Frustrated with the cold, dry weather at “home,” I threw some food, clothes, and a bike in the car and headed back to southern Arizona, where everything sticks, stings, or stinks, with two goals: to revisit the Superstition Mountains, and to tick off some ultra-prominence peaks. Ironically, I finally found snow on the drive south, which took an hour longer than expected thanks to nervous Arizona drivers on the snow-packed roads between Springerville and Globe. I finally pulled into one of the camping spots on the way to the Peralta trailhead, set my bike outside, and turned in for the night. My first goal was to tag Miner’s Needle and Superstition Peak. Unlike Weaver’s Needle, which is barely visible from Highway 60 if you know where to look, Miner’s stands out impressively on the southern edge of the range. It had caught my attention on the drive home from Weaver’s, but I found little online about its difficulty. Superstition, while not much of a climb, is
The technical part of my day complete, I now faced a long hike west, around Weaver’s Needle to the range highpoint. This was deliberate: while I could have done the two peaks as separate outings, I wanted to see more of the Superstitions’ interior. Continuing on the Lost Dutchman trail, I jogged past some campers on the way to a surprisingly lively stream, where it meets the Bluff Spring trail. Heading upstream, I passed more campers before turning right at the next junction, toward Bluff Saddle. The Superstitions are probably a miserable place to backpack for most of the year, but it seems people were taking advantage of the recent snow’s water and cooler temperatures.
The trail deteriorated after Bluff Saddle, eventually disappearing in a flat, brushy area near Weaver’s. Heading cross-country up the wash south of the Needle, I soon found cairns and bits of trail along the obvious route connecting Needle and East Boulder Canyons. I following the main trail back to Fremont Saddle, where the usual crowd had gathered to admire the Needle from a safe distance.Leaving the trail once more, I followed a fading line of cairns through the snow to the west. After suffering through snow and spines on the faint-to-invisible route, I found a sign and well-trod path at the saddle above Carney Springs, where I joined the standard route to Superstition.
On the way to the summit, I met a man finishing a long traverse from the Flatiron, and another group of three coming back from the peak. Though the summit is a cluster of rock spires, reaching it requires only a couple easy third class moves. After a few minutes looking over the perfect grid of Phoenix streets, I jogged back down to Carney Springs, then took a trail along the wilderness boundary back to the still-crowded Peralta Trailhead.- Superstitions from camp
- Saguaro and rock spires near TH
- Miner’s from WSW
- Random rock blobs
- Looking up saguaro
- Miner’s, something, and Window Needles from SE
- Three Needles from NE
- Superstition (l) and Weaver’s (r) from Miner’s
- Needles’ shadows from summit
- Final grovel-chimney with cheater step
- Exposed step-around
- Slab to chockstone
- Pond along Bluff Spring trail
- Weaver’s from SE
- Carney sign
- Superstition from Carney Saddle
- Weaver’s from SW
- Superstition summit
- Rock spire near Superstition
- Partly-buried yuccas
- Cliffs near Carney Saddle
Hey, Sean! Glad you’re getting out and about. Erik and I have also been frustrated by the dry conditions, so we packed up and went to the Tetons! Skied out to the Ranch in deep snow, and under a sunny sky. Also skied maiden runs at JHMR and trucked over to Targhee one day. Sure wish we could get some decent snow around here since that was IT so far as travels north are concerned until late spring.
Looking forward to more posts!
Pam
Maybe those were your tracks I saw on the webcam… I’m enough of a wuss about winter Jackson levels of cold to prefer cactus-whacking, even when it involves some snow. Despite that, your ski trip sounds amazingly fun, and I’m a bit jealous. I miss skiing, but time, money, and location haven’t cooperated recently.
Hi Sean – a small correction for sure, but I believe the high point of the Superstition range is the “even less of a climb” Mount Mound in the eastern part of the range (6265 ft).
I enjoyed the report. This is a cool range to explore
“Mount Mound” has to be the least inspiring peak name in the world (unless there’s a “Mount Lady Chastity” or “Mount Utter Indifference” somewhere in the Canadian Rockies). I guess I was thrown off by the SummitPost page, which says “Superstition Mountain is the highest point along the Superstition Ridge line.” I’ll make sure to tag Mound the next time I’m in the area.