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My wife and I want to do our first backpacking trip in the Supes in the next few weeks. We're planning for 3 days-2 nights and are totally comfortable doing 30-45 miles over that time (we hike a lot, and we live in Flagstaff, so we feel like there's bonus oxygen when we hike under 5,000'). We don't mind carrying water or dry camping, but getting to water once a day would be nice.

A loop would be ideal, but we don't mind doing lollipops or even an out-and-back if it's great scenery.

Neither of us have been to the Supes before, so any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

flagscott wrote:More generally, is it typical for people to argue about other people's opinions of trails around here? Isn't that sort of subjective? Perhaps we should also argue what the best color, food, movie, and music are, too.

yes, in my experience those are all subjective things that people argue about all the time-- though my intent was not anything mean spirited as I attempted to make clear with that silly winkie face emoticon ;) . Forums and social media are places for discussion and exchange of opinions. If you were on a music forum, you would see people discussing conflicting opinions on music. This is a hiking forum so you will see people discussing opinions on hiking.

Tough_Boots wrote:

flagscott wrote:The only drag was the Red Tanks trail which combined mediocre scenery with godawful trail construction and maintenance.

How did you survive Upper LaBarge Canyon with your eyes closed? ;)

In that case, my response is: maybe you just haven't hiked enough nice places. ;)

(BTW, I've been on other hiking forums for years. The tone here is different, just takes some getting used to. I'm not actually thin-skinned.).

Very few if any of the trails in the Superstitions were trails constructed and created with maintenance in mind. Think early cowboys raising cattle to feed the miners or prospectors themselves just deciding a route from point A to B. Water runoff and what % of grades was not their concern at all. Just be glad we have what we have and stop complaining about it. The next thing you know someone will want benches every quarter of a mile with a solar powered water spigot on one side and a port on the other side to charge electronic devices. It's supposed to be A WILDERNESS folks not a city park! :STP:

SuperstitionGuy wrote:stop complaining about it.

:roll:

flagscott is a new hazzer who has posted about 5 comments ever. I didn't find his personal description of Red Tanks or La Barge to be complaints at all. Just observations -- and welcome ones at that. It's nice to know what other people think of a trail or area as it helps others formulate an overall opinion of a place.

Your previous input making the trailheads and road access sound similar to living in Fallujah seemed to be far more of a complaint to me. But despite never having any such access experiences myself I was nonetheless interested to read your "complaints" about that too.