Superstition Peak 5024 - Siphon Draw Photoset • outdoor_lover • 2012-01-12 • HikeArizona.COM

Superstition Peak 5024 - Siphon Draw, AZ

	2012-01-12
	34 by outdoor_lover

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Superstition Peak 5024 - Siphon Draw

Phoenix, AZ

Superstition Peak 5024 - Siphon Draw

Phoenix, AZ

Hiking	0.56 Miles	118 AEG

Hiking	0.56 Miles	4 Hrs	0.22 mph
	118 ft AEG	1 Hour 30 Mns Break

no routes

Linked

linked

Flatiron Hike - Superstitions

Siphon Draw Trail #53

Partners

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Part Two of Birthday Hike. Decided after messing around Flatiron for awhile that I felt good enough to bag a Peak as long as I was already here.

Started down the trail towards the peak and immediately ran into several trails, footpaths, etc, etc...Most seemed to go around towards the crash site and if I had been smart, I would have consulted the GPS route I made a copy of, in my pack. But no, and I think I ended up following what I believe now to be the Superstition Ridgeline Trail and just from memory of the Route, I knew I had missed the correct trail and had gone too far. I wasn't that far down the trail, but being stubborn and not wanting to backtrack, I figured, WTH, turned left and went straight up.

Well of course, it wasn't straight up and it took me a good 2 hours... :lol:

If the hiking, scrambling, traversing, and climbing getting up to Flatiron wasn't enough, let's throw in some light bushwacking, heavier climbing and traversing, and yes, even some "stemming"! (It's amazing what you can learn on HAZ!) :sweat:

I tried stemming between two huge boulders to try to get high enough to reach a handhold. Didn't work out though, I ran out of rock that my feet were on before I could get high enough, so I stemmed my pumpkin back down.

Did lots of climbing and downclimbing trying to find routes between all the big boulders and Hoodoos. Probably a good thing there was no one with me, otherwise there would have been extremely scary pictures or extremely comical ones.

Several times I had to take off the pack just to squeeze in somewhere. This was really good for me. It allowed me to find my limits, technically, physically and where I allowed common sense to take over.

Took a few risks, but was very careful and took as much time as I needed. It is apparent that the Agave plant and I are still fighting an age long war. We had a major battle a few years ago and I guess the mutual attraction still exists as it got a few good stabs in today....

As Johnr1 would say though, "just a few drops of blood".

I think there would be something wrong if I didn't shed a little blood on a hike...

Finally, decided to go around a group of Hoodoos in an area that looked more open and found a good route. I had about 20 feet of elevation to go, when I came around yet another boulder and scared the pumpkin out of a guy on the peak, taking a whiz off the back end!

I think he about fell over when I popped out from behind the rock. :lol:

It was ok, he just wasn't anticipating any company as he was the only one at the top when I got there, from the backside. But I made it, the hard way of course, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Loved the challenge! That guy was the only one on the either the Peak or Flatiron at that point, besides me. It was amazing!

I spent alot of time up there, long after the other guy left, taking pics and exploring the different areas at the Peak. Could not find a Benchmark or Log anywhere, I would have thought for sure there would be one, but I did find a Time Capsule that was breaking up with age.

Finally I knew I had to leave or I would be doing another trail after dark, so I found the "correct" trail to go down. I can tell you though, the "correct" trail is very poorly marked and nonexistent in places. I counted 5 cairns on the whole rocky route and nothing where it intersects with any of the other little trails and footpaths. If I had had GPS, I might have taken the time to build some, but in some places, I still couldn't tell if I was on a Route at all. Had a great time, again the views were incredible, and hated to leave....

_____________________

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!"

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