This was a pretty tough hike but lots of fun. Got to the TH earlier than planned and decided to just start with a headlamp, worked out as I got a little past the park boundary at first light and didn't need the headlamp for any of the real climbing. The rhyolite rocks and steepness reminded me of hiking in Baxter State Park in Maine, but without the wet. 150 minutes up, about 130 minutes down. Almost nobody else on the trail on the way up, but by 10am when I got back down to the top of the draw there were gaggles of families and unhappy people marching up the trail. I got stopped and asked, “How much longer to X point?…” many times. Pretty much everyone who brought kiddos and dogs stopped at the top of the draw. I want to come back and spend a whole trip in the Superstition Mountains now, such a neat place.

Trail magic #1: I picked up a pink shirt that someone left on the trail to take back down to the trailhead, just before the park boundary I ran into the owner who was so excited to get it back — she and her partner were re-hiking the trail after going up yesterday to try to find it. (I lost part of one of my trekking poles somewhere on the descent, no such luck that I should get that back… wah wah.)

Trail magic #2: I briefly met “Flatiron Jim”, in his red t-shirt extolling he's 90 and still kickin'. Pretty amazing. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJHARG_cKm8

Trail magic #3: Saw a group of about a dozen BASE jumpers flying down from the top of the bowl when I was almost back to the park boundary, talked to a couple of them.

Trail magic #4: I went the wrong way at the top of the draw following a herd trail, and found a super cool rock formation that looks like a sand castle before I realized I was going the wrong way.