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| Superstition Mountains Revisited, We Made It! - February 20, 2005 |
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| by Scott Legal |
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| Our starting point with the Superstition Mountains in the background. |
Geocaching is many different things to different people. To some it is a way to
get outdoors and get some exercise. Some take that a bit further and use geocaching
to find new places that they wouldn't have ever visited had there not been a cache
there. Many of us have made a lot of new friends through geocaching. Geocaching
has provided me with a lot of great places to visit and a lot of new friends. Two of those friends were eager to join me on a trek
of a lifetime. We didn't find any caches on the Superstition Mountains - there weren't
any to find. The Superstition Mountains are located in the Superstition Wilderness
Area and are off limits to geocaches. What we did find was a mountain so packed
with challenge, adventure and raw beauty that we were in complete awe of the place.
I first observed the Superstition Mountains in 1999, when I visited my parents'
new home in Gilbert, AZ. At that time I thought the Superstition Mountains were
beautiful and extremely rugged. I never really thought of climbing them at that
time. I never saw a trail. The next time I saw them was in 2003 when my family and
I visited a tourist attraction called Goldfield. Goldfield has an excellent view
of the Siphon Draw trail leading to Flat Iron, a majestic rock formation sitting
at about 4,800' above see level. Once I saw the Siphon Draw trail I wanted to hike
to the top. It was not meant to be that year since our trip to Goldfield happened
on our last full day in Arizona. When I returned home I told my friend John Noble
that we should hike this trail. Words alone could not convey how incredible this
hike appeared to me, so while I think John believed that the place was awesome,
we have plenty of wonderful places to hike around Thousand Oaks. So I don't think
he was convinced... Yet.
In 2004 I made my first attempt at the Siphon Draw and Flat Iron with my wife Linda.
The top was not to be that day. The hike requires a minimum of 6 hours round trip
and we only had 3.5 hours of daylight left when we started our hike. So we headed
up as high as we were comfortable with and turned around. Our trek took us a little
above a place called the basin, about half way up to Flat Iron. The basin is a place
where two streams (normally dry) meet. It is a sheet of solid rock that rises a
couple hundred feet into some very rugged terrain. We found the hike to the place
that we turned around at to be very challenging and strenuous.
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| An unusually wet Sonora Desert winter provided a lush landscape. |
After my aborted trek with my wife I wrote an article about the trek. It left such
a lasting impression on me and a burning desire to make it to the top, that I thought
it was worthy of sharing the adventure with visitors to my website. I again told
John about this hike and asked if he and Harley Heft (Oz) would like to join me
in an attempt at the summit. John and Oz read my article and were excited about
the proposition. After all, we've done some great hikes together and when I said
this hike is better, it was a pretty convincing argument.
We set our trip for the president's holiday weekend in February, 2005. I made arrangements
with my parents to put us all up for the weekend. We were set. Unfortunately, as
the date neared, the weather started to make our plans look a little questionable.
It literally became a last minute decision whether to go or cancel. We were greeted
the day of our departure with a large rainstorm that was expected to hit Arizona
throughout the weekend as well. Sunday February 20, was looking to be the best possible
day for our hike, but even then there was a chance of rain. I had spoken to a ranger
at Lost Dutchman State Park who assured me that the Siphon Draw Trail would be open
and safe. Nevertheless, Arizona was in the midst of one of its wettest winters on
record and we had our doubts. However, we did our best to remain optimistic, looking
forward to the positives such as beautiful streams and abundant green flora.
Sunday arrived and we were ready for an early start. It had rained much of Saturday,
but Sunday started out dry. We were at the trailhead by 9:00AM. Clouds blocked our
view of Flat Iron. We talked with a runner that had just come down from the basin.
He said there was a lot of water in the basin. This left me hoping that there wouldn't
be too much water affecting our route. We set out enjoying the extensive green all
around us, the result of an extremely wet winter in the Sonora Desert. As we began
to ascend the Siphon Draw, the trail remained wide, but rough with rocks, almost
like a creek bed.
We stopped several times early on to admire the enormous rocks that began closing
in on the trail and small streams that almost never flow in this normally parched
wilderness. Soon our trail ceased to be a nearly straight gradually sloping line
and abruptly headed up a rock face. This was not a difficult climb, but a warm up
for much more difficult climbing ahead. After a couple of twists and turns the trail,
as we knew it, officially ended in a twist of mesquite trees and boulders with a
stream running through it. Again, this was not difficult terrain, but another hint
of what was to come.
