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| Hiking | 3.90 Miles |
1,113 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.90 Miles | 2 Hrs 38 Mns | | 1.48 mph |
| 1,113 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | There was a great layer of broken clouds this morning which is preceding a storm front predicted for the weekend. With that in mind, I decided to get out and continue my conditioning to improve my legs and respiration, and it looked like a good day for photos too.
Siphon Draw is always a good workout with it's long continuous steep incline and the temp was about 67 degrees at my 0730 start time. With the sun and clouds breaking across the main Western buttress, I had to take photo breaks as I proceeded up the trail. It didn't take to long before I realized that my long sleeve shirt was going to have to get tucked into the backpack.
I was huffing & puffing pretty good until I got my wind normalized and it was about this time that I noticed that all the benches had been removed/missing. At one point along the trail, I came across a nice size tarantula in the middle of the trail. It was lying on its back, but appeared to be curled up due to the morning chill. I placed a rock alongside it in hopes that hikers wouldn't step on it.
Early morning is normally a bad time to photograph the steep-sided inner canyon because the sun doesn't reach here until past noon. So I set up my camera for taking bracketed sets of shots that could be processed in HDR Post Processing. This would allow me to make the best use of the available light and put some color into the shaded areas and add detail to the already impressive clouds circulating overhead. I don't like hiking with the tripod, but it's necessary for HDR shots and can kinda serve as a hiking stick in a pinch 
Some of the shots took me off-trail in search of better less-frequently seen views of Siphon Draw and the Flatiron. I paid the price for my wandering as the early reports on "Catsclaw" aren't an exaggeration  There should be a robust crop of the skin eating plant along the trails.
I played around the "slick rock" area at the base of the now dry waterfall and watched a lizard climbing the vertical surfaces with enviable speed and agility  There were only a few hikers out this morning so I had the whole area to myself.
Soon I headed back down the trail and now I remember the impact on the knees that comes into play on a descent. I maintained a steady speed and took it easy around the loose rocks and it went just fine all the way back to the Mining Camp where I had parked my truck.
An enjoyable morning was topped off by stopping in at the Blueberry Mine Store and having a cold beer while talking with Luis Ruez. Tom Kolenborn had a nice write-up on the store in his weekly column in the Apache News.
YEP, it's great to be back  |
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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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