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| Hiking | 4.02 Miles |
2,539 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.02 Miles | 2 Hrs 40 Mns | | 1.72 mph |
| 2,539 ft AEG | 20 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Wow. Just wow. 
My meeting finally ended around 3 and I immediately headed for the exit. After a quick trip home to get some gear, I headed for the Supes. As I approached, I was beginning to get disappointed. The snow I had seen earlier was long gone. Only the highest elevations were white, leaving me to settle for what would ultimately end up being just a wet desert hike. I usually love rainy desert hikes, but I had gotten so psyched about the snow that it was sort of a bummer.
Oh well. I passed numerous photographers who had set up along the road trying to catch that perfect shot, and there were four cars in the parking lot at the end of the road so I knew I wasn't the only one with this idea.
It was 4:20 and I knew I only had 2 hours of daylight so I had semi-decided that summiting wasn't gonna happen, despite being fully equipped and ready for a night hike. I just didn't think that a wet siphon draw in the dark was something that I wanted to deal with tonight.
It began to snow a bit as I entered the lower part of the draw, and before long it was coming down heavily. I got out my rain jacket since the big wet flakes were melting immediately and soaking my shirt. It wasn't sticking in the draw, but there was a nice flow of runoff, and the rocks were wet and very slick. Climbing up the rock in the draw was a careful procedure requiring a solid hand hold for every step.
By the top of the draw, the snow was sticking and the route from here up was snow-covered. The snow shower ended but it was pretty socked in, with no view of the destination. I trudged along in the mud and snow, following the footsteps of some others who had gone before me. I passed a group of three on their way down who said it was a little sketchy at the top.
The snow was very wet, and super slippery. Progress was very slow. But I had some tunes on and was loving being out there! Through the clouds I began to think I could see the top, but it felt like it hadn't been quite far enough yet. Just as I was pondering my plan, I checked the time and saw that it was now 5:30, and I had only 45 minutes until sunset. I definitely wanted to be below the slickrock before it got dark. But I was so close to the top... or not. The clouds parted opening spectacular views and I realized that I was probably still 500-feet below the flatiron. So I made the smart decision to skip the summit and head back down from here.
Two others passed me and we discussed the slippery rocks and impending darkness. They had both hiked here before and had headlamps and prepared for the dark. I wished them luck as they basically made fun of me for quitting. I didn't care. I was very happy with where I was and comfortable with my decision.
The descent was S L O W. There was no way around it. This is not an easy hike in 3" of wet snow, with slick mud underneath. The rocks provided no respite as the snow packed under every footprint and created a little sheet of ice. My gloves were soaked since every downstep required both of my hands to be planted in the snow.
I was happy to get back to the slickrock and the relative lack of snow, but getting down that safely in the wet conditions was also slow going. At this point it was nearly dark, and I was happy to not still be higher up the mountain. Eventually I put on my headlamp and cruised down the lower part of the trail.
Rain and snow began to fall, and the evaporative cooling effect quickly changed it over to all snow. And then it really started coming down. Hiking with a headlamp at night staring into a blizzard of fat snowflakes is quite a chore. Luckily, I've done this enough times that I was able to find the turnoff for the trail back toward Mining Camp and along the way was able to help corral another group of hikers who had gotten lost in the whiteout and had spotted my headlamp.
By the time we got back to the cars, there were three groups of us and it was a total whiteout. A Ford Explorer with 4 kids managed to slide off the road into a ditch and got a running board hung up on some rocks. I grabbed my tow strap and was able to pull them out, though with a slightly disfigured running board!
The poor kid driving was so scared about having to call his dad stuck in a ditch that after I pulled him out he announced he was going to hug me, and followed through! Glad to help! 
From there I enjoyed the snow and just took my time getting out. It was accumulating on everything, a winter wonderland, right in Apache Junction! The snow began to taper off as I got out on the highway, but the snowfall was evident all the way back to the 60, where Idaho Road was covered with 1-2" of snowy slush. You just don't see that everyday out here. This is down to 1500 feet!
Yeah, so that was awesome!  |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
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