Superstition Mountain

A day after my sister and her husband departed again for the north country, some other friends from back home (and their three dogs) came cruising in to camp!  We checked out some of the natural sights in the area, as well as a classic car dealer in Scottsdale, the Bass Pro Shop, and a couple of the local watering holes and feed spots. Then, some more old friends flew in from Ontario for their first visit to Arizona – and the Grand Canyon.  Once again, more local eateries and beverages were sampled, before they got tired of my hospitality and went their separate ways.

Then, there was nothing else to do but tackle the stunning mountain that had been taunting me for days with it’s stunning vistas and dazzling red rock faces.  Superstition Mountain!

Teeny white speck near centre of photo below is the camper – all alone in the desert.  Great spot, except for the appearance of ATV’s on weekends.

I stopped in at the park office of Lost Dutchman State Park to get a list of the trails around the mountain on the night before.  The next morning, it was not yet 10 AM (!), and I was on the trail up to the mountain.  The first mile of so is a gradual climb up to the base of the mountain – from there it gets progressively more interesting, and a bit of a scramble up the steepening gully.

Impressive views open up below as you get higher and higher.  Being a weekend, the trail was rather busy, with some congestion in areas that were narrow or extra steep.

Elevation gain is close to 3000 feet, and the summit is listed as about 4861.

I made it to the top in a bit over two hours.  Wrangler jeans and all!

The trail was certainly good for my ego! Although I am not in that great of shape (missing hockey for the last 2 years), and never was a mountaineer extraordinaire – maybe mediocre(?), it appears that my background, combined with living at high elevations for the past several decades was an advantage over the average trail user I encountered.  There was lots of huffing and puffing, and some whimpering!

  I think only one or two hikers who started behind me got to the top ahead of me, and no one passed me on the way down.

What few climbing skills that I acquired while spending decades in the mountain national parks must have penetrated further than I thought.  Going down is tougher than up, and I passed countless groups trying to figure out how to slide down on their butts!  I would quickly down climb past them, and one group of young ladies was completely amazed that I could do it without clinging to rocks every second.  I think they were calling me a mountain goat!

One poor fellow (scared of heights) was clearly out of his element.  I heard him on his cell phone on while on the upper plateau, saying that he hoped he could ‘make it down’, and he had a couple guys take his photo ‘in case he didn’t make it back, he wanted to be able to prove he had made it that far’!

I quickly overtook him on the way down, and he was unsure of the route.  I just told him to watch for people coming up – and go down that way!  He decided that it would be better if ‘we’ went down together.  Fat chance of that.  I didn’t have an extra three hours to hold his hand.

If one of the cute young college gals I saw on the trail had had that problem – the answer might have been quite different!

To Wickenburg, and back.

Talk about slack!  Keeping the blog up to date seems to be so difficult.  Of course, if I don’t have any decent photos to post, so then what’s the point?

After enjoying the stay at Oak Flat campground east of Superior, we hooked up and headed through Phoenix over to the opposite side, into the Wickenburg area.  Not sure if Phoenix has good roads, or if I have just picked the right times to travel, or if I am just lucky, but I have found that cruising right through on the various loop roads has been clear sailing and stress-free, with the help of GPS to navigate.  Can’t say the same for LA, San Francisco, or (sometimes) Seattle.

We did a drive-by of the BLM location where the Bayfield Bunch have been hanging out, but it did not strike our fancy as being too far from any mountains.  So we ended up in a horsey camp off Vulture Peak road to the south.  I guess I did not find the area too visually appealing, as I apparently did not take any photos of my camp there.  But I did take photos of the neighbours cats there, including one that has his own Facebook page – Tigger the Serval.

I haven’t told Hailey, in case she wants her own FB page!

Managed to fatally injure a trailer tire somewhere on the backroads around there, so had to replace a brand new one .

We didn’t stay at this RV park, but it shows the typical western/horsey nature of the whole Wickenburg area.  We did get a propane fill there, however.

While we were there, my sister and her husband came down for a few days, so we toured up to the Prescott area one day before they headed up to the Grand Canyon.  On their return we cruised through the Phoenix area again and set up camp just outside Apache Junction.

 

From there, I took them on a loop tour out the Apache Trail past Tortilla Flat, Canyon Lake, Apache Lake, Roosevelt Lake, and back through Globe and Superior.

We also stopped for a look at the cliff dwellings at Tonto National Monument.

Superstition Mountain

Ms Hailey testing out her new bed, and comparing it to the sink.

Being in the sink was actually a hint for me that I should leave some water in it for her!

I’m in no rush to head for home, but some of the snowbirds have already started to fly north. Wandering Willy, Jean and Skip are already well on the way north.  Of course they live near the BC coast, so they won’t likely have to contend with any snow when they get home – unlike some of us out in the mountains of Alberta.  I think John and Brenda are still around till the end of the month.

I promise I won’t be so long with the next posting – in fact, I will do it now, and let it publish in a day or two!

Oak Flat Campground

After leaving our hilltop camp we did not really have a destination in mind, just some new scenery and a good place to boondock.  We hung a right at Superior and just up the hill was the Oak Flat forest service campground. 

I had looked at it a year or two ago and was not too impressed with some of the ‘campers’ who looked like they lived there full time.  That time I had driven back onto the back roads and found my own spot.  But this time the place looked better, and there was no indication that a ‘Tonto Pass’ or any other sort of pass was required.  So I pulled in and found a decent spot at the very back.

There are some pretty impressive rock formations all around this area.

There was lots of wild life in the campsite to keep Hailey interested for hours.  The critters on the tree bark were perfectly camouflaged, but the ones on the rock or concrete were more visible.

A first here; concrete picnic tables with a built in compass!

And another mystery solved.  Anyone who has camped in a number of areas down here will have at one time or another encountered these nasty little ‘burrs’ that are laying all over the ground.  I have had them flatten bike tires on occasion, and poke through cheap sandals etc.

I finally found the type of bush where they originate, not that it helps you to avoid them.

In spite of the campground generally having a bit of a run-down look that you would expect in a free location, the outhouse I checked out was incredibly clean; no spider webs or dirt anywhere.  A few days later, I found out why. When the forest service crew arrived, they used a portable pressure washer to clean it up to the highest standard.  I also saw them trimming some overhanging branches on the roadways, something a lot of park campgrounds could use.

Touring around the backroads of the area, I found some balancing rocks.

I also found it mildly amusing to see a power pole with who knows how many thousand volts coursing through it;

using a solar panel to power a box near it’s base!

Then, a minor tragedy struck again.  Another burned out headlight!  But this time it was on the passenger side, so I only had to remove the air cleaner assembly to gain access to it, unlike the major overhaul for the driver’s side one.

The helicopter did lots of flying in these scenic locations, but was mostly taking video, which seems to be still in waiting on the editors desk.  I will hopefully get more of it posted in the blog or on Youtube sometime in the future.