Few shots from my recent trip to the Superstition Mountains

[Cubfan64]

Recently spent 2 weeks in and around the Superstition Mountains of Arizona (~35 miles E of Phoenix). Spent time hiking and camping in a number of different places and also got a chance to meet up with a bunch of Lost Dutchman Mine hunters and historians.

#1 - saw this guy walking across the road from my SUV as I was driving to a trailhead the first night - he was about the size of my hand.

#2 - Circlestone ruins - old ruins near highest point in Superstitions - one theory is that this site could have similar features to that of circular ruins in Europe related to astronomical observation

#3 - Massacre grounds - view of the SW corner of the main Superstition Mountain

#4 - Fish Creek Canyon - beautiful canyon to hike through in fall when the water is gone. As I got near the Salt River the creek began filling with water and when it reached my chest, I ended up having to climb up the side wall to a forest service road to get out

#5 - view from the top of Black Cross Butte - near the Salt River

#6 - Another set of very well preserved ruins on top of a ridge - surprisingly you can't see them from down below and have to reach almost to the top before they "appear."

 

[warsawdaddy]

Great country and awesome pics.Thanks for posting.

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

WOW! What an exciting trip! Canyou tell us more about the circlestones, and ruins? I'd be facinated to hear. Sounds like that canyon filled up fast, sounds like it was a close call?

The pictures are great, except for that first furry guy. I hope you didn't bring him home with you?

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

howdy,
if you went to fish creek, this might look familiar.

 

[Cubfan64]

Hi PWP - is that the turn on AT just after crossing the creek on the little one lane bridge? If so, I parked in the little picnic area just down past that and started my hike from there.

CG - I'll give you a link or two to more information on Circlestone tonight when I get home. As far as the other ruins, I can't really say much about them as the person who pointed them out to me suggested that they aren't all that well known - in fact, I'm thinking perhaps I'll do a little more cropping and repost that one later. I'd hate for too many people to get up there and damage a truly well preserved site.

Also - I may have mislead you about my hike out of Fish Creek Canyon. You can see from where I started that there was no water at all in the creek. It was that way for 90% of my hike, however as I got closer to the Salt River, standing water began and gradually got higher and higher. I should have started back the way I came, but I was determined to get as far as I could, so I just got a stick and poked through the water in front of me for holes and kept going. Eventually it got to the point where I had to balance my pack on my head and very slowly move forward checking my footing with the stick - I ended up backtracking a few times a little bit and scooting to one side or the other, but dangit I got to the point where I was literally about 200 yards from the little bridge on the FS road that went to the small housing community down at the Salt River where some of the Civil Engineers lived and/or worked and I knew I'd be able to get up to the road easily there. Unfortunately it just got too deep and I had no way to go forward anymore. At that point I knew it was getting late, I was soaked up to my chest and didn't want to hike back the way I came - it would be dark by the time I got back to the car and I knew it would be cool in the canyon as well. The only option I had was to climb up the side of the canyon as best I could up to the road - at least that way I had a shot at catching a ride from someone, or worse case scenario I could walk back easily along the road - a long walk, but at least I'd be on a road and not in a cold damp canyon.

It took me somewhere between 1-2 hours to get myself up the side to the road. By then I was covered in dirt/mud, was bleeding from a bunch of cuts, had worn a hole in the butt of my pants and was fricking tired . I walked for quite awhile up the road in the sun which helped dry me off a bit but didn't see any vehicles until I got to a gate where only the power company/engineer's vehicles were supposed to go past.

The really funny thing is as I passed that gate I saw a car and someone shouted hello to me. I wandered over to where this guy was sitting up against a rock drinking some water and we chatted for a few minutes. He offered to give me a ride back to my vehicle, I thanked him and at that point he said, "by the way, what's your name?" I told him my name and he smiled and said "well I'm Somehiker, from the forum, you must be Cubfan." It turned out he and I were going to try to get together at some point during both our trips out there, but hadn't touched base yet.

