A sunny warm day, a long hike and some amazing scenery.....

Our Location: 

Superstition Mountain BLM, Apache Junction, AZ

(Lots of pictures tonight)

For some reason I wanted to write Supperstition, took me three tries to get it right. Hahaha..

Noticed this golden oldie at the museum while I was pulling out.

For some time now I've been struggling to keep up with the reading, commenting, blogging etc. So I've decided to do something about it. From now on I'll only comment on other blogs if I have something of interest to say. Be assured that I'll still be reading your blogs, perhaps not every day but  5 or 6 out of 7. I keep the number of blogs I follow to a very low number because I've been reading each of them every day. If you're on my list, I read your posts. With all the things I do in a day sometimes it's pushing my limits to read, comment, write my own blog, answer comments, edit pictures, etc. I love reading your comments and I appreciate them all, please don't feel you can't comment, but more importantly please feel that you DON'T HAVE TO comment if you should choose not to just so that I will know you read my blog. I think the 'chore' part of blogging is what drives a number of people to stop doing it and I don't want to do that. I hope you all understand what I'm trying to say, please don't be offended, it's not the intent of this paragraph. I just want you to know I'm still reading, but won't be commenting on each post you write. I write this blog for me, when I can no longer travel I will look back on this and remember the fun times, people and adventures. The awesome things I've seen and the amazing people I've met or maybe didn't meet but got to know via their blogs. I write it for my family, mostly my dad, so he won't worry and that he'll know we are doing fine and enjoying our time where ever we might be. I write it for friends who want to keep tabs on a single woman and her daughter as we enjoy life and what it has to offer. Those are my reasons for writing, for anyone else that happens on to this site and reads and/or comments that is an awesome compliment you are paying me. I thank you very much. So in short, feel free to comment IF YOU WISH, feel free to read without a comment IF YOU WISH, but more than anything, feel free to enjoy your day doing whatever it is you like to do and not worry about reading, commenting, or anything else that gets in the way of you enjoying your life!!!

I just love this house at the edge of one of the streets I wandered up today. Looks massive doesn't it?

That being said now on to the post.

This was the view as I started my walk. Note the time I was about 2 hours and 20 minutes from start to finish.

The desert floor, as you can see not too difficult walking....

The day started off very lazy as the wind was pretty evident from the time I woke up. I'm not sure what that will do to the days plans since we don't have any plans yet. Riley has opted for taking another day off and doing nothing, although I've encouraged that she get out for a short walk at some point today. I have my own ideas forming about a hike I'd like to make, although I'm not sure if I'll do it. We'll see what plans Doug has before I make any further plans. Overcast, windy, and cool outside, not a nice day for anything other than perhaps hunkering down or maybe driving a bit. 

A real time view of the distance to the mountain. I'm eventually heading for those black rocks you can see lower down.

I took this with the zoom to give a bit closer look....

My morning routine is to open all the shades while the water is heating for our hot drinks. This morning I deviated from that routine a bit, and HRH Miss Kitty was not impressed. A bird was making some noise outside against the Igloo and she wanted to scare it away with a look of 'haughty disdain' but since the shade was closed she couldn't. She was on the dining room chair staring at the shade and then glaring at me. Finally she started batting at the bottom of the shade trying to stick her paw under it so she could move it out of the way. She has no claws and so can't cause any damage. I opened the shade, she glared at me and then the bird and settled down to ignore us both. It was too funny.

I think this is a Mesquite Tree but I'm not sure, the rock work is to break the wind obviously. What a nice shaded rest area on this trail.

That mountain way in the back is called Four Peaks or Points. 

 Around 9:30 am Riley decided on another day of rest. Doug decided on a jeep ride to Bulldog Canyon and I decided on a hike into the Superstition Mountains. Riley of course didn't have to head off as a rest day is completed right here in the Igloo. I headed off somewhere near 10 am. I'm not sure of the exact time. Climbing into the Dogsled I realized I still had yesterday's trash in the back and needed to dump it. I stopped at the little Museum just down the road a bit and left it in their big dumpster. Noting the tour bus full of seniors in the parking lot, I knew I wouldn't be doing anything at the museum today. 

I love the caves, or crevices you can see all along the front.

We are almost directly across the road from that knobby rock you can see. I waved to Riley but I didn't see her wave back. Note the Teddy Bear Cholla there in the foreground? It's everywhere.

