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I've been dying for a second chance at my failed attempt to hike a rather long loop in the Superstition Wilderness in March. I had another thread going here viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7466 about a long loop I had planned in the supes that didn't work out for me. I am going to try again in early January, but with a modified route.

I am planning on 8 days. The route I have planned will start at first water trailhead, go to reavis falls and come back to lost dutchman state park via the superstition ridgeline trail. A picture will illustrate the route better
I plotted the route out in garmin basecamp to get the mileage calculations and elevation gain for each day.

Day 1 -
1st water trailhead to bluff spring
9.3 miles
water - bluff spring

Day 2 -
Bluff spring to rogers spring
14.3 miles
water - randolph canyon, rogers spring

Day 3 -
Rogers spring to reavis falls
14.3 miles
water - plow saddle spring, reavis falls

Day 4 -
Reavis falls to clover spring
16.1 miles
water - reavis falls, plow saddle spring, and maybe clover spring (have read there could be some pools)

Day 5 -
Clover spring to Charlebois
10.5 miles
water - whiskey spring/upper labarge box, charlebois

Day 6 -
Relax day - explore peters canyon, etc
not counting any miles
water - charlebois

Day 7 -
Charlebois to robbers roost/west boulder canyon area
9.3 miles
water - charlebois, peralta canyon

Day 8 -
Superstition ridgeline to lost dutchman state park
water - haul extra water from peralta canyon last night for today

Total miles - 83.8
Total elevation gain - 26,205ft

So, it's going to be about the same mileage as my last plan for the 6 day trip, but with 8 days. Really, it will only be 7 days, with one day "off" to explore from a basecamp. The extra day also give me wiggle room if for some reason I cannot stick to my itinerary. Days 2-4 are going to be the toughest, otherwise the mileage is 10 miles or less each day.

From the looks of it, January is in the wet season for the supes? I have been told water shouldn't be much of a problem at this time. Looks like the supes got a lot of rain last week. I was just wondering how long the water tends to stick around after heavy rains like that. Also, out of curiosity, what is a rough threshold of how much rain causes flash flooding in some of the creeks in the supes? I ask because when I was there in March, the water levels jumped considerably after what I though was a lot of rain, but ended up being .35 inches according to weather.com(checked when I got home from the hike). The rain that feel last week was over 2 inches, and I was wondering how the water levels where after those rains.

Can anyone comment on water at clover spring? Can I expect to find some pools there?

On night 7, I was planning on camping near the junction of west boulder canyon trail and robber roost trail, so I can be close to the start of the superstition ridgeline trail in the morning. Does anyone know if there are any places to camp in that area? Also, I am not expecting there to be any water in that area(please tell me if I am wrong), so my plan is to hike down into peralta canyon (have read there should be pools here) and load up on as much water as I can carry so I am set for the day tomorrow. I have some 2L platypus collapsible bags to use for this, and other waterless stretches that I anticipate.

What do you guys use for sleeping pads out in the supes? I used a Klymit inertia x-frame pad last time, and it popped the first night (and first time using in the field) due to some thorns sticking up through the bottom of my tent. I am not to keen on bringing another inflatable pad here, and I was thinking about buying a foam pad. Your thoughts?

Footwear - Last time I wore merril moab ventilators, and I know I would have gotten some serious blisters if I did the whole hike. I only did 20+ miles and had a lot of rubbing on the sides of my feet. I wore these on a 45 mile hike before, but in a lot easier terrain, and had no blisters or issues then. Either way, I don't plan on hiking in them again here. I have a pair of zamberlan vioz gt boots (full grain leather) that I usually wear, but they're heavy. Didn't get any on a 55 mile hike in Colorado this summer. The problem is that these boots don't breathe well, so my feet sweat a lot and get really hot, and they hurt like hell at the end of a long day. They get sore from being cramped up in the boots, not necessarily from any blisters. I have been thinking about trying to hike in trail runners as I want to start hiking longer trails, but I don't know if they are appropriate for a hike here as there is just so many pokey/stabby plants. Also the weather, if it's rainy or even snowing, the trail runners probably aren't going to be a good choice. Then again, thru hikers wear trail runners in these conditions and apparently it isn't an issue for them. What do you guys think?

That's all the questions I can think of at the moment.

Sleeping pad, I've always used my thermerest ridgerest pad, in grand canyon or supes or four peaks wilderness or Yosemite :-p its never been a problem, lightweight, fits outside pack easily.

water, I did a 2 or 3 day (don't remember) on north side of the river in FPW in January and December of 2011 I think, tons of water pockets to filter from but I was in a side canyon and near creeks each day, warm during day, cool at night, be smart, go out ahead of time and scope things out, maybe cache a few liters, that's just my thoughts on anything over 3-4 days.

was in West boulder last week, tons of water everrrywhere! if we get any rain few days ahead of time you should be good to go on the ridgeline but if not, cache.
shoes, wear whats comfortable, don't go out in new shoes. I rocked my moab ventilators this entire year and loved them every step until recently, seems my 1200 miles of forward motion has widened my feet, so the past month I've been wearing runners / trainers, they've been fine in the supes as well. any offtrail involving cacti I've stick to thicker hiking boots, moabs aren't the best protection in that case but they're lightweight, tough for a good 300 miles or so and give the cactus needles back easier than most.

what're the dates of your excursion?

