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Siphon Draw/Flatiron Day Hike
Superstition Mountains
December 10, 2005
by Lyndon Tiu


Nine people and one dog joined us for the hike. The weather was absolutely great; cool, sunny and calm. We arrived at the Lost Dutchman State Park early enough to see the sun rise over the Superstitions. The view was awesome. We started hiking at 8:20 AM. Four of us (and the dog) decided early on not to attempt the more difficult Flatiron leg of the hike and decided to only hike the first-half of the Siphon Draw trail and the other flatter trails around the park and the neighboring Tonto National Forest. The rest of us went our way up the second-half of the Siphon trail and towards the Flatiron. It was still early in the morning and there were very few other souls on the trails and we arrived at the virtually deserted end of the Siphons Draw trail (the Basin). There, we made a fateful decision, we saw two trails going off separate ways. One went down to the Basin and another veered off to the right. Since the hike leader has never done this hike before and the other two hikers who have done this hike could not remember which way they went, we decided to take the right fork. This right fork trail took us around the east and south side of the Flatiron cliff-base. On this trail, we saw some interesting rock formations, one called the Hansel and Gretel Oven complete with a smokestack. We also came upon what we called the lookout with wonderful views of the Goldfield Mountains. The flora of the area was beautiful with lots of agave, prickly pear and saguaros.
The trail we took was well defined initially with cairn markers every line of sight. We were hoping this trail will take us to the top of the Flatiron and we were, in fact, gaining altitude, so we were getting closer and closer to the Flatiron. However, it merely led us to a less travelled wilderness just to the south and right below the Flatiron's cliff walls. The trail eventually became fainter and fainter and became harder and harder to traverse with parts requiring almost rock-climbing skills. Around 11:15 AM, we decided to take a break and have lunch while we decided what to do next. Our lunch spot's views towards the east and south were fabulous, we can almost see the mountains near Tucson. After lunch, we decided to back-track a little bit the way we came. Since we were so close to the the Flatiron cliff walls from where we were, we decided to blaze a trail and head straight towards the cliff base to see if there is a way we can get to the top. A few of us got scratched shins and cactus pricks in the process. We eventually found a faint trail that goes around the north side of the Flatiron. We followed this faint trail and we were getting closer and closer to the rear of the top of the Flatiron. The trail was often covered with thick brush so we had to do some bushwhacking to get through. We hoped to get to the Flatiron before our self-imposed turn- around deadline of 12:30 PM. We were about 200 feet from the rear of the Flatiron when a decision was made by the hike leader to turn back because the trail was becoming tough to hike-on with thick brush and loose rocks all over. Too bad, we almost made it.
The walk back was not so bad since we had great views of the Goldfields. We made it down safely and figured out what we did wrong - at the end of the Siphon Draw trail, we should have taken the trail that goes into the Basin and not the one that veered off to the right. Since it was getting late in the day and we were tired, we decided not to attempt the Flatiron this day and instead come back a different day for it. Halfway down we were joined by the daughter of one of our hikers who decided to join us later that day and missed us at the parking lot by about two hours, but she actually made it to the top of the Flatiron. She had done this a few times before and knew where she was going. We all walked back to the parking lot in no time, said our goodbyes and went our own ways. See you guys on the next hike!
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Arizona Trailblazers Hiking Club, Phoenix, Arizona
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updated December 11, 2005