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| Hiking | 6.40 Miles |
1,290 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.40 Miles | 4 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.97 mph |
| 1,290 ft AEG | 1 Hour 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | What an exciting area Hank invited me to hike with him. We drove from my place in Apache Junction to hike to the Pueblo Canyon Overlook in the Sierra Ancha Mountains which line the Northern side of Roosevelt Lake. The drive alone is beautiful and exciting as you enter the mountain range and gradually increase in altitude and following Workman's Creek.
We pulled over at the falls for some photos and it's too bad that there wasn't more water flowing because this could be really beautiful. A couple of hundred yards further up, is an old water level monitoring station that doesn't look like it's used any more. Continuing on, we came upon patches of snow still alongside the road then finally we arrived at the Murphy Ranch Trailhead (the ranch is now called Haldi Ranch).
At an altitude of 7,200 feet (+/-), we parked the pickup, got into our hiking gear and hit the trail at 0955. It's always a bad sign when you first hit the trails and you descend 1,000 feet to your destination, cause at the end of the hike, you have to climb 1,000 feet  The trail system is well marked even without cairns because the Elk have made it into a major thoroughfare. Signage marks entry/exit points of other trails in the area.
When we reached the end of the trail, we toured Edwards Spring, another hot spot for the Elk, then we went to the overlook. The views from the tops of the 6,200 foot cliffs is nothing short of spectacular. The views down Pueblo Canyon reveals the ancient ruins tucked under some overhanging rocks about 800 feet below the top and another 700 feet above the creek.
(A quick calculation shows about 4-1/2 inches (at 500'per 7/8" on the TOPO) from my spot on the overlook, to a spot above the ruins, then another 600' down equals approx. 2,500' from my camera to the ruins)
I set my camera on a small, portable tripod to steady it and went full zoom to capture some shots of the ruins from my spot on the overlook. From my vantage point, I think I was able to capture most of the features. It's truly amazing that an early people lived in a place that is so inaccessible then, after years of habitation, just disappear without any traces.
I took photos of the ruins from a couple of places along the overlook and then moved farther along to get some shots of the upper waterfall far below us. Again, it's disappointing that there was so little flow, but it's wet and there was a small flow visible in the creek. We paused for lunch and found that the overlook has a lot to offer for us shutterbugs with twisted and bent Alligator Juniper growing seemingly out of the bare rock surface. Some of the trees had been burnt by the fire of 2000, yet still have some green growth to show how tough they are.
Too soon we were on the return hike and by now the temperature was creeping up higher than we had thought it would be at this altitude. The trail didn't seem this steep on the way in, must be the altitude. The other hiking problem is the number of "New Mexico Locust" that line both sides of the upper reaches of the trail. Hank was wearing shorts and I often heard those words of discontent as we pushed through the heavier sections of growth But finally we reached the truck, cleverly parked in the shade of a towering pine tree.
On the return trip, we visited the unoccupied fire lookout tower on Aztec Peak, then stopped at a Forest Service cabin for a change of clothes and a cool, refreshing drink. Yep, this was a fun day and one that I would recommend to anyone looking for an escape from the valley's heat range. Although you can't get to the ruins from here, it's a great place to view them.  |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Edward Spring |
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| | | There is a small amount of flowage from the spring, but the water collects in pools where Elk have access. Best uncontaminated water can be found at the source. | | _____________________
| 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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