The Superstition Mountains

We had been camped at the Picket Post trail head for so long it was starting to seem like we would never move, but ... we finally traversed a section of Arizona trail! We spent Thursday packing up (filling ziplocks full of alfalfa pellets and grain in addition to the normal camping gear) and getting ready for a 45 mile four day horse packing trip through the Superstition Mountains.

A little vehicle repair.

Friday we got up early and put the horses and gear down into a stone corral in the wash next to camp. By about 9 AM Denise and I were ready to leave to drop off the bus at the far end of the trail. We didn't feel much trepidation leaving the girls alone with the horses and camping stuff. They had the dogs and people were rarely in the area before noon anyway. The dogs are quite aggressive when people approach the girls when they are on their own. Also, we'd made friends with Frank, a rancher less than a ½ mile away if the girls needed to go to someone for help. We left them the cell phone as well. Well, actually I guess Denise worried just a bit.

We left the gear, animals and kids in the early morning an shuttled the bus to the far trailhead.

It took a little over 3 hours to drop the bus off and get back and most of another hour to get the saddles and gear loaded on the horses. We started with about 140# net on Musica and 90# net on Pepsi. Lily rode Cinnibar. Jackie rode Tandy for about a mile, but mostly led her since Tandy was three days into her antibiotics course at the start of the trip. We didn't want her to have to work to hard. It was 1 pm and hot by the time we were ready to go.

Musica didn't necessarily want to carry a heavy pack this hot afternoon.

Jackie and Tandy

Pepsi with her pack on.

Lily ready to go.

The rancher Frank said I could leave the 4 runner in his yard. I moved the car while Denise and the girls started out. Denise has never packed horses and I haven't packed since I was a teenager in Montana. I watched the horses as far as I could and then drove over to Frank's. After parking the car I headed back up the trail. I was a little worried the packs would have immediately fallen off and I would find everyone back at the start. I was very happy to quickly run into Denise and find the packs in need of adjustment, but still more or less in place.

We found that with someone leading Pepsi, Music's lead rope could be looped over Pepsi's saddle horn and that she followed along with very little complaint. Pepsi has a very fast walk so she kept Musica and the rest going at a good pace. Denise did most of the leading and I ran around adjusting the loads and taking pictures.

Denise leading pack horses.

It was a hot afternoon.

Water is one of the biggest considerations for desert travel. Because it was a short day we planned to camp at about the first available water. Our information said that after six miles the trail followed Whitford canyon and then Reavis canyon which generally have water coming to the surface intermittently. Shortly after we got into Whitford canyon we spotted a nice little spring with lots of grass and some pretty cottonwood trees. There were a lot of different pools and a very slight visible flow.

A breeze had sprung up in the afternoon but we all felt hot and tired. We decided with a definite water source and everyone tired of hiking it was a good time to camp. The girls and I set up camp and cooked dinner. Cooking hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner cheered up the girls considerably. There was thick grass for grazing and we were starting to feel sorry that we'd brought so much horse food. Denise fed them their pellets anyway because she was anxious to get the loads as light as possible for the elevation gain we'd be doing the next couple of days. Giving Tandy her oral antibiotics was time consuming and frustrating (throughout the trip) . . . she's the worst eater of the bunch and won't eat more than a handful or two of grain at a time even when it isn't hiding pills. Feeding the other horses was a little awkward and time consuming as well, since I'd only brought three buckets (all I had). Cinnabar seemed to like her food best after she'd pawed her bucket over a couple of times and gotten some dirt and leaves mixed in. Denise finally got the horses settled in for the night tied to some small trees growing near the campsite.

Nice grass in Whitford canyon.

Jackie and Lily set up their own tent.

Denise took care of horses.

During the night the wind picked up. It came down the canyon in gusts which were impossible to sleep through. The next morning the girls told us that their tent pegs kept blowing out and that they had to lay flat on the ground to keep the tent from blowing away. They also reported that they had to keep going out and re-staking the tent. There were 12 solid hours of darkness each night, and it was cold enough that we hopped right into bed at darkness. One would think that would be plenty of time for rest even with interruptions but we all felt a little groggy in the morning anyway.

I got up at 6:45 Saturday morning just as a little light was beginning to show. We all hurried as best as we could and got off at about 9:00 am.

Ready to go in the morning.

Early on we passed a large group of boy scouts clearing the trail as part of an Eagle Scout project. This turned out to be slightly ironic because this section of trail they were headed down to clear turned out to be the best that we went over the entire trip.

As the sun started to hit us we warmed up.

The trail stayed low for the first half of the day and then went up Montana Mountain coming over the shoulder at 5440'. On the way up the mountain we spotted a pile of bear scat.

