing!

Spike with mountains layering into the background

Spike with mountains layered into the background

If we got the image correct, the base of this cliff is the Massacre Grounds. The black streaks down the red rock are where water tumbles off the cliff into a tiny stream below.

8cliff_dessert.jpg

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Hieroglyphic Trail again

We went up the Hieroglyphic Trail on Superstition Mountain again this morning. We saw a diamond back snake crossing the trail. He made sure we knew he was there, and he would cross, thank you very much.

I got a shot from my iPhone. Not the best, but you can see it. The black and white stripes at one end are just in front of the rattle, which he was rattling. We were about 10 feet away at the time.

Diamondback snake crossing Hieroglyphic Trail

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Visit to Hieroglyphic Spring

We didn’t get all the way to the spring. Nikki fell on a wet rock, so we headed back out, but it was a fabulous hike and a beautiful canyon. It’s also very green. Supposed to be a good spring flowers area in the spring, particularly after wet winters. We did see some fascinating orange flowers in the canyon, but they didn’t show very well in the photos.

Hiking up the trail:

The trail up the ridge

A cacti and mountains are breathtaking.

Cacti and a rock wall. Note the greenery.

Notice the petroglyphs on this rock.

Petroglyphs on rock wall

Pool in rocks at base of the wall.

Pool in rock

Looking across the pool down the canyon.

Looking over pool down the canyon

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