Exploring The Superstitions - Annerino

[cactuscat]

Excited to get this in the mail today!
One of my favorite desert authors writing about a favorite place ... should be good!

[ Exploring the Superstitions: Trails ... untains ]

[Tough_Boots]

That's been on my stack for a couple weeks. I'm curious to hear what you think.

[SuperstitionGuy]

That's been on my stack for a couple weeks. I'm curious to hear what you think.

1 - Well if it is like so many other books written about the so called Legends of the Superstitions it probably should be listed as fiction.

2 - And where does this claim that 600 visitors have died in the supers? Is he counting the memorials of peoples cremated ashes that have been scattered or buried out there as well?

[cactuscat]

And where does this claim that 600 visitors have died in the supers? Is he counting the memorials of peoples cremated ashes that have been scattered or buried out there as well?

Native Americans.

[Steph_and_Blake]

@cactuscat
Hey, let me know how the book turns out - whether or not it's a good read.

[cactuscat]

Meh - it was ok ... some fun stories and history/legends mixed in with trail descriptions, maps (both topo and "treasure"), an appendix cataloging deaths from 1843-2016, and a glossary of Spanish, Mexican, and Native American terms and names on Superstitions-related things. John Annerino has pretty strong cred, and writes interesting things ("Dead In Their Tracks: Crossing America's Desert Borderlands" is a favorite of mine). In this book, he claims to have been leader of what he thinks were the first groups to hike the Superstition Ridgeline route in "modern times" - he doesn't specify what year that was, but it was interesting to read and to think about trailblazing that route! I also enjoyed his re-telling and retracing of the classic Adolph Ruth death mystery.

[big_load]

And where does this claim that 600 visitors have died in the supers? Is he counting the memorials of peoples cremated ashes that have been scattered or buried out there as well?

Native Americans.

Depending on when the count starts, it must be a lot more than 600.

[cactuscat]

@big_load
Yeah, I don't think 600 is an unreasonable number for the last 150 years or so ...

[SuperstitionGuy]

Yeah, I don't think 600 is an unreasonable number for the last 150 years or so ...

His statement was for 100 years from 1917 to 2018... He should have said two or three not one "century". and I quote....In fact, in the past century, the Superstition Mountains have claimed the lives of more than six hundred visitors,
Like I said just hype to sell the book....

[big_load]

six hundred visitors

I bet it was a just as hard on residents as visitors. I've been trying to guess how many died in a similar interval, say 1180-1280.

[cactuscat]

@SuperstitionGuy
You're quoting the cover - not the book.
In the book, Annerino actually writes "the Superstition Mountains have claimed the lives of what by conservative estimates may be 654 or more people" ... he doesn't specify a time frame.
Take up your beef with Tom Lau who designed the cover - presumably doing his job, which is yes "to sell the book".

[Tough_Boots]

It's a small press local interest book. Nobody involved has expectations on any possible sales numbers to warrant accusations of false hype.

[chumley]

Yay! Publishing arguments! Finally something I actually understand, and yet I'll refrain from picking a side on this one.

[hikeaz]

In this book, he claims to have been leader of what he thinks were the first groups to hike the Superstition Ridgeline route in "modern times" - he doesn't specify what year that was, but it was interesting to read and to think about trailblazing that route!

Maybe..... I have seen plenty of photos of Kollenborn on one of his horses above Carney, on Superstition Mountain and above Massacre Grounds in the 50's and 60's - hard to believe he never pieced it together.