Category: Hiking and Backpacking
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On the Dutchman’s Trail to Parker Pass
My e-mail to Jeff and Dennis: Weather forecast looks favorable. The Sage of the Superstitions will take you boys on a pussy cat hike and introduce you to Parker Pass. I don't believe you two have been out this way. Out and back, 4. 6 miles. Little elevation change, but a number of creek crossings.…
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From Peralta to First Water: A Tribute to Lloyd Glaus
This morning I received the news that my neighbor and fellow hiker Lloyd Glaus had died. What follows is a redacted entry from an earlier pre-Typepad version of this weblog in which I reported on a memorable trans-Superstition hike we took together over ten years ago, on 29 October 2007, when Lloyd was 75 years…
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The Rugged Routes of the Superstition Mountains
These are trails that try men's soles. …………………. Most of my erudite and esteemed readers will catch the allusion, but in case you don't.
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The Walls of Red Wing
A bum knee sent me to the hot tub yesterday afternoon for a long soak. There I struck up a conversation with a 20-year-old grandson of a neighbor. He hails from Minnesota like seemingly half of the people I meet here this time of year. "Which town?," I asked. "Red Wing" was the reply. And…
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Old Mountaineers and Bold Mountaineers
I'm no climber, but I love walking in the mountains. On a solo backpacking adventure in the magnificent Sierra Nevada some years back I overheard a snatch of conversation: There are old mountaineers, and there are bold mountaineers, but there are no old bold mountaineers. Ueli Steck, the great Swiss climber, is dead at 40,…
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Words for Declining a Group Hike Invitation
I don't like playing 'follow the leader' unless I'm the leader.
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The Killer Mountains Claim Another Victim
Do as I say, not as I do. Stay out of the rattlesnake infested inferno known as the Superstition Wilderness in summer! 18 June 2016: A 25-year-old Phoenix man died while hiking on the Peralta Trail near Gold Canyon, according to Pinal County officials. Anthony Quatela III, 25, was found dead after county search-and-rescue personnel responded to a…
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Know Your Limits
Cautionary tale: Geraldine Largay's Wrong Turn: Death on the Appalachian Trail The Never Hike Alone warning found in most hiking books is not just a piece of CYA boilerplate required by publishers. It is good advice. I have violated it numerous times in unforgiving country in quest of my inner Thoreauvian, but then I am extremely…
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In the Vicinity of Hackberry Spring, Superstition Wilderness
Dale Tuggy has a good eye. Here is a shot from our Good Friday hike, 3 April, 2015. We are headed back to the trail head via the First Water Creek bed.
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A ‘No’ to ‘No Self’
Dale Tuggy is in town and we met up on Thursday and Friday. On Good Friday morning I took him on a fine looping traipse in the Western Superstitions out of First Water trail head to Second Water trail to Garden Valley, down to Hackberry Spring, and then back to the Second Water trail via…
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First Day of the Year, First Hike of the Year
I began the year right with a two-hour ramble right out my front door over the local hills. Very cold temps ramped up the usual saunter to a serious march. I always go light: short pants, T-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, bandanna, light cotton gloves. Rain that turned to snow overnight gave Superstition Mountain a serious dusting.…
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Hyponatremia: How to Kill Oneself by Drinking Water
As a 'Zone Man,' I am well aware of the dangers of dehydration and heat stroke especially when out for an infernal hike. Although a U.S. gallon of water weighs 8 1/3 lbs, those are pounds I don't leave home without. Some will be surprised to learn that even with water there can be too…
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Overheard in the High Sierra
There are old mountaineers, and there are bold mountaineers. But there are no old bold mountaineers.
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Peralta Canyon, Western Superstitions, 17 August 2013
Peter's girlfriend Carolyn wanted to go on a hike, but Peter the biker is no hiker. So the guide task fell to me. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. The day's high was 113 F. with monsoon humidity. Related articles Jeep Wrangler: Trailhead Access in Style Another Hiker Lost…
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Black Top Mesa, Western Superstitions, 21 April 2013
Yesterday's killer hike, commencing at First Water Trailhead at 7:30 AM, took us to the top of Black Top Mesa (not to be confused with cholla-forested Black Mesa, also accessible via First Water). It is a leisurely saunter over Parker Pass and across some now-almost-dry streams until you arrive at the Bull Pass upgrade which is…