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| Hiking | 6.00 Miles |
1,790 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.00 Miles | | | |
| 1,790 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This hike was quite an experience, mostly because of the random events that converged to make an otherwise normal, beautiful hike through the superstitions painful to the point of being comical. This was the first time that I had hiked in a couple of weeks because I was recovering from having the flu the week before. I didn't sleep at all that night (my body always seems to do that whenever I actually need to sleep) and neither did my hiking partner (neither of us are morning people!  ). I had scratched my eye the day before so I was forced to forgo my contacts and wear my glasses which have a two year old prescription and fall down my nose constantly. I, however, am not one to allow a few health inconveniences to slow me down. I was going on this hike. 
We drove out to Apache Junction and began seeing horse trailers and trucks everywhere. We had decided to go hiking in the Superstitions during the rodeo  I did this last year too! So, the First Water Trailhead was really busy and the trail had a lot of groups with horses. The trail itself is really interesting at the beginning and has some cool rock formations. We were took a beating from the sun, but other than that, we enjoyed the scenery.
At about 3 miles in, we decided to head back because my newly-recovered-from-the-flu lack of energy was getting the best of me. After about 20 minutes, I began to see what looked like heatwaves when I looked at the sun-reflected sand. I thought it was just my glasses causing visual distortions and ignored it. Then I realized a few minutes later that it was actually a visual aura and I was getting a migraine (haven't had one of those in years!). I hid under my hat headed down the trail, hoping that that I didn't start to get spot blindness. At that point, I was ready to surrender to my body. You win! I should have stayed home today! But then, we happened upon a snake (Not a rattle snake, I'm not sure what kind though. I uploaded a pic.) laying out and soaking up the sun on the trail. I was totally excited about this! I never see snakes when I'm out hiking. It made my day and made this crazy hiking excursion worth it. I hope to get back to this trail sometime and actually get a chance to check out the arch! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
I've been wanting to go for years, so this was pretty exciting. A friend of ours who had been to the Peppersauce Caves many times acted as our guide. I was glad she was there. I think we would have been pretty lost without her. I'd definitely say the scariest part was when we climbed over the wet, slimy ladder 
on the passage to the book room. I was terrified that I was going to fall! The long, narrow uphill section on the way to the book room definitely takes some endurance in the arms and legs and some patience. I'm pretty petite and I was feeling cramped 
Overall, the cave was very cool and I plan to go back soon. I think I'll bring a trash bag with me, since there is a serious amount of trash (and graffiti) in the cave 
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. Luckily, they didn't stay long. We also ran into several other groups who were much more considerate of the other people in the cave.
