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| Hiking | 3.30 Miles |
977 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.30 Miles | 3 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.89 mph |
| 977 ft AEG | 2 Hrs Break | | | |
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| partners | | The views are soooo incredible. These formations are soooo awesome. That's just a couple of the comments that Tibber (Angela), my hiking partner, and I echoed throughout the morning as we observed the Superstition scenery on today's hike to the Wave Cave.
We met at the Carney Spring Trailhead/Parking lot alongside Peralta Road just before the agreed upon 0800 starting time. It was a pleasure to be hiking with Angela again and soon we had our gear on, camera's in hand and hit the trails that would hopefully take us to the Wave Cave.
After crossing through the fenceline we followed the Carney Trail to coordinates 33deg 23.733, 111deg 22.114 where we deviated to the left (west) on a fairly visible trail. And that was the good part, from there on,,,,,it was searching for the right cairns to guide us on the trail. There are so many false trails that too, are cairned, that we often split up to see which trail was the best (I lost). I ended up entering the wash and boulder hopped until I could exit and locate the trail again (too pumpkin much work on a hot morning).
Angela picked the preferred trail and arrived at the cave ahead of me by several minutes. By the time I got there, I was sweating pretty good, so the cool and shaded cave felt really good. After a quick breather, we had to explore the surprisingly large alcove. The floor is covered with a heavy layer of light dirt, the ceiling has a light/dark leopard pattern and along the back wall there's water seeping through the solid rock giving growth to thick, damp patches of moss. Small pools of water can be found along the base of the back wall below the seepage.
With the exploring over with, it was time for the (now traditional) photo poses atop the "stone wave". Angela was well prepared (I think she rehearsed the poses) so I shot her best forms,,,,very good ones too. Then it was my turn on the Wave, not nearly as artistic as hers, but......
We explored the adjoining (West) alcove and although not as deep, still exciting. The scenery from the caves is spectacular, you can see past the Dacite Cliffs, deep into the Barkley Basin where you can pick out the old Quarter Circle U Ranch site. The parking lot, where we parked, is visible and seems like a long way away. The low ranges of mountains directly in front of us makes a large semi-circle enclosing a fertile basin. Jokingly, we surmised having a house here with large windows that would offer million dollar views of the Superstition lowlands.
Too soon, it was time to slip back into our gear and begin the trek back to the parking lot. The temp was gaining on us as we began our tenuous journey down the trail. That first part is quite steep with lots of loose rocks and gravel making for cautious footing, but once across the wash, the trail improves slightly. We still had some problems with the false cairns on the return but now we had the trail's imprint on the GPS (breadcrumb trail) to help when we made a false turn.
This was a heck of a lot of fun and I will do this one again when the weather cools off in the fall. The trail needs work to straighten it out and get rid of the false cairns. If you follow the right trail, there's only a short pass through the wash and then it's all uphill from there to the cave. You're going to need a hiking partner so someone can snap photos of you performing on the "Wave". |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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| On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip. |
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