Siphon Draw Trail

I've got a bit of a backlog of expeditions to share and most of these will be heavy on pics and light on verbiage.  I can hear the cheers from here.

Last Wednesday, Feb 4 we headed out to the Lost Dutchman State Park to do the Siphon Draw Trail.  Its 4.0 miles with 1072' elevation gain and is rated moderate.  Moderate is an apt rating for a mountain goat perhaps but for us prairie people it was all we could or wanted to handle.  We heard from other hikers that if you run into trouble and a helicopter has to come in to fly you out its a $19,000 touch.  Best to stay well within your capabilities.  Good thing I had Lori along to remind me of my limits.

The reminders are everywhere that all the rock formations have their origins from volcanic activity.  While the volcanic activity took place some 25 million years ago the magma formations are still very evident today.  The trail starts off in the State Park on a nice wide flat trail that soon begins its ever steepening ascent.  Soon the desert floor is below us as we begin our climb up the canyon walls.  The wide gravel trail has given way to a trail strewn with boulders and sheer drop-offs.  We managed to make it to what is described as the "slick rock chute" which is just below the "Basin" which was our destination.  Beyond that the trail proceeds up to Flatrock and the summit of Superstition Mountain.  This part of the trail is described as strenuous and requires "route finding skills".  Thanks but no thanks.

We got out on the trail by 8:30 so there was still some morning mist in the shadows of the mountain.

Lori's Arizona Wildlife book claims these are House Wrens.  Look more like Finches to me but what do I know.

Here is how the trail started out.  Nice and wide, flat with a gentle uphill climb

Off in the distance we could see what was in store for us.  The mountainside and desert floor have really greened up with all the rains and cool weather we had in Dec and Jan.









We had our heads down, trudging along as we moved up the trail when we heard a yell from above and a whoosh of air.  We looked up and low and behold a new sight for our desert treks.
At first I thought hang gliders but no these were Base Jumpers.
We had heard a helicopter earlier so we scanned the skyline to see where these dare devils started their descent.

There were at least a dozen of them lined up at the top of this peak.  I'm guessing but they must have been at least 2500' above the desert floor.  One of them would jump and the next would take his place at the edge and wait for his buddy's chute to open and circle away.  Then they just jumped off the cliff.

 I shot this in burst mode so these pictures are all of the same guy/girl. You can see the chute opening as he falls.

 More of the parachute deploys.  Maybe its just me but looks awful close to the rock face.

 Crunch!
See I knew he was too close.  Before his chute could open completely and have the wind currents take him away from the cliff he bounced off the rocks.
Good thing his chute didn't get caught on the rocks.

 He soared the rest of the way with out incident.  I am sure he will be a bit sore in the morning but what a story to tell his grandkids.  If he lives long enough to have grand kids.

 Now that that excitement was over we proceeded with our climb.


Looking back at the climb we had accomplished so far.

Looking ahead at what we still had to do.

My girls with the Valley of the Sun in the background.

This is the sliprock chute that we had to climb to get to the Basin.


The black streaks in the rock are discolourations from water trickling down the mountain.

Lori decided to wait at the bottom of the chute while Charli and I clambered up the rock face.

 Charlie waiting for me and wondering why I'm taking so long.

We needed to get to the base of those spires above us and then make it through an opening in the rocks to the Basin.  I got to where Charli was waiting for me and then turned and started back down.

Thats greater Phoenix off in the distance and the white haze isn't morning mist.  With a population of 4.3 million people in the Phoenix metropolitan area, very little public transit and a great freeway system, smog is the result.
The weather reports here come complete with air quality warnings.

 If you can look past the blinding smile you can see the volcanic rock which makes a very nice backdrop for my lovely wife.

4 miles took us about 4 hours with lots of rest and water breaks along the way.  Our reward.  Eating our lunch in the shade of a picnic shelter looking out at the vista shown in the above picture.  Although the bench does leave something to be desired when it comes to comfort.

This is the Elvis Chapel, located just outside Dutchman State Park at the base of Superstition Mountain.   This is a reconstruction of the chapel used in the movie Charro, starring guess who.










Thats all for today.
Later.