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| The waterfall in the Basin. |
Our short trip through the mesquite forest ended at the Basin. The Basin is an incredible
layout of solid rock where three canyons meet. At the bottom of the Basin a stream
was flowing that reminded me of a waterslide. I'm sure it would have been a fun
waterslide if the water was more than 50 degrees and the slide didn't end abruptly
in a pile of boulders. Further up the Basin the left canyon ends abruptly with a
30 foot cliff that offered us an up close view of a majestic desert waterfall, due
to the heavy rains that only ended hours before our hike began. The middle and right
canyons surrounded the portion of basin that we needed to climb.
After climbing the 200 vertical foot Basin, we entered the beginning of our substantially
more challenging climb. We were now half way up the mountain. The second half would
prove more challenging in a number of ways. First, we were now above the 3,000-foot
elevation, which meant that we were now hiking at high altitude, meaning increasingly
thinner air. Second, from here on out there was no real trail and the hike required
a substantial amount of rock climbing, meaning that this was no longer a casual
walk in the park.
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| We named these rocks the Kissing Rocks. We found them on our side excursion just above the Basin. |
After climbing a short distance above the Basin we were faced with a choice. We
saw a hiker travel down a trail that appeared to dead end into a steep canyon wall.
We also saw a fairly well worn trail that traveled off in a different direction
disappearing over a rise in the distance. Not being familiar with the mountain we
chose the latter. Well, that trail was a dead end, so we inadvertently tacked on
another half mile to our hike. Nevertheless, we saw some great terrain on that dead
end route, so our side trip was not wasted.
On we went up the trail that appeared to dead end into the steep canyon wall. We
had read on a couple of different websites that someone had spray painted dots on
the rocks, marking the best route to the top. One might call this graffiti, but
us first timers sure appreciated the guidance provided by the dots. Also, the dots
were pretty small, so at least they didn't overpower the landscape. Well what do
you know? That seemingly dead end canyon had a white dot showing us that our route
would take us up a stream bed in the canyon, with a swift, but manageable flow of
water heading through it.
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| Miner's Lettuce was one of the plants we were surprised to see. I included this photo for Carolyn Greene because she introduced all of us to this edible plant. |
As we began our ascent up the streambed we saw plant life I never expected to see
in this desert landscape. OK, I did see some ferns during my last visit. There was
considerably more of it this time. Also, we observed several different types of
ferns, showing that even in a normally arid environment, moisture-loving ferns can
thrive. Even more surprising was the sight of considerable stands of green moss
and green and black algae. I figure the streams on this mountain flow at the most
5-10 days annually in a typical year. So it is quite surprising that moss and algae
can gain such a strong foothold in a place that can best be described as a very
hostile environment for them.
As we traveled up the streambed I monitored my GPS to give us an idea of how close
we were getting to the top. We were knocking off 100-foot vertical segments at a
pretty fast clip. However, each 100 feet of vertical seemed to get more difficult
than the previous one. Eventually, I could no longer hold onto my GPS because I
found myself having to use both of my hands more and more for climbing. So I had
to stow my GPS in my pocket. Also, fatigue began slowing down the ascent. I was
particularly tired. The climbing was really
taking its toll on me.
Just when I was starting to feel completely spent, we reached a section of trail
that I almost couldn't make it past. We hit a 10-foot ledge. Oz went up a way that
I was not comfortable with. John pulled himself up over the ledge with the help
of a tree. I now lacked the strength to use the tree for help and opted to try Oz's
route. My hiking boots managed to hold and I made it. It seemed like the trail would
never end when all of the sudden we met with a group on their way down the mountain
and they said we had made it to the end of the Siphon Draw Trail. I thought, "You're
kidding, right?" Sure enough, we were there. John and Oz were a bit concerned about
me because they said I didn't look too well. I think they thought I might be suffering
from heat exhaustion. Exhaustion yes, but I had remained well hydrated and simply
needed a good rest. We took that long and well-deserved rest at the end of the Siphon
Draw Trail.
The Siphon Draw Trail ends between Flat Iron and Superstition Peak. It is a pretty
place. The trail's end offers a view of the top of Flat Iron. We were actually slightly
higher than Flat Iron. It also offered a tremendous view of what we had just accomplished.
The rock formations on Superstition Peak were also fantastic. After eating and resting,
we were ready to do a little exploring and take in the sights. We discovered that
there were a few pine trees struggling to get a foothold atop this high desert mountain.
We discovered that yucca flowers grow grotesquely large here. We saw some very precariously
perched boulders. And, thanks to a group of descending hikers from Superstition
Peak, we discovered the route to the top.
