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| Backpack | 11.50 Miles |
4,480 AEG |
| | Backpack | 11.50 Miles | 1 Day 6 Hrs 40 Mns | | |
| 4,480 ft AEG | | 40 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Way back in March 1995 my brother and I went up Carney Springs with our scout troop. We all got up there and camped near peak 5057, but for good reasons we bailed down Hieroglyphic Canyon rather than continuing to Siphon Draw. I got a really nasty ankle sprain just above the pools, went blind from shock for a minute or two, and eventually we all got out of there.
I followed the same route a couple of years later with two other veterans of the first trip. That time there were no sprained ankles, but I did nearly fall off the east face of peak 5057. You'd think I would learn to stay out of the Superstitions, but they keep calling me back!
My brother proposed that we actually do the complete Superstition Ridgeline as we had intended so long ago. Our friend came along. All three of us were in the group that hiked Mt. Whitney last year. Despite growing up in the area and lots of experience hiking, including in the Superstitions, we were tested on this hike. I'm embarrassed to say that this log reads somewhat like a funny lesson of what not to do. Moral of the story: this is a serious hike, so be prepared.
Once again our plan was to camp right at peak 5057. We left from Carney Springs Trailhead in the early afternoon. We were cruising so much that we missed the right-hand turn toward Carney Springs and were halfway to the Wave Cave before we caught the mistake. We headed back down a ways and bushwhacked across to find the correct trail.
We had no more trouble until we crossed the last drainage before the trail goes steeply up toward the top of the main ridge. We completely missed the trail. The trees there are all burned up and dead, and the grasses looked generally swept downslope, and we got mixed up. We followed a false trail that headed downhill along the north bank of the drainage. That didn't seem right so after a bit we stopped and headed overland across the slope. We crossed over to the next drainage and continued before we finally got cell reception and checked some things. We learned that the trail some 200 yards up the very steep slope from our location. At that point there was nothing for it but to trek straight up hill.
By the time we got to the trail, the sun was setting and we were still at least an hour from the peak. The saddle where a trail branches over to Three Sisters offered some flat ground but a lot of wind. We continued to the next saddle where a lower branch of the trail meets the ridge and found the wind to be much calmer, and there we set up for the night.
We slept well and awoke to another beautiful clear day. After less than an hour of hiking (including our only bloody cactus encounter), we dropped our packs at the peak trail junction and bagged peak 5057. We got down to the Hieroglyphic Canyon saddle with little trouble, though we did rebuild several fallen cairns along the way. The big ascent from there to peak 4869 was very slow as my legs started to hit a wall.
The trail was very overgrown in spots, especially when skirting the NE face of the little peaks along the ridge. In other similar shaded spots the ground was moist even though it had not rained for several days. There was a little bit of water pooled here and there in some of the stream beds, but nothing running. We saw tons of hikers headed to the Wave Cave, a few between Carney Springs and West Boulder saddle, a handful between peak 5057 and Hieroglyphic Canyon, and then no one at all until the top of Siphon Draw, which was packed with hikers.
At some point before climbing onto the mass that contains peak 5024 and Flatiron, I found that my 2-liter water bladder was empty. I had brought 6 liters and it was gone. I hadn't even used 2 liters the first day of hiking, and I had used less than 2 liters at our campsite. So where had it gone? Well, as we started hiking the first day, the mouthpiece of my bladder was leaking a little, a drop at a time. On day 2 as we left I had packed my bag differently and apparently put pressure on the bladder. Combined with the leaky mouthpiece, it was dripping quite a bit onto my front. I didn't think too much about it but I probably lost a full liter that way. My partners generously shared with me but mild dehydration certainly contributed to what was to come and could have been disastrous.
Descending Siphon Draw I found that my exhausted quads were losing the last bit of strength and were sweating a ton with all the downward stepping, even while I was using trekking poles to descend. I had to rely on my upper body as much as possible. It got dark enough that I needed my headlamp just as I entered the slippery area above the half pipe. Lots of baby steps for me from then on. By the time we got near the huge boulders I was going around the railroad tie steps to take smaller steps. We made our slow way out and met our ride in the state park.
I have a lot of gratitude. I completed a difficult challenge. I walked out of the Superstitions on my own. My legs are still somewhat sore but fine. I'm hydrated. My partners and I had plenty of water, food, layers, and light between us. But it was a powerful reminder to me that I cannot skimp on preparation or gear checks when heading out into the wild. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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