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My friend and I decided to go hike in the Superstitions. Our goal was to get to Massacre Falls via First Water TH- but due to my poorly summarized directions, I lead us astray down a rocky and dry creek bed and didn't realize the wrong turn until we hit a dead end with no way out (except back the way we came of course). Along our trip, I was getting frustrated because there were no signs of falls or human presence until...we came upon a red sharpie (still fresh), and then a 100 feet ahead a cairn. At the time, I just thought we were going the right way but upon inspection of trail once I got home, I saw just how far we strayed. Could it be possible that that area might be where those three gold seekers might've gotten lost? Usually I wouldn't think twice about it but, it was a bad hike (aside from a couple cool spots where we got to climb some rock), something I definitely don't want to do again- there was hardly any flat dirt surface in the wash just big rocks that we hopped from. My upper body ached the next day from having to support and hold myself while climbing bigger rocks and such. I don't know why any other hikers would want to hike it, unless they took a wrong turn like us. Now that I write it, it sounds silly, but I feel like I should tell someone regardless. ....So have any of you lost a red sharpie? ;)

Massacre Falls would not be a fun one in the heat and I think it would definitely be dry. Some of the hardcore Superstition folks do go out there in the summer though. Last time I hiked out there it was after the official search was over and the SAR crew was on their own. They said they were just then beginning the off trail search through some washes. This was exactly a month ago. It could have been them that dropped a sharpie and made a few cairns. You might contact one of the two SAR teams who worked out there and see if they covered that area.

Tough_Boots wrote:Massacre Falls would not be a fun one in the heat and I think it would definitely be dry. Some of the hardcore Superstition folks do go out there in the summer though. Last time I hiked out there it was after the official search was over and the SAR crew was on their own. They said they were just then beginning the off trail search through some washes. This was exactly a month ago. It could have been them that dropped a sharpie and made a few cairns. You might contact one of the two SAR teams who worked out there and see if they covered that area.

You would expect to see their grid search tape if they had cleared that area, though...

You should contact Superstition Search and Rescue and let them know what you found.

AzJess993 wrote:Could it be possible that that area might be where those three gold seekers might've gotten lost?

There is a maze of trails and washes scattered throughout the Supes. That is just one of many places where they could have lost their way. With today's available GPS technology, there really is no excuse for it. Even though I know several Superstition Mtn landmarks, I'm still a Supes rookie. I don't do any deep exploring around that area without first setting a GPS waypoint at the trailhead.

jeffmacewen wrote:You would expect to see their grid search tape if they had cleared that area, though...

Grid tape? Wouldn't they take that down after the official sweep was done. I hiked trails they must have searched and there was definitely no tape back there.

I never saw any tape. Only markers I did see were a couple red tags on some bushes on the actual trail. I submitted my suspicions to the website, so I will see what they have to say back.