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| Hiking | 10.31 Miles |
2,791 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.31 Miles | 8 Hrs 29 Mns | | 1.73 mph |
| 2,791 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 31 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | It had been almost six months since I last hiked in the Superstitions, and today was my first time starting from Woodbury Trailhead. I've driven 172/172A to Rogers Trough quite a few times, but this was the first time driving on 172 past the 172/172A intersection. That last mile to Woodbury was in very good shape and was one of the smoothest stretches of 172. There were seven other vehicles at the trailhead and a big campsite set up there. It was very windy in the morning, and a lot of the campers' chairs were blown over, and the tent looked half-collapsed...not a fun morning to be camping there.
It was ~60° when we started a little before 8AM but felt a lot cooler with the strong wind. There were some cows hanging out near the water troughs by the windmill, and the trail was generally easy to follow and not as overgrown as I expected. I had clippers out and trimmed occasional catclaw branches off the trail, but there weren't any prolonged stretches of pushing through thick brush. The wind died down for a while when we dropped down toward Randolph Canyon, but it got bad again around two miles in--the gusts were probably 40-50+ mph.
Farther in, especially, I noticed recent trimming along the trail, and we passed two backpackers hiking out. We chatted for a minute, and they were the ones who'd trimmed a lot of the branches on their way in. Between their work and the additional branches I cleared today, I'm guessing the trail is about as good as it gets.
Two rounds of military jets flew on our way up to Tortilla Pass, and the scenery was great--multiple arches along the ridgeline to the west, and Fraser Arch was visible to the south once we gained some elevation. We took a quick snack break at the pass, then started the off-trail ascent toward the peak. Route-finding was about as easy as it gets thanks to the barbed wire fence we could follow most of the way.
The route drops down briefly and then climbs steeply for a few hundred feet to the north side of a rock formation, which includes a nice arch. There were a few more on the way to the peak, including a ground-level arch that I crawled under. I didn't look for the tunnel/balcony on the way up and went straight for the summit, which is a flat, grassy peak that reminded me of Music Mountain, but the views were great, including the first look at the Superstition Ridgeline to the west.
[ youtube video ]
The summit register is in desperate need of a new container--it was an old, plastic Glad food container that was so brittle that it crumbled in my hands when I picked it up, so there's going to be water damage next time it rains...next person to visit the peak should bring a bottle or jar. The most recent entry was in April, and I recognized quite a few familiar HAZ names from over the years.
After a short break at the top, I started down and briefly explored some of the caves and openings I'd noticed on the way up, but the short search did didn't turn up any ruin walls. I visited the tunnel on the way back, and it was a beautiful, unique spot. The tunnel leads down to another opening onto the balcony--a big rectangular slab of rock that looks like it broke off the cliff and got lodged where it sits now. Until I was standing on it, I didn't realize that I'd been looking at that spot from near the peak without knowing that the tunnel led there.
[ youtube video ]
I headed back down the steep hill, and we followed the fence back to the trail. The brush trimming made it a very pleasant hike out, and there was only one other vehicle in the lot when we finished. We didn't see anyone except for the two backpackers all day, and not much in the way of wildlife. The weather was perfect once the wind died down later in the morning, and it was nice being back in the Superstitions, starting from from a new trailhead on a new trail and visiting another peak. It's a beautiful area with a lot of interesting geology...between the drive and the hike, I must've seen 10+ arches. |
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