Today we plan something more difficult after a couple easy hikes. We eye a series of caches some of which were not found by anyone else so we hope for a first to find (FTF). But first we have to find an obscure parking place on the Apache trail from which the abandoned road that will be our trail in the beginning starts.
The first caches on the trail are easy to find and the trail is flat and easy also as it follows the old road. So we enjoy our hike as we enter deeper into the Superstition Mountains.
There are quite a few birds around us including an inquisitive curve billed thrasher and we really enjoy the many shapes of the saguaros all around us.
Soon we see our target and it is a doozy. At least it looks climbable not like other peaks around us. And there is supposedly a trail right up to it.
We start climbing and the road becomes a well defined trail. It is difficult but with the trail it is ok and we also stop from time to time to find caches so we have time to recuperate as we slowly make our way up to the first crest.
There are some beautiful views of the Saguaro Lake from the crest and here we split. One of us will stay and enjoy the views while the second one will push on to make the difficult climb to the peak.
And it is a difficult climb as the trail starts to disappear and it becomes very difficult to follow. There are many backtracks on terrain where each step has to be taken carefully. So we are happy when we notice that we are almost at the top and the trail becomes less treacherous.
The trail is marked from time to time with cairns which are very welcome, it is good to know that we are still on the right trail as we finally summit the peak to some great views.
It is a special view and we spend some time enjoying it before continuing on the crest to find our FTF. And we find it happily at least one of them, the second one is a bust unfortunately. And now it is time to descend slowly carefully to meet up again with the base camp.
From base camp the descent is much easier and we really like the late afternoon views as we make our way back to the car and then to Phoenix after a beautiful but very tiring day out.
