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| Hiking | 8.20 Miles |
3,086 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.20 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 1.37 mph |
| 3,086 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Note: this triplog is for both the Flatiron and Ironview peak (which seems to be more commonly known as Peak 5024). I happen to like the name Ironview because it's very fitting. There are great views of the Flatiron from the summit.
From Tucson, I drove up with Tim and met Curtis at the start of the trail. It was a cool morning, but I decided it was OK with just a T-shirt. There were a few other hikers on the trail and I knew this was a popular hiking spot. The siphon draw was a memorable area which looked like a huge rock chute. There were many ways to up this area. After going up further we reached the canyon and there were several areas where we needed to use our arms to assist in the climbing.
Curtis knew about a local legend named Jim who's informally referred to as "Flatiron Jim". Someone coming down the trail said that Jim was on the trail up ahead. The story was Jim was 92 years old and he climbs to the top of the Flatiron several times per month. We went ahead and met Jim who appeared to be younger than his real age and he was in great shape. Curtis and I got photos with Jim. We met him a few minutes before getting to the vertical wall. I climbed up the vertical wall using a fairly basic route on the right side and had the honor of watching Jim climb up after me. I should have taken a video of his climb. He said he's climbed this wall 400 times and make it look easy.
After climbing the wall, we continued to the Flatiron which wasn't much further. When walking up the Flatiron we thought it was amazing how we could just see the ground with the sky behind it. We didn't see the views until getting closer to the end point. There were a few people on the Flatiron when we were there. We had someone take a group photo of us up there. Then, because of time constraints, we needed to head up to Ironview (Peak 5024).
We followed the trail back to the saddle area and then up higher to a saddle. From there we found a pretty clear use trail that went up to Peak 5024. There were 2 "tunnels" along the way, and some light rock climbing involved. Before too long we were on the peak and had some good views of the Flatiron and other surrounding points of interest from up there. We were able to see the Superstition Benchmark looking down the ridgeline. Curtis pointed out Battleship mountain which was surprisingly a tiny sliver of rock from this point, and also another nearby mountain informally known as Destroyer peak.
Curtis had to leave early at this point because of a commitment. Tim and I stayed on the peak, had lunch, and watched a few birds land near us and come within inches of us. We threw out a few crackers and the birds were going after it. After lunch we took several photos and then headed back down the way we came up.
Unfortunately, about 30 minutes after going down the vertical wall, I took a bad fall in the canyon. I was lowering myself down from a rock and didn't have good footing as the ground below the rock was slanted downhill. I did a swing motion to get my right foot to more stable ground and that swing motion was apparently riskier than I imagined. I was facing the canyon, fell backwards and did a backwards summersault and ended up on my back. I got up right away and felt that I was not injured bad. I had a cut on my left elbow and my right ankle didn't feel right. After taking about 1 minute to assess the situation, we continued down at a slower pace and made it all the way down, past the Siphon Draw, and to the flatter area.
Much to my surprise, I ran into Preston S. near the bottom who lives in Tucson but happened to be hiking one of the lower trails. He said he was in Phoenix for a special occasion and just stopped over to do a short hike in the lower elevation areas. I was limping a bit at this time but did not have any idea that it was an ankle sprain that I had because the pain wasn't too bad. After the hike, Tim and I drove to Burger King and the parking lot was flooded. There must have been a water main break. We didn't want to deal with driving through this flooded area, so we just decided to go somewhere else. We happened to find a place called Handlebar which wasn't far away. I ordered a burger and the Handlebar potatoes and it was truly one of the best burgers I've had in a long time. After eating we got up to leave and my ankle felt considerably worse. I could hardly walk at this point and needed Tim's help to get back to my truck! From this point, I had no doubt that it was an ankle sprain. I had something similar happen about 5 yrs ago on my left foot. This time it was the right. Last time I remember being able to do a relatively easy hike 3 weeks after the original sprain. Hopefully, this time my recovery will be similar or faster.
I cannot stress enough to be careful on the Siphon Draw trail. There are many steep sections and SMOOTH rocks that are slippery which is a recipe for possible disaster. If I ever hike this again I will need to be more careful. The accident could have been a lot worse than it was.
Rough Timeline:
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Started hiking around 9:10 am, from a dispersed camping area Southwest of the Lost Dutchman State Park
Arrived at the Flatiron just before Noon, took a short break
Arrived at Ironview (Peak 5024) around 12:40 pm
Started heading down around 1:15 pm
Climbed down the vertical wall around 2 pm
Had my accident/fall sometime around 2:30 pm, then slowed down a bit
Exited the trail around 4:45 pm to the West on a side trail which turned into E McKellips Blvd
Arrived at my truck around 5:10 pm
Stats:
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Distance (round trip) = 8.2 miles
AEG = 3,086 feet
Strava moving time = 4 hrs 31 mins
Strava elapsed time = 8 hrs 24 mins |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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