We’ve been snowbirding in the Mesa area for 3 years now and have found many places where the hiking is superb: the South Mountain Park, the Scottsdale Sonoran Preserve and the Superstition Mountains among these. We have favorite hikes in all of these areas but like to search out new hikes. Today we thought we’d end this visit with a hike in the Superstitions, though we added a bit to it to make at least a part of it seem ‘new’ to us. 1/2 of it we have hiked before but we want a section where we can say: ‘Haven’t Been There, Haven’t Seen That.’
We got to the dirt road into the trail head but found ourselves behind another car which was following a horse trailer. The horse trailer was going slowly along the rutted road which also had some dips into dry washes. The driver was paying so much attention to the road that she did not see that she had a door on the right-hand side of the trailer that was swinging open with each bump that the trailer took. We, and the other car’s driver kept waving to her to try to catch her attention but she was a bit late for the trail ride and was focused on the road.
In the trail head parking lot, we found that it was ‘hiking club’ day at the RV parks in the area. At least 35 cars were there and we were lucky to get one of the last parking spots. People were all over getting out their packs, lacing up their hiking boots and checking out the pit toilets. We also noticed a car with its driver side door wide open - with no one around who seemed to belong to it. Another hiker and Gary discussed it and decided to shut the door and lock the car. Trail head theft is common (although we’ve left out car unlocked once and a door wide open another time and never experienced theft) but a greater problem is a dead battery caused by an open door. And, guess who had the dead battery? As Jimi Hendrix said: ‘We are experienced’ although maybe not in the way he meant.
Finally, we took off, way behind all the others - except the trail ride. Oops, this is what we saw behind us as we entered the trail. We stood aside to get this picture and - to see which way they were going to take at the trail junction ahead.
Aha, they took the right hand trail - we’ll go to the left. The trail winds around some hills and finally starts up to the Black Mesa (not to be confused with Black Top Mesa - why they have 2 such similarly named mesas and trail within 2 miles, I do not know). At the top we saw the iconic outline of Weaver’s needle,
met and passed one hiking club, wove through a cholla forest and, after a mile or so, headed down to the valley below.
The views are all spectacular in the Superstitions.
At the next trail junction, we took off to the left to circle Black Top Mesa along Bull Pass Trail. And, what do we not understand about the word ‘Pass?’ A ‘pass’ is supposed to be the low point between two mountains through which you can pass with less difficulty. But, to me, it is not ‘low’, it is merely lower than the mountain peaks. It still requires that we hike upwards to get to it. But, and here’s the intriguing thing, at the top of the pass was the trail ride. They were riding along the ridge line to the top of Black Top Mesa where there were some Spanish hieroglyphs. Doesn’t that sound like a neat goal? But we had no trail maps telling us how to get there and we probably didn’t have time for a lot of exploring. But, it’s something to check into when we get back to the RV.
We circled the mesa along a trail that we had never been on and enjoyed the views. There was a string of pools filled with water reflecting the colors of the cliffs above, fed by small waterfalls that bubbled as we passed.
We hiked on, came full circle around Black Top Mesa and reached the junction again (don’t I look relieved to be back to this junction knowing that we are on the final leg of our hike?)
and headed back to the trail head, along the trail which the trail ride had taken. Hmm, looks like they left a lot of reminders that they had been along this trail. Not only were we dodging boulders, bracken, cacti but now we also were dodging little horse reminders. Ah, isn’t that part of the challenge? (And, no, I do not have pictures to document this.)
The last few miles of our hike were in the shade as the sun dipped behind the ridgeline of the Superstition Mountains to our left. It was getting later and chillier so I put my long sleeve shirt back on. We got back to the trail head and were leaving in time to get see the saguaros silhouetted by the setting sun.
Back at the RV, I got out our hiking books of the Superstitions and, voila, there is the path to the top of Black Top Mesa. Now, we are not going to be in this area next year but, the next time we are - we know where we want to hike. I’m already happily anticipating that hike.
14 2506’
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