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| Canyoneering | 16.43 Miles |
1,670 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 16.43 Miles | 10 Hrs 17 Mns | | 1.86 mph |
| 1,670 ft AEG | 1 Hour 28 Mns Break | | | |
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| | Canyon Hiking - Non-technical; no rope; easy scrambling; occasional hand use | | A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit | | I - Short 1-2 hours |
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[ show ]
| partners | | We started from First Water Trailhead just after sunrise on a chilly morning in the mid-30s. As we finished packing up to get on the trail, I could've sworn I saw the guy from Legend of the Superstition Mountains pull up and get out of a blue truck. Should've asked him for some gold-hunting tips...
We saw a few groups of hikers and campers on the trails early on, but the crowds thinned out quickly as we approached Parker Pass. All the water crossings had a steady flow of water, which was nice to see, and was a good sign for Needle Canyon later. The morning warmed up quickly once the sun cleared the mountains, though I had an early, hard-hitting collision with a barrel cactus hiding in some shadows while the sun was in my eyes that left spines embedded deep in my calf and a resulted in a steady flow of blood running down onto my boot.
Boulder Canyon Trail was fairly overgrown with catclaw in places, but we were only on the trail for less than a mile before turning east into Needle Canyon. This was our first time through there, and it was a really pleasant place to spend part of the day. From the beginning, there were plenty of deep pools, small waterfalls, and the constant sounds of the creek. Going through the canyon while trying to stay dry slowed things down a little...we spent a lot of time on the banks navigating through catclaw to get around some of the deeper pools, and the clippers got a good workout during that segment of the hike.
[ youtube video ]
The western part of the canyon has a lot more bends and turns than the east side and was also rockier, with more falls and pools. If we had more time, I wanted to leave the creek bed and hike up to Hill 2769 in Red Hills, but we still had a lot of miles to cover, so that I saved that for another day. By the time we got back on a trail, we'd covered just under three miles in the canyon from the entrance off of Boulder Canyon to the exit onto Bull Pass, and we'd managed to stay dry but certainly not scratch-free.
We decided to take a longer route back via Dutchman around Black Top Mesa and through East Boulder Canyon. As it turned out, taking the long route back might not've been the best decision...the barrel cactus pokes hadn't bothered me much up to that point, but as we left Needle Canyon, the leg started to tighten up with some swelling that made it painful to bend or straighten my leg...both of which are important for walking  . And so I ended up limping through the last eight miles...I've had plenty of run-ins with cacti over the years, but the delayed reaction was unusual, and this was by far the most painful I've had to deal with.
But the scenery in East Boulder Canyon was worth it. We took a food break near the creek, then paused briefly at Caballo Camp to check out some of the inscriptions (and graffiti) that we'd never paid much attention to on previous visits. We passed a few more groups along Dutchman on the hike out and finished just before sunset. A very enjoyable day in the Superstitions except for the cactus stabbing, which only felt worse after tightening up in the car on the way home. I realized I hadn't had a tetanus booster in a long time, so I got one the next day. I guess there's a certain irony that a hike to Needle Canyon led to a shot... |
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