Superstition Transect

Fakawi · Post by **Fakawi** » Nov 26 2006 8:44 am

I am going to be walking through the Superstitions in a couple of weeks from the Miles TH to First Water TH.
I'm wondering what the water conditions are like.
Has anyone been out around Tortilla TH and Peters Mesa area lately?
I've read that Mullin Spring and Kane Spring have water seasonally and I know Charlebois is usually reliable.

deserttarheel · Post by **deserttarheel** » Nov 26 2006 3:39 pm

Mike and I will be doing a loop from Tortilla TH this w/e. I will let you know what we find. Or PM me if I go Alzheimers. Charlesbois is about as reliable as it gets in the Western Supes.

hikeaz · Post by **hikeaz** » Nov 27 2006 8:24 am

pakak wrote:I am going to be walking through the Superstitions in a couple of weeks from the Miles TH to First Water TH.
I'm wondering what the water conditions are like.
Has anyone been out around Tortilla TH and Peters Mesa area lately?
I've read that Mullin Spring and Kane Spring have water seasonally and I know Charlebois is usually reliable.

What is your proposed route?

Fakawi · Post by **Fakawi** » Nov 27 2006 7:29 pm

Thanks desert tarheel. I'll be looking forward to any info you may aquire. Happy Hiking!
As for the proposed route: Starting at the Miles TH we'll take the West Pinto Creek trail (212) up to Rogers Trough TH. Then the Reavis trail (109) briefly to catch the Rogers Canyon trail (110). I want to check out that ruin at Angel Basin. From there we'll go to Tortilla Pass, up the JF (106) to the Tortilla TH and on to Peters trail (105) and Charlebois Spring. The final stretch will be the Dutchman's trail (104) (we're debating whether or not to take Bull Pass trail (129) up over Black Top Mesa) to the First Water TH.
It's going to be an awsome hike!

hikeaz · Post by **hikeaz** » Nov 27 2006 10:14 pm

In response to pakak's reply:
I did a varation of your proposed hike in March '05. (Campaign to First Water -3 nights/4 days)
You should find water near Oak Flat... also near the Roger's T/H, and just upstream from the ruin in Roger's (in the creekbed) - additionally, you should find some in Tortilla Creek, as well. Kane should have a pool or better, too.
Once you're @ Charlebois you're home-free as far as water (although East Boulder may have some).
Hope that you have a blast!

Fakawi · Post by **Fakawi** » Dec 02 2006 4:59 am

I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to freeze on Iron Mountain day 1.
I don't know about the Valley of the Sun, but it's been freezing in Tucson. We had a little rain on Wednesday.
I'm hoping the East Valley got some rain as well.

djui5 · Post by **djui5** » Dec 04 2006 2:20 pm

bring a jacket, it's cold.

jjr6 · Post by **jjr6** » Dec 05 2006 11:25 am

great route! I just did a loop through the Angel Basin area over thanksgiving, and I'm familiar with the West Pinto Trail as well. I didn't find any water around Oak Flat the time I was there a few years ago (pre-rain early winter), but we didn't look all that hard. There was water up along upper Pinto Creek though. Last week there was no water near Roger's trough, and one lonely little pool down Rogers Canyon before the Reavis trail junction. We didn't hike the 3 miles from Reavis Trail to Angel Basin, but I heard there was water there, and there was some in the creekbed near Angel Basin (hard to find, though). Hole Spring, about .5 mile downstream from Angel Basin had abundant water. Kane Spring is listed as reliable even during dry times by the FS website, I've always seen at least a little water there.

If you can at all spare the time, a more interesting route from Miles is to turn right at Oak Flat and go over the pass near Pinto Peak into Campaign Creek (forgot the trail name), down to the Fireline trail, turn left and up-over to Reavis Valley, turn left again on Reavis trail and over Reavis Saddle to Rogers Canyon. Turn right to resume your route here. This adds about 6-7 miles to your total hike distance, but is enormously scenic and interesting. Just an idea.

hikeaz · Post by **hikeaz** » Dec 05 2006 12:56 pm

jjr6 wrote:great route! ..................................................................................
If you can at all spare the time, a more interesting route from Miles is to turn right at Oak Flat and go over the pass near Pinto Peak into Campaign Creek (forgot the trail name), down to the Fireline trail, turn left and up-over to Reavis Valley, turn left again on Reavis trail and over Reavis Saddle to Rogers Canyon. Turn right to resume your route here. This adds about 6-7 miles to your total hike distance, but is enormously scenic and interesting. Just an idea.

Plus it adds the option to hike the cherry-stem up to Circlestone.

jkern15674 · Post by **jkern15674** » Jan 13 2007 4:04 am

What would be the approx mileage for this hike?

hikeaz · Post by **hikeaz** » Jan 13 2007 3:07 pm

jkern15674 wrote:What would be the approx mileage for this hike?

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/tonto/wildernes ... rs_map.htm

Fakawi · Post by **Fakawi** » Feb 24 2007 2:45 pm

Well, we did a version of this hike back in early December. It was myself, my husband and an old friend of his, Kathy. We started the 6th I believe.
West Pinto trail was incredibly brushy and overgrown. So it was slow going all the way over to Iron Mountain. The views coming up the Mountain were awsome.
I was suprised at how fast we come upon Rogers trough once we hit the shoulder of Iron Mountain.
Kathy seemed to be having trouble on the trail early on so we hiked slow. Roger's canyon to Angel Basin was really pretty. We camped at Angel Basin and went to investigate the ruin the next morning. I was pleased to see it mostly intact.
By the time we hit Tortilla Pass after climbing out of Rogers Canyon it was obvious we needed to modify the hike.
From tortilla Pass we dropped in to Randolph Canyon. We camped somewhere north of Red Tanks divide. Randoph canyon is one of the first canyons I explored in the Supes. We chose this route because I knew it was loaded with water.
We took coffee flat over to Dutchman's and came out at Peralta TH.
It was a really great hike. And not making it to First Water left us several more routes to explore. Dutchman's loop is the one we did next. I haven't written that one up yet but it was an awsome over nighter!

Superstition Transect

Superstition Transect

water conditions

Re: Superstition Transect