Valley of the Sun 2013: On Top of the Superstitions Mountain

Here we are at the top.

I could very well have titled this post "Climbing to the top. One boulder at a time"; or, "What a great view. How the hell do we get down?"; or, "Holy crapola. What were we thinking?"

Yesterday, Dana and I, together with 3 friends tackled the Siphon Draw/Flatiron trail. I have include several photos from the hike/climb. You really must enlarge the photos to get the feel for what we endured/tackled/accomplished/survived. Dana and I are experienced hikers having logged many, many miles in the North Cascades, Mt. Baker National Forest. All of our hiking is normally done on trails, mostly of the clearly defined type. The Siphon Draw/Flatiron "trail", and I use that word in most general sense possible, was hands down the toughest hike we have ever attempted and completed.

The Siphon Draw trail begins in The Lost Dutchman State Park and is approximately 2 1/4 miles of mostly gentle grade up into the Superstition Mountains. The official trail ends in a box canyon in a large bowl called "the basin". Most hikers make this their destination and after a few minutes of rest return to the Park. Others, us included, tighten the laces on their hiking/climbing/trail shoes, have a small snack and a drink of water and proceed up a steep rock slope which marks the beginning of the unofficial "Flatiron" trail. This is not a conventional trail rather a series of rock walls and slopes connected by boulders and loose rock. Over the next 8 tenths of a mile we climbed and scrambled gaining 1,500 feet in elevation before we reach the top. Oh, by the way, just when you think you have had enough, and I certainly did several times, and you can see the top, you are faced with one last obstacle, a 15 foot wall of rock. It took us several several minutes each to pull ourselves up the rocks but we did and the pay off was "priceless". Elevation on the Flatiron ridge is approximately 4,800 ft. This is not the highest climb for us but as I said, physically it was the toughest.

From the Flatiron ridge you can see Phoenix to the west, Pass Mountain (Usery Park) to the north west, the San Tan Mountains to the South west, the Catalina Mountains to the south, and I actually thought I caught a glimpse of Mt. Lemmon to the South (probably not....). We did not take a picture of the vista because there is no way my little camera could capture what we saw.

After a good rest and lunch it was time to consider getting down off the mountain. I admit to looking at the flat surface of the ridge as an excellent Heli-pad. I did however keep this thought to myself. The climb/scramble down to the Basin was less treacherous than I thought it would be. Dana and I stuck together the entire way down. While normally downhill hikes take about half the time of the uphill hike, this one consumed very close to the same amount of time. In fact it took about 1:45 to go up and 1:30 to come down. This should give you an idea of the challenge we faced finding our footing and hand holds both up and down the mountain. Once back at the Basin we took a timeout for snacks and a couple of photos. As you can see, there were smiles all around not only for what we saw at the top but for making it safely down the "trail". From the Basin we strolled our way back to the Park with memories swirling in our heads of the magnificent views from Flatiron Ridge and of the obstacles we faced in order to complete the return trip.

If you are ever in the Valley of the Sun, and you want a challenge, Siphon Draw/Flatiron is something to consider.

Enjoy the pics. Don't forget to enlarge them for the full effect! Ciao!!!!