Ice Ice Baby

Usually don’t get a chance to see snow on The Superstition Mountains, so we figured today was a good day to make the hike.

Like usual we got to the trail head just about day break. Just enough light to not need headlamps. We headed out of the day use parking lot for the long road up to Siphon Draw. The snow on the mountain as we approached was beautiful. The pictures I took of the mountain just don’t do it justice. The trail all the way to Siphon Draw was easy walking, the only difficult part was the steady incline. Once we got to Siphon draw the water fall was flowing, I have never seen that much water coming down. The noise of the water coming down and hitting the rocks was music to my ears. Then we started up to Flatiron. The trail is steep as always and hard to follow. The twist this time was the snow and ice to content too. The snow wasn’t too bad, just make sure I didn’t step in anything too deep, I hate wet cold feet. Once we started to get some elevation gain, the trail started to get icy, that is when the slipping and sliding started. We went slow and used caution to make it to the top. The last climb out over the “wall” was very difficult. I was worried about getting back down it. We headed out to the Flatiron lookout. The gorgeous mountain all over were covered with snow. The look out toward Apache Junction was fantastic, views for miles. There was a little snowman someone had made near the top. We took a few pictures with him just for fun. We sat down near the ledge and enjoyed our normal top of the peak meal of beef jerky. After our meal we decided to head down. We got to the “wall” and was about to head down when a fellow hiker told us an easier way to get down. It is right next to the wall and looks step, but once you start to head down it is way easier. I wish I could have thanked him in person. Now that we are heading down the ice seemed to be worse. We were slipping way more on the way down than coming up. My legs were tired from always catching myself from a little slip. Once we got down the snow lever it was much easier and our pace quicken. We got back to Siphon Draw and going back down there was a challenge too, I have been down there a few times before and have never had any trouble going down, but this time I had to go extra slow and on butt to not slip. Once out of the draw and heading back the trail we picked up the pace a lot and headed all the way to the bottom, looking back up and taking some last pictures. The beauty of the hike was worth and stress of the slip and slide mountain. I will be buying a set of ice cleats for my boots tomorrow and will always bring them with any chance of ice. Live and learn.