Thanks for the information. I don't have my dates set yet as I am still hunting for a good deal on airfare from Michigan and looking within a range of dates in early January. That's good news about west boulder canyon having water. I'll check again for recent water reports right before I leave too.

@MetalBackpacker I am assuming Clover Spring along JF Trail, I have only been during Jan, and there was water, but I think anytime in winter, water should not be too much of an issue.

friendofThundergod wrote: I am assuming Clover Spring along JF Trail

Two reports on this Clover Spring from Nov'12 to April'13.. http://hikearizona.com/dexcoder=590250

As already mentioned, right now there is water everywhere in the Superstitions. I was out in the area of Clover Spring today, Tortilla Creek to be exact, and it had a good flow. Doggie Spring is probably more reliable than Clover Spring but it really depends on the time of year and recent rainfall. Checking the spring reports just prior to your outing is your best bet.

Thanks guys... looks like I won't have to worry about water too much. That's good to know. Of course I will check again before leaving. I can't wait to get out there!

That sound like a great trip. Backpacking the supes solo is something I did for a good year or so. I always found water also.

This time of year I spend coyote hunting, and the backpack kinda gets tossed to the side until March or April. Hopefully I can get back in the supes this spring.

Hey everyone, just finished this hike, sitting in the airport right now waiting out a 3.5 hour layover.us airways lost my checked bag(which was all my hiking gear) and didn't find it for 24hrs. As a result I had 7 days instead of 8 for the hike and skipped the off day. did the route as planned but skipped reavis falls. total mileage was 92. I'll post more info later when I'm not writing from my phone.tough hike but it was a great time!

@MetalBackpacker
Nice job man..bummed we could not link up on day two...flipping Airlines!
Was that pile of wood still at Clover Spring? Funny I think I went back in on your last day, we still would have had one more chance to bump into each other lol..

Us Michiganders have to stick together, let me know if you in area again...Or I might be doing Isle Royale again this summer..you still need to get up there man, trust me...

@friendofThundergod
I'm bummed too... would have loved to get a bit of a tour from a knowledgeable local. Sounds like you have been spending quite a bit of time out there, can't blame you. That wood was still there at clover, man that really helped me out that day. Did 17 miles, all the way from the northern end of the Reavis Ranch area. If you hadn't left me the wood, I probably wouldn't have bothered to make a fire that night. Ended up cooking a nice meal over the fire. Even had enough wood left to cook some pre-cooked bacon wrapped in foil the next morning. Coincidentally, today was also the day I hiked the hoolie bacon trail, lol. Also ran into some crazy winds on my 2nd night(Sunday the 5th), camping along the Woodsbury trail. Were you ought there still? Blew my tent over in the middle of the night, moved to a little lower ground, tent blew over again. Next morning the winds were 50+ mph, blowing me off my feet when the gusts caught me offguard.

Let me know if you end up going to Isle Royale. I'd be down to go, always wanted to.... I'll be limited to last 2 weeks of July or so and the first 3 weeks in August though.

Tried uploading my gps route here, but for some reason the tracks won't show up... only the waypoints. I was going to upload a triplog as well, but the system seems to only allow to choose from a preset list of hikes... don't know where I would put a hike like mine. I posted some pics and info of the hike on my blog

@MetalBackpacker
You certainly can post a triplog on your Trip...When you are in the First Screen to "name" you Trip, click on Enter a Generic Name and just name it anything you want, ie. "Backpack in the Supes" or "Superstition Meander"...Whatever you want...Then use "Map Assistance" to give you the coordinates of say...your start point...Then, in the next Screen, you can "Link" all of the "Preset" Trails that you did while on your Trip....You Post the Photoset the same way, use the "Generic" option...Just make sure that you title your triplog and Photoset have the exact same name, with the same date so they sync....

@MetalBackpacker
Listen to outdoor lover it's easy!

@MetalBackpacker
Finally, got to looking at your link, nice trek man..you covered more of Supes than most do in a lifetime..next time cut the miles in half and do some off-trail exploring much, much, much more to see..sent you link to Isle Royale, will probably be in Michigan during July, trying to do the island again.

http://hikearizona.com/photoset=28503

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I finally got around to posting a video of this hike on youtube, if anyone is interested in watching it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po72JwicB4E

@MetalBackpacker
Looks like a nice trip.

Since HAZ is a great resource for you and others doing the same type of research that you did prior to your trip, might you consider posting your trip information, GPS track, and some photos here to share with others?

You can help make the site even better by sharing! Thanks!

MetalBackpacker wrote:Tried uploading my gps route here, but for some reason the tracks won't show up... only the waypoints. I was going to upload a triplog as well, but the system seems to only allow to choose from a preset list of hikes... don't know where I would put a hike like mine. I posted some pics and info of the hike on my blog

chumley wrote:You can help make the site even better by sharing! Thanks!

Looks like he tried.

I enjoyed the video too. You really covered a lot of ground for sure and had some weather to deal with as well. Seems like you did pretty good with the water issue.

As to the triplog, post as a generic and then you can link up some of the various routes you took like Randolph Canyon, etc. (Enter a Generic Name (a name you make up to describe your trek) is on left when you go to post a triplog). In your triplog, you can include the url link to your video.

Happy Trails,
Tibber

@MetalBackpacker
1 track / 9 waypoints loaded for me, took a minute or so due to the file size