I took a drive along a few roads, seeing some interesting houses, yards, etc. Finally making my way to the trail head for Crosscut Trail, and First Water Trail the first or second road past the state park entrance. As unknowing as I am I parked in the lot right there closest to CR 88 ( I think is the right number). I walked the half mile to what I thought was the 'trail head' for Crosscut Trail. However it wasn't marked and so I'm not certain. (More on that later). Taking the path through the fence I found myself walking in very loose sandy conditions, no rocks, boulders, debris, etc, just a nice narrow winding pathway that at times lead me toward the big mountain and at other times, lead me away. I was wondering if I was on the right trail, but no markings to tell me yeah or nay. 

I'm eventually heading for those black rocks you can see ahead of me.

One of the many washes but it's not abrupt or too hard to cross.

The Teddy Bear Cholla is abundant and busy producing more as the ground  is quite littered with little seedings that drop and take root. They eventually spread out and begin to take over certain areas. They are currently lush with numerous hanging balls that remind me of ornaments on a tree. They dangle and move with the breeze but I have yet to see one fall off. 

The view from the foothills facing north west.....

Four Peaks/Points to the north...

The tall stately cactus are ever present, stoic, silent, watchful over the land. The raise their arms into the air welcoming the sun's rays, perhaps praying for rain, or maybe just raised in exasperation of so many people trodding across the landscape. They hold within soundless memories and countless watches of generation after generation passing by. Some have fallen now, giving back to Mother Earth from where they sprang, others are still in the process of returning but are slowly doing so, while others are still standing while closer to death than to life. All the while they watch us as we move among them looking at the astonishing views they have seen for many of our lifetimes. Many will remain watchful for untold more of our lifetimes and not give any signs of having known we've been there. 

Looking off toward home on the right and the cities down the middle of the picture....

See the folks coming and going on the trail below? I took this with a zoom.

The washes were not deep, and would be considered more like rolling knolls than anything else. The path is snake like in that it winds almost all the time with very few straight lines to it for the beginning at least. Later it becomes more straight and direct. The climb in the beginning is very gradual and hardly noticeable at all. However by the time I noticed the first sign for the Treasure Loop trail the climb was becoming more evident. The lines a little straighter, the hills and washes a little deeper and steeper. Now there were choices to make, but no real signs actually telling anything. Only that it points the way to the Treasure Loop. Not how far, or where it might lead. 

The first milestone, the big rock was on my right as I climbed.....

I ended up just to the right of this picture, where the upright rocks meet the slopes. Like the cave/crevice in the middle of the picture.

Soon I was climbing a rather steep hillside, not abrupt but you knew you were going upward. It was still pretty flat trail wise, not too many obstacles in the path but the sand was turning to gravel and soon it would turn to bigger stones and bigger stones would turn to bigger ones. The climb soon went from rather steep to very steep, very labour intensive, a real 'huffer' of a trail. It was fairly busy with numerous folks. Noticed only one dog, a fairly large sized dog and he was struggling along just like the rest of us. I also encountered one cowboy and his horse both of us on our way down. 

Close up of some of the crevices, holes and lines in the mountain...

There are people sitting to the right of that rock, they sat just before I click the picture.

I bypassed the 'cut off' to the Treasure Loop over look area as I wasn't sure where it went and continued to climb ever higher among the bigger boulders that litter the mountain side. A resting bench tells me that we all know it's a tough climb and we can all use the little break. No port-a-potties though. From the bench upward the climb became increasingly difficult, the path much narrower, added rail ties aided the trail climb. Giving a bit of flatness in a few spots but the path was now littered with bigger sized stones, worthy of twisting an ankle if one didn't take care. 

I love that little flat top looking rock, almost looks like  stool for a kid to sit on.

That is the back side of the rock a few pictures ago, doesn't look nearly as big from here does it ?

I eventually made it as high as I could go. Coming to almost the bottom of extreme upright jagged peaks where they meet the downward slopes on the mountain side. The views were amazing. Stunning. I will let the pictures speak for me.  Heading back down I took the trail to the overlook and once again was stunned by the beauty before me. 

Do you see those folks up there? I stopped right at the boulder in front of them.

Love the sunbeam shining down. The crevices and holes are just everywhere you look.

Heading back down from the look out was fairly quick as the trail by now was less busy as it split with one trail going back toward the state park and the other to the parking area where the Dogsled was waiting. As I hustled along this downward trail I encountered the cowboy and his trusty steed clip clopping along the downward path as well. He was all decked out in Cowboy gear, 10 gallon white hat, fancy shirt, leather gloves, leather chaps over his jeans, and his cowboy boots stuck into the stirrups. The horse was calm and eager to head down. I watched as he followed the twisty, turny path that I had taken inward and soon lost sight of them. 

