Superstition Mountains - November 2014

Superstition Mountains

November 2014

This was a short, uneventful hike with Tom in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, Arizona on Thanksgiving weekend 2014.  Covering only 16 miles over two full days and nights it was not quite worthy of a full blown trail journal, but was interesting enough for an abbreviated one.

I flew into Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon.  Tom picked me up at the airport and we went directly to the trail head to get a couple of hours of hiking in before sundown.  At the trailhead, we met a woman and her daughter who were waiting for her husband and other daughter.  They had gone on a dayhike and called her around 11:00 to get picked up saying they were about 15 minutes from the trailhead.  Well, we got there around 4:00 and her husband hadn't shown up yet.  She was beginning to panic.  Tom later explained to me that people were getting lost there all the time.  We saw one rescue helicopter that evening.  As we were setting out, she got a call from her husband out in the wilderness somewhere.  There wasn't much we could do to help as she had already talked to the rangers.  It was another example of why you really need to stay on the trails and always be respectful of nature.

A beautiful but inhospitable land

This was typical scenery.  A lot of brush, most of which had thorns or worse.  We kept an eye out for rattlesnakes.  We did about 2 miles and set up camp.  Expecting a dry camp, we had brought enough water for the evening as well as most of the following day.  This extra weight offset the very light packs we brought.  No need for rain gear here!  Tom had also upgraded his pack in the never ending search for lighter gear weight.  We tried a few new items on this trip, including my new light-weight 3-man tent which slept two very comfortably.  We slept without the fly as there was no chance of rain.

Although not as impressive as some of the mountains we have visited, the Superstitions are certainly rougher than Central Illinois.  Coincidently in the November issue of Backpacker, the Superstitions were listed as a top destination for fall hiking.  If you are hiking at this time of year and want mountains and don't want snowshoes, your options are limited.  Having said that, this isn't a second-rate trip.  The desert is beautiful in its own way.  We had beautiful weather with nights in the 30's and days in the 60's.  Perhaps a little warmer than optimal, but very comfortable.

The second day (Thanksgiving) we did only about 6 miles, which took us to about noon.  We saw a few people, which was somewhat surprising since we were far enough out that they were not just dayhiking.



Heading toward our campsite, an oasis in the desert

Tom had researched and found a couple of spots that were reported to have water the previous week.  The key to any extended trip in this area is strategically placed waterholes.

Campsite 2nd night

Our campsite was truly an oasis in the desert.  Located just by a significant stream, we were surrounded by deciduous trees decorated with their fall colors.  Not knowing if there would be water here, we arrived early as the back up plan entailed several additional miles.  It was a good thing we did that.  During the afternoon, three groups of backpackers came by.  If we hadn't been there already, I'm sure one of them would have taken this spot which was by far the best site we encountered on the trip.  There was even enough wood for Tom to build a nice campfire in the evening.

Typical scenery with a lot of flat ground surrounded by barren peaks.

We headed out the next morning, doing 8 miles of what should have been easy hiking.  The terrain was relatively flat as the trail ran around the peaks rather than over them.  It would have been quite a feat to scale these peaks, not to mention quite dangerous due to unstable rock formations.

We only had one map and referred to it often!

There were a couple of times when we got off the trail and several others when we wondered if we had.  The trails seemed lightly used and not maintained.  We did see some horse droppings which made me wonder how in the world a horse could use these trails.  Everything had thorns or stickers which made forging through the trail an adventure for people our size.  I don't see how an animal the size of a horse could do it without getting ripped up.  Perhaps their coats protect them better than I would expect.

A picture with poor lighting, but notice the balancing rock

The rock formations were very interesting and not at all like what you see in Central Illinois.  We saw a number of rocks balanced on what seemed impossibly small bases.  I would imagine they occasionally fall, bounding down the mountains.  The cactus and other plants were abundant.  At one point, I brushed against a cactus like the one pictured below and realized my thigh was burning.  The large needles were not the issue.  I successfully avoided them.  The small needles were the problem.  They look like small clumps of hair on the top of the cactus.  They are actually small dense groups of needles that easily penetrate the thin hiking pants we were wearing.  We saw a few people hiking in shorts.  I'm not a big fan of hiking in shorts anyway, but in this terrain, that would seem very unwise.

Brought some of the small needles home with me in my leg.

It took me a couple of weeks to get all the needles out of my leg.  I pulled many out when I first felt them and then more when we got back to Tom's place.  However, there were still more that I kept finding every couple of days.  They were more of an inconvenience than a pain.

The Wild West

Another balancing rock.  Think of the weight on that small pedestal!

We completed the hike shortly after noon as our water was running out.  It was easy to see how someone could get lost in this area.  With poor trails and few major landmarks, it wouldn't take much to miss a cairn and be out in the middle of nowhere without any water.

Casa Grande

On the way back to Phoenix, we stopped off at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.  The multistory building pictured above is hundreds of years old.  It was a very interesting and impressive place.