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| Hiking | 23.98 Miles |
4,004 AEG |
| | Hiking | 23.98 Miles | 10 Hrs 40 Mns | | 2.25 mph |
| 4,004 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I parked at the 2wd trailhead just after 6:30 am and was hiking by 6:50. Wisdom being the better part of valor, I opted not to drive the 4wd road since I've never been up it before. I'm glad I made that choice. I probably could've made it up the road with my Tacoma with a skid plate and all-terrain tires, but it wouldn't have been fun.
The three road miles were quick and a good warm-up (or so I told myself). Started up JF to Hoolie Bacon to do the clockwise loop. At the first major water crossing, I startled three whitetails. Until the spot where one can bushwhack over to Peters Trail, HB was pretty easy to follow. After that point, it became awfully theoretical in places. Parts of it reminded me of Two Bar Ridge Trail, and that's not a good thing.
One of my brand-new Black Diamond Z Poles snapped 5 miles into the hike. The internal string broke inside the handle. My first pair of Z Poles lasted over 1000 miles, and this one gave out at under 20 miles. Defective, I hope, and not a sign of decreasing quality at BD. Having one break was frustrating since my 3wd speed is not nearly as good as my 4wd speed, and my stability is definitely worse.
Red Tanks was better quality than the second half of HB, although that's not saying much. After climbing up and over along the canyon wall, it disappeared for a while when it dropped back down to the creek. I assume it goes down the wash, but that's a challenge when there's several feet of water flowing down it. I ended up bouldering down the center of the creek, which was perhaps a bad idea. Some pretty big drops and leaps. Eventually found the trail again and it was well-marked from there to the Whiskey Spring junction.
In comparison, the part after the junction was a highway. I passed one woman along that stretch and she was the first human I'd seen all morning. She had a Gossamer Gear Mariposa and looked to be loaded for camping. I recently got a GG Mariposa and was using it for the first time as a day pack. What are the odds?
The water crossings on Dutchman were a little easier than in January, but not by much. Still some very large pools of water in places.
The drop in trail quality from Dutchman to Peters after taking 10 steps was amusing. It was a steep, hot climb in the afternoon sun, and once again the trail reminded me of Two Bar. Once I was up on the mesa, there was a little bit of air movement and the temperature was pleasant. The trail dropped again into a drainage, and it was the climb from that drainage where I could feel that I was running out of gas. I had powered up the climb from Dutchman, but this smaller climb took it out of me.
I had hit 18 miles, and I was getting pretty smug. I had only seen 1 person, and I had seen 3 whitetails. How many times can you see more deer than humans in the Superstitions? Of course, I ran into 2 hikers shortly thereafter to ruin the ratio. They were loaded for camping and looked a little tired. I discovered why when I made that drop past Kane Spring. Talk about steep and rocky and unstable trail. I was very thankful to be going down that section and not climbing it with a full pack.
About a mile from the 4wd trailhead, I ran into two guys and a dog splashing in the big pools of water and drinking beer (the dog looked like he might've been underage). I got my feet wet at the second-to-last water crossing when the rocks rolled under my feet, so I got to do the roadwalk with wet, sore feet. However, I was thankful I wasn't trying to navigate the road with my truck (manual truck + sore feet + rough road = not a good time).
On the way out, I caught and passed a guy on a bike with a very large hunting pack (at least two rifles). I think he was training or practicing, but he appeared to have more of a cyclocross bike than true mountain bike. He was having a tough time on the rocky shelves and it looked hard to balance with the big pack.
I carried a filter all day, but the 2L of water I started with ended up being enough. Just barely. This was a great hike and one that can finally be crossed off my to-do list. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
This trail does so early and often. Nature is reclaiming this one, and in my view, having a gps track is essential. There were periodic cairns, but standing at the cairn, it was often difficult to figure out which direction to go from there. Most of this trail is pretty blah by Superstition standards, with the exception of the initial jaunt through a brief canyon, and then on the back end, as you descend to the Dutchman junction. 
Off trail conditions were not too bad, as a lot of the catclaw hasn't returned to it's full force yet. Ran across what appeared to ba a game camera. Had lunch on the ridge that separates the two trails then followed our typical route along a drainage down to Peter's Trail.
Met only one soul heading up to Peter's Pass as we were heading down. Came across 3 hikers as we were heading back to 88 about 2 miles in,, stopped and visited for awhile, noticed only one had water in a small camelbak, asked if they had enough water ---- Yes, are you sure ?? advised them to be careful and not go to far, I think some don't really get it 
Be Prepared when you go out and know your limits !!!
to which Ryan commented "what do you think?". What do I think, "we are going to get scratched and poked but let's go". It was bad but the game trails made it better than it could have been. Found a really nice spot about half way across the ridge to have lunch and refuel which made the second half of the off trail section seem like a breeze. On our way down Peters Trail we checked out Kane Spring which is about 3/4 full.
