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| Backpack | 12.00 Miles |
1,000 AEG |
| | Backpack | 12.00 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 1,000 ft AEG | | 26 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Wow, what a gorgeous part of the Superstitions! I've been hiking the Supes for 20 years and I've never explored this southeast corner. This area checks all the boxes. It's gorgeous, unburned, has amazing fall colors, multiple water sources and has a beautiful camping area 5.4 miles in. Plus, it's only 1.5 hours from Phoenix. Sure, the access road through the mine is a little confusing, but just stay on FR 287 all the way until just before the 1-lane bridge and then take a left onto FR 3037. 1/4 mile down 3037 is the trailhead and a small parking area that can accommodate 8 cars or so. Very few people hike this trail, but I'm not sure why. To date (late 2022), it is one of the last unburned areas of the Superstitions.
The Technical Details:
Six of us backpacked the Haunted Canyon Trail #203 on Nov 18-19, 2022 starting from the east trailhead (near intersection of FR 287 & FR 3037) and ending at Tony Ranch, retracing our steps the next day. We camped 5.4 miles in near the Y intersection where the trail to Tony Ranch splits off of Trail 203. Temperatures were pretty chilly at night, where a reliable digital thermometer (hung up in a bush) read 25 degrees just before dawn. The Globe forecast for the same day predicted a low of 34, so it looks like the "canyon adjustment" is minus 8-10 degrees from the Globe low. Daytime highs were consistent with the Globe forecast (around 60 on these days). Water was crystal-clear and readily available at Tony Ranch Spring, 0.15 miles from our campsite. The pipe was flowing and the trough was full.
On the route in, there was one particular spot at the 4 mile mark where we took a wrong trail. I included a picture of that spot with descriptive captions in my photoset. There was a creek crossing (one of many) where it appeared the only way to go (other than walk in the creek) was up a steep trail. After a steep climb, the trail peters out, forcing you to retrace your steps back to the creek. Upon returning to the creek (and scratching our heads), we noted a subtle red spray-painted arrow on the rock cliff face pointing you to go into the creek, heading upstream on a series of stepping stones. Once you get past the first 15 feet, you're back on the shoreline again and all is well with the world. See photo set to save you the hassle.
Other than that spot, the trail was pretty easy to follow, although we did have the GPS track handy on our phones and referred to it whenever we weren't 100% sure. The bottom line on this hike is you should never have to hike directly up the creek bed, aside from that one spot mentioned above. You will always be crossing the creek bed (multiple times) to pickup a trail on the other side.
There were trail reports indicating an excessive amount of brush (live oak and catclaw) on the trail. While this trail sees little use, we didn't see any more brush that we normally see on other Superstitions hikes (which is to say, there was frequent brush, but nothing that we couldn't plow through). We brought a pair of garden clippers, just in case, but we didn't end up using them. I think some of the brush that had built up over the summer had died off once the nighttime temps got below freezing, so we didn't see the worst of it.
Overall a great hike in a beautiful, less-traveled area of the Superstitions. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
We were late in the season, but there was still some nice color remaining. |
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Haunted Canyon Spring |
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Gallon per minute |
| | | There was water in the creek bed downstream from the spring. Not sure if this was from the spring or from rain runoff, but there's water just the same. Flow rate was difficult to measure, but there was substantial water. |
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Tony Ranch Spring |
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Quart per minute |
| | | Nice flow out of the pipe and into the trough. Water was crystal-clear with only a small amount of green stuff in the trough. | | _____________________
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