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| Hiking | 7.70 Miles |
2,890 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.70 Miles | 9 Hrs | | 1.18 mph |
| 2,890 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This hike has been on my list for a couple of years now. Wasn’t sure how possible it was to get to Flat Iron from south. I had reviewed old HAZ reports from vanman & sneakySASQUATCH in 2012/2013 and it seemed doable enough to attempt without any class 5 climbing.
Started at the Broadway Trailhead at 9:30 with Sam. I would recommend an earlier start, the forecasted high was in the low 80s but it hit 91F on my thermometer when we made it up to the canyon walls.
Trail is easy up to the crumbling chimney (2.0mi) where the path ends and the boulder hopping and bushwhacking begins. The Supes scratched my legs up; that’s what I get for wanting to wear shorts. Passed quickly by the small mine (2.3mi) as I had been there years ago. At the fork in the canyon (2.5mi), we went left instead of right. In a past hike, the right canyon had lots of wreckage from the T-6D plane crash in 1948. Heading left we did not happen upon any pieces of the plane, but noticed several sparse cairns for a mile or two. This left route allowed us to bypass what appeared to be too tall a cliff at the end of the right canyon, based on my review of Apple Maps topo.
We continued up the canyon as the Cholla grew denser and the boulders became looser. Cut to the right, up the least cliffy area (3.3mi) before the wash ends. Steep and very loose large boulders here, but not much exposure. We reached a short plateau, then turned north again towards the chute that I was hoping would prove climbable. Fortunately it was as I did not want to have to bushwhack back down.
Heading up the chute, we found a slice of shade in a cut of the rock (3.5mi) and took a water break. Stayed for about half an hour watching White Throated Swifts tear through the canyon with surprising agility. Continuing on, the sharp brush subsides and the rock climbing rises. The hardest section (3.6mi) has you climb about 15ft fairly vertically, but has good footholds. Perhaps a slight bit harder than the climbing section found on the Siphon Draw side. Directly after this, the chute splits. Take the right side to avoid a steeper climb. This section is especially scrambly through loose rock and sharp cacti. Gloves helped the most here to grab thorny tree branches and pull them aside.
The final few hundred feet of climb seemed never ending with the heat of the canyon walls, until it flattens and the Ridge Line Trail appears (3.8mi). We took Siphon Draw down to the Lost Dutchman's State Park to cut down some mileage, but you can turn this into a loop by taking Jacob’s Crosscut back.
Happy to have finally completed this hike to conclude my challenge of reaching Flat Iron from the North South East & West. Probably my slowest stretch of hiking I’ve ever done due to the slog of pushing through thorns and constant double checking of footing on seldom crossed scree. It think it will be a while until I do this hike again.
Spirit Canyon next door though…  |
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