Ten Trailblazers have decided to hike in the Superstitions Mountains today. We leave one car at the Siphon Draw Trailhead in Lost Dutchman State Park. Then we carpool to the Carney Springs Trailhead to start our hike just before dawn. With headlamps on, we start our journey.

This is a 2,000 foot climb up to the Ridgeline Trail. By the time we get to the Superstition boundary fence it is time to turn the headlamps off. The trail up Carney is a rough trail with many places to scramble up, so it is good that we do not need the headlamps. At the top of Carney it is time for the first snack break and rest.

The is also the first place you get a good view of Superstition Mountain (5057 ft), highest point on the west side.

This will be our lunch spot, but we have to get there first. When we get to the base of the final accent to the top, the path has been cleared.

It then leads to the final scramble on all fours to the top of the mountain. From here you can see 360 degrees and you are well above Weavers Needle.

You then have to go back down to get back to the main Ridgeline Trail, where we pick up Darrell to complete the journey. There are many ups and downs as we move from peak to saddle and back to peak.

We are slowly getting closer to Flatiron, but have few more miles to go. The trail is mainly on the north side of the ridgeline.

This area has had few persons and animals damage the cactus, so there are some large ones on this trail.

We are now getting close to Flatiron and the way down. We made good time and are at Flatiron by 4 PM with at least two hours of sun left. The only problem is that we are getting a light mist and Siphon Draw is very slippery. It will take us over 4 hours to get down. It is good that everyone has headlamps, because it is dark before we exit .

We get the group to the Hitching Post restaurant, so they have a place while we get the cars. In the past this was a good place, but now it has bad food, bad service, and bad management. Stay away from there.