What are the odds that a guy from New Hampshire and a guy from Canada would end up on the same FS backroad at the same time and be the same two people who chatted via e-mail a couple times about trying to get together for a hike while out there?? Small world eh?

He took me up Black Cross Butte the next day and I got an awesome view of the Salt River and the North side of the Superstition Mts.

It really was a great trip - I already can't wait to go back again

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

What are the odds of you two just bumping into each other in the middle of no where? Great tale, I could just picture you climbing out of there, except I keep getting the dam in my pictures.

Thanks for taking us along!

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

What are the odds of you two just bumping into each other in the middle of no where?

stranger things have happened out there country girl.

come on cubbie, you know you fell in love with those mountains, when you moving out here?

and yes, that photo is the road just above the bridge...and all the good stuff is up fish creek, not down into the lake...lol

take care.

 

[Cynangyl]

What a great story and pictures....like Sis, I am not real fond of the furry lil guy though! lol Thanks so much for sharing the pics with us and most of all the story of you somehiker meeting up out there! That is great!

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

cy, i was once up in the area of his third photo... sheltie and myself boulder hopping up a wash...why are the rocks moving? dog and i are surrounded by more of those critters then anyone would believe...stood there ten minutes or so not moving while the "tribe" of tarantulas went down the wash...even though that spider is not aggressive, it was a 'hold your breath moment' ...too bad i did not have a camera.

 

[Cynangyl]

Ewwwwww! It would not have to be agressive to have me wanting out of there and with haste! lol I am not sure if I wish you had a camera with you or not to be honest!

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

rotf...

it really was a scene out of arachnophobia...
even the sheltie was quiet, first time in her life,lol.

sorry to higjack your thread cubfan. wonderful photos, glad you had a good time.

 

[Cubfan64]

You're all welcome - the area truly is unique and a real pleasure to visit. I'm sure a good portion of it is due to the fact that I spent 99%+ of my life in the Midwest and now the NE U.S. - so anything with desert is so different.

The other thing that's so neat about it out there is once you get off the well worn beaten paths the majority of the hikers take, you honestly get the feeling you could be putting your feet on ground that hasn't had another person step on it in 100's of years - I know that's not necessarily the case, but you DO get the sense that it's one of those few places left on the earth that has secrets and discoveries right over the next ridge.

PWP - The Upper Fish Creek Canyon is on my list of things to do next time (along with a few other places I didn't get to). This time though I wanted to head the other way - I can tell you there were a couple side canyons I kept glancing at as I passed them by wishing I had the time to just go up one and explore it from top to bottom - hard to describe, but one just gets a certain "feeling" out there now and then.

When am I moving out there? Alas, probably not for awhile, although I'm going to try to get my wife to come out next year for at least a few days. I'm afraid the economy isn't cooperating right now with my plans to retire early. There are times however where both my wife and I would like to just sell off everything we own, pack up a camper and get away from everything - life's to short to spend it working your butt off making SOMEONE ELSE rich! On the other hand, that's a really tough step to actually take.

One thing I really need to do next time is get some things in my photos to give people a sense of perspective. I should have dropped a quarter next to the spider and I need to include more people in my photos - unless you get out there, you see alot of the shots and think "heck, it looks like you can just wander around all over and get from point A to point B no problem - just go past that shrub and next to that cactus, etc...." Once you're actually there though, you realize that what looks like a flat trail from one place to the next really has at least 2-3 ravines in between, and the "shrubs" you see all prick, poke, cut, scratch, etc... and many are larger than you are so you can't always see around them to figure out where to step next.

The sense of "distance" really takes some getting used to out there.

 

[Cynangyl]

I totally agree with you regarding the perspective. I grew up in the high desert of Central Oregon and am living in that area again. It is amazing how you can look out across what appears to be a long flat stretch of nothing and suddenly see wild game jumping up out of the ground! lol Turns out there are several ravines just like you said and just looking out across it just does not do it justice....you simply must wander and be amazed at God's creative ways of making a landscape.