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| Hiking | 18.35 Miles |
2,056 AEG |
| | Hiking | 18.35 Miles | 9 Hrs 37 Mns | | 2.19 mph |
| 2,056 ft AEG | 1 Hour 15 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | I hiked to Charlebois Spring from Peralta Trailhead on a hot day in late May last year and failed to find the Master Map that time. The goal today was to hike to Charlebois, this time from First Water, and take another shot at locating the map. There were already ~15-20 vehicles in the First Water parking lot when we got there around 7AM, and we had a great sunrise as we headed out on Second Water Trail.
From the start, there was a surprising amount of water in the washes. I don't think we've gotten any substantial rain since Christmas Eve, so I wasn't expecting much water, but it was nice to see some deep pools and hear the creeks flowing at various points throughout the day. We started to see more backpackers along Dutchman Trail as we approached Boulder Canyon. We continued along the north side of Black Top Mesa along Bull Pass Trail. I'd never hiked past the turn-off to Black Top Mesa on that trail, so that was uncharted territory for me.
Just past White Rock Spring, I noticed a pottery sherd on the trail, and we ended up finding quite a few small pieces concentrated in that area, which was a nice surprise. The stretch along La Barge Creek south of Black Mountain was beautiful, with flowing water in the creek, deep pools, and fall colors in the leaves. We saw a few more groups of backpackers in that area.
Finding the Master Map was the top priority today, so we passed Charlobois Spring to look for the map first. I had the search area narrowed down and knew where not to look after failing to find it last time, plus I had one additional clue. As we left the trail to start searching, I started down a slope and spotted the wooden sign in front of the map. It was almost laughably easy this time...I was prepared to spend most of the afternoon out there looking for it if I had to, but I ended up spotting it before we even really started seriously looking. Rarely do things work out so smoothly...
The drawings looked like a mix of modern and ancient symbols. The wooden sign next to the map is so worn that I couldn't make out most the words...I think the top line says "Superstition Wilderness Area", and the last word on the second line is "Petroglyphs", but I couldn't read the name in front of it or any of the third line. The letters are a little raised on the wood, so we might have done a pencil rubbing if we had paper with us. If anyone knows what the full sign says, I'd be interested to know  .
Finding the map so quickly saved us a lot of time, and we headed to Charlebois next. With the number of people we'd seen on the trails, I expected to see other people there, but we got very lucky and had the spring to ourselves and relaxed there for lunch. It's a nice spot but looks very different and has a lot less shade in the winter...but also a lot more comfortable when it's well under 100° . While we ate, something (likely a frog?) was calling periodically from near the spring. A bird and the frog seemed to be competing for loudest call while we sat there. @TBoneKathy recorded the sound and will link a video in her triplog if anyone can identify the call. The timing worked out really well--just as we left the spring to hike out, three backpackers were on their way in.
We were doing well time-wise on the hike out, so we decided to take a longer route back and hike Dutchman Trail as a loop around the south side of Black Top Mesa. I hadn't been on that section of Dutchman before, so that was a new area, and we were very happy with the decision--there were some nice pools and small waterfalls and an area with a cave just off the trail.
[ youtube video ]
The views in East Boulder Canyon were also fantastic, and we noticed a unique crested saguaro on the west side of Black Top Mesa that has small areas of "cresting" on multiple arms along the top. Along that stretch, the creek was flowing, we had views of Weaver's Needle, another cave, Aylor's Arch, and the crested saguaro...a lot of great stuff in one area.
[ youtube video ]
We stayed on Dutchman and reconnected with the route we'd hiked in on. We passed more backpackers and at least seven tents set up near the Black Mesa/Dutchman intersection. Almost everyone we saw today was backpacking...lots of people out taking advantage of the great weather and the long weekend. This ended up being one of those days where just about everything worked in our favor...comfortable weather, finding the Master Map before we even really started looking for it, having Charlebois to ourselves, spotting a crested saguaro and some pottery, and lots of water flowing in the creeks. Can't ask for much more than that! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
. Saw the space station go skyline to skyline (my buddy has a NASA alert set up -- highly recommend).
Alta 
, we set out again early Sunday morning to fix this problem !! well after searching around for better part of hour and about ready to call it another failed trip ( we were burning daylight and not reaping the reward ) I heard a 
from Roger he finally spotted the Map hidden behind a thick stand of brush 
... Took our Pics and headed back home Happy Times Again !! 
HAZ for all the fond memories and multiply reasons to get off the couch and explore the great outdoors....