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| One of the many fantastic views from Superstition Peak. Notice the pine tree in the foreground. That branch shooting up out of the upper left of the tree is actually a yucca flower. They're extremely tall. |
We decided to visit Superstition Peak first, before heading back in the direction
of Flat Iron. Superstition Peak was about as awesome as any place I've ever been.
It is extremely rugged. The edges of the peak dive 3,000 feet in pretty short order.
It is also 300 feet higher than Flat Iron. With how much higher Superstition Peak
is compared to Flat Iron and how astounding the views are up there, we were all
wondering if Flat Iron was going to be relatively unimpressive compared to Superstition
Mountain.
Flat Iron is named so because it is a large rock peak that has vertical cliffs
on three sides rising several hundred feet that form the shape of a gigantic flat
iron. From below, Flat Iron looks absolutely awesome. From below Flat Iron is a
magnificent superstructure that that leaves you wondering how you could possibly
make it to the top. It seems to taunt you, as if saying, "You can get close, but
you can't make it all the way". In reality, once you reach the end of the Siphon
Draw trail, the trail to Flat Iron is easy because it's fairly flat. From above,
Flat Iron didn't look that impressive to us. But we couldn't forget that all of
the articles we've read about the Superstition Mountains pointed out that Flat Iron
is the destination, not Superstition Peak. So after putting out such an effort to
get to the top of the Siphon Draw trail, we weren't about to blow off the short
trek to Flat Iron.
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| I originally took this photo for my parents who live about 25 minutes from Lost Dutchman State Park in the middle of the photo. When I looked at the photo it took on so much more meaning. |
Flat Iron, as it turns out, is every bit as amazing as Superstition Peak and maybe
more so. First of all, as amazing as the high profile views from Superstition Peak
are, there is something about looking straight down a several hundred-foot vertical
cliff into the Siphon Draw to the north, a considerably steeper canyon than the
canyon that Superstition Peak offered a view of. In addition, Flat Iron had an incredible
view of Apache Junction to the West, with even taller cliffs than those visible
from the Siphon Draw. The views were so incredible that we really spent a lot of
time taking it all in.
After spending a while taking in the area of Flat Iron it was after 3:00 PM and
we had just over three hours of daylight left, meaning we needed to get moving.
When we arrived back at the top end of the Siphon Draw trail we met a very special
man. John was a 75 year old man that had made the trek to the top of the Siphon
Draw over 200 hundred times. As exhausted as the three of us were from this long
trek, the trek was like a walk in the park to John. He started his descent shortly
after we did and quickly caught up to us. Every step of the way, he knew exactly
where to put his hands and feet for a most efficient trip down. We knew it was best
to let him ahead of us. He knew we were first timers so he never got too far ahead
of us.
With such a tall mountain providing an abrupt end to a long flat desert valley,
it shouldn't be too surprising that a plane might crash on the steep slopes of the
Superstition Mountains. When we were about a quarter of the way down, John asked
us if we wanted to see a plane crash. Just a short distance off the Siphon Draw
Trail lay the wreckage of a plane that crashed in 1971, a testimonial to the fact
that the Superstition Mountains are a formidable obstacle not only to hikers, but
also airplanes.
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| A parting shot of Flat Iron. |
John continued to outpace us on the way down the Siphon Draw, occasionally slowing
to tell us the best way down. It was only when we reached the Basin that it appeared
that we might finally be able to catch up to the 75-year-old wonder man. We were
decked out for this hike. We have comfortable camouflage pants and good hiking boots
on. John had blue jeans and sneakers. So as confident as John was on every part
of the Siphon Draw trail, it was clear that the Basin intimidated him with its steep
slick rock. Our hiking boots had ample traction on the slick rock and we caught
up to him quickly. Once we were off the slick rock John was a gazelle again and
stayed in front of us. When we got to the Superstition Wilderness Boundary sign
we stopped to take a photo of the sign with Flat Iron high above. The view of Flat
Iron was much better on the return trip. We never saw John again.
We made it back to the car about nine hours after we started. We were exhausted,
but like anything you do that is this special, it's a happy kind of tired. We turned
around and looked back up the Siphon Draw at what we had just accomplished. All
we could say to each other was, "Dude, we were there". In fact we kept saying that
to each other as we drove away until our view of the Siphon Draw and Flat Iron began
fading away. After all, what else could we say? We had all just completed the best
hike of our lifetime. Each of us was the most fatigued we had ever been after this
hike. When saying to each other, "Dude, we were there", we all knew exactly what
that meant to each other. The hike up the Siphon Draw is one of those hikes that
will remain one of our best memories for the rest of our lives. It was the best
hike of my life.
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