Hiking Through Superstition

The day after our trip to Quartzsite we went back to Lost Dutchman State Park to hike in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains. Maya had recently bought some new Earth Shoes that offer her a lot of support. Matt had used some Christmas money to get a sweat-wicking hiking shirt and some hiking shoes with the express purpose of wearing them on this planned hike. We haven’t done nearly as much hiking of late as we would like to so we were both really excited about this hike. In short – it was one the best days we’ve yet had in Arizona.

The route doesn’t look that hard from the trail head, but it starts to get steep right away. The ground is all loose volcanic rock so going up not all that easy. We were both caught off-guard by the difficulty. But we had good shoes on, had our water along and were determined to make it all the way around the trail. It’s only a 2.4 mile loop. It can’t be that hard!

It was hard, but in a good way. At the top we looked out at the valley spread before us and posed with the shoes that had helped us reach there. We must clarify. “Top” means not the top of The Flatiron (the brown rocky mountain) but the top of the trail, which is not even up to the base of the The Flatiron. That was hard enough!
It’s not easy to capture the spectacle of the trail or the mountain or the views in photos. They jest aren’t wide enough. Photos and words, even, aren’t deep enough either. There’s something you feel about the countryside. The landscape really reaches into you. At least it does us. We will miss it.