See those folks over there? I'm going there eventually but first I'm going to climb higher.

I didn't turn the camera, it's perfectly flat, this is the angle of the trail.

As I said, nothing is marked well so on the way up I asked two young ladies if the trail they were about to take which splintered off the one I was on would take me back to the first parking lot by the road. They informed me it did indeed and so remembering that on the way down I took that branch in the trail. It cut off about a half mile of walking for me. I followed right to the small opening I'd seen across the parking lot when I had parked the Big Dog earlier. Of course it hadn't been marked and I had no idea where it went at the time. 

Amazing views huh? That's Four Peaks/Points over there.

I just love these upright jagged peaks...

I climbed into the Dogsled, checking the time, 1:03 pm. Not bad at all. I figured it was about 6 or 7 miles round trip but according to the google sight that gives distance it's 4.8 miles EACH WAY so add in the extra 1/2 mile from the parking lot to the trail head, and the climb past the lookout trail and I guess I did more than 10 miles today. Didn't seem that long.  It was a very enjoyable hike, I wasn't overly tired at the end but I was happy to sit down for a few minutes and just drink some more water, let myself cool off a bit. It may have been a better idea to go back the way I had come and allow myself that half  mile walk to cool down but I'll consider that next time. I certainly was sweating by the time I arrived home. 

Coming back down, see that wooden post in the center of the picture? It points the way to the Treasure Loop Overlook.

Love the views from here, it's as high as I went.

Riley was outside in the chair enjoying the warmth but in the shade as well as out of the breeze. It's was a warm day for certain. I'm guessing we easily made it into the high 70's - low 80's / 26 - 28C range. The breeze was nice, kept one from getting too hot. 

Taken from the trail leading to the overview. 

That same big rock, love the twist in the piece sticking up.

I plopped myself down and edited my 207 pictures pretty quickly, even made some into collages already, sitting on the desktop ready to be posted. So I made a good start on the post already and it wasn't even 3 pm. While I was gone the ever thoughtful Miss Riley had prepped lunch, a salad for me along with a one dish rice meal. How sweet is that? I'm so very fortunate. Thanks Riley. Lunch was excellent!!! Even better since I didn't have to cook. 

The overlook, and some folks taking a selfie.

Tall, stately, imagine what they've witnessed over the hundreds of years they've stood guard at this mountain and it's valleys.

While lunch was in the oven cooking Doug & Yuma from Miss Adventure Travels came home from their jeep ride. They popped over for about an hour and chatted about our days, what we'd seen and commented on the fact we'll have different pictures tonight. Around 4:30 pm they headed on home and I came back inside. I missed a call from my dad while I was outside and will return it tomorrow.

This was the trail I walked.  Good in the beginning....then not so good, then tougher and tougher...

Really bad, and then it gradually got better again.....

I read for a while then continued on this post. Doug popped by a couple of times and chatted about little things through the screen door while HRH Miss Kitty and Mr. Yuma exchanged less than pleasantries with HRH Miss Kitty being her snobby self and not wanting a DOG on HER  step, looking in HER door and how dare that DOG think of even getting close to the screen door that SHE looks out. It was funny. 

It looks different as I head away....not quite as mysterious as it did before I made this hike....

I know the sunset will be arriving soon but I have too  many pictures already so I won't be taking any more today. As I finish writing this post it is shortly 6 pm and I'm enjoying a nice cool breeze coming in the window behind me. It's cooled every thing off nicely. 

The Teddy Bear Cholla are just everywhere....

There you have it, our day here at Superstition Mountain BLM. We each did our own thing and enjoyed the hours in the way we each wanted. An excellent day!!!! I appreciate you stopping by to read my post. I hope your day has been as enjoyable as mine, if not , I hope it at least had some good parts to it. It is my sincere wish that you have enjoyed your visit here my little corner of the world and the way I see it. I love your comments, feel free to leave one if you would like, I promise to read and reply but also feel free to leave unannounced if that is your wish. Either way, it's fine with me.

These Prickly Pear Cactus are huge. Also known as Beaver Tail, and Riley's name for them is Mickey Mouse Cactus.

A final note, Happy Birthday to my cousin Nancy who celebrates a birthday today. I won't say how old she is, only that she's younger than I am, but older than she used to be. Happy Birthday Nancy, I hope you've had a fantastic day.

Handsome cowboy and his trusty steed clip clopping along the trail.

Until next time..... take care, be safe, 

As they turn the last twist in the trail before they go out of sight.....

Deb