We moved right along when the trail was flat.

A strong breeze most of the day kept us far from too hot this day. Notice that none of the hikers are down to a t-shirt despite strong sun and gaining almost 3,000 exhausting ft. of elevation.

Denise leading Musica and Pepsi.

Looking back at Revis Canyon and the shoulder of Montana Mountain.

The horses learned about cactus.

Getting into the mountains. Superstitions

We combined two sections of the Arizona trail together on this trip. Because of water considerations we camped at the trail head of the second passage. There were a lot a cars in the parking lot when we arrived but actually the only people camping were a group of hunters. It still felt a little crowded after seeing so few people all day long. We ended up camping in a quasi level area several hundred yards from the hunter's camp. They had a game camera set up looking at our campsite which we covered with a horse blanket. Later in the evening they stopped by and turned the camera off for us. They didn't seem to mind over much where we had camped and it was about the only option. I had been particularly tired when we reached camp yesterday, but felt pretty good today. Denise was completely worn out with sore feet. She had a harder time getting the horses settled for the night. She gave the horses turns being loose to grazing until they discovered where the grain was kept. The trees were a little less ideal for tying horses to, so not all the horses ended up getting to stand on a level surface for the night, but they seemed to survive anyway.

Camp the second night.

Lily helped filter water.

Jackie started the dinner fire.

Denise tended horses.

On Sunday I got up at 6:05 AM hoping we would get off a bit earlier. We ended up leaving at 8:59 AM.

We ate breakfast in the predawn light.

We gained less elevation gain this day. It was supposed to be only a 10 mile day but it turned out to be a bit longer. In the afternoon some clouds came in the worried us a bit but it didn't rain.

The first several miles followed Roger's canyon. The trail kept crossing the wash, it was quite rocky any steep getting in and out of the wash. Had we had know what the trail would be like in the afternoon we wouldn't have considered this trail was overly rough though. The vegetation changed from Saguaro and Mesquite to thick leafy bushes.

The trail kept crossing Roger's wash.

We left the desert and got into very leafy brush.

We came up through Reavis Pass and found ourselves in pine trees! The horses had to jump a couple that had fallen (actually, only Pepsi jumped, all the others managed to step their front legs over and just jumped their back legs). We followed the drainage down for about 3 miles to the old Reavis homestead. By the time we got there occasional pools of water had turned to a full scale flowing stream. Reavis grew vegetables in this pretty valley to sell to the miners and the army. He packed them out of the Superstitions by mule train on essentially the same route we had just followed. Reavis was found dead on the trail in 1898. The land is Forest Service Wilderness area now but there is still an apple orchard that produces some apples and a lot of nice grass. We met two more groups of hunters one of whom had two horses with them. We also met one group of hikers.

This huge tree was just north of Reavis Ranch.

Just past the Reavis Ranch we were supposed to get onto another trail. We took a break, ate lunch, and pulled the horses packs off in a pleasant meadow. The meadow had a number of trails wending through it. As it turned out one of them was ours. Somehow in the shuffle of getting going after lunch we forgot about the intersection and continued down the original trail. After about a half mile we noticed our mistake. The trail is good in this section, the hardest part was having to come back by the group of hunters we had been talking to just after lunch.

The new trail went up through Reavis gap. Going up, the trail was on bedrock in places but the rock was very flat and had steps actually cut into it where necessary. Going down the other side was a different matter. The trail was eroded, and strewn with boulders. The bedrock was exposed in many places and it was very steep. By the time we reached the bottom we felt lucky that none of the horses had broken a leg. As it was they did get a few scrapes around their ankles. We had loosed Music from Pepsi early on during the day so that she could maneuver through the boulder piles without Pepsi pulling on her and making it difficult for her to choose her footing. I was impressed with Cinnabar making her way along slowly and carefully with Lily aboard. I never saw her slip once. Tandy also seemed especially sure footed . . . it looked as though she chose every single step with great care during the steep and bouldery sections. Music and Pepsi made it but they just didn't always look quite as careful and well balanced other two did.

On the far side of the gap the vegetation turned to prickly pear and juniper type trees. Our destination was Walnut springs. About 1 mile before the spring we crossed a stream with flowing water. We considered stopping but the next day was our longest so we pushed on. Walnut springs is very small. The trail goes right by the pool of water and there is a 40' by 40' pocket of very nice grass below it. However it isn't visible until you are right there. This kept us in high suspense to the very last wondering if we should have stopped at the previous water source.

Looking back at Reavis Gap.

Walnut springs turned out to be our most comfortable camp with very flat tent sites. We finally got a good night's rest. The girls were in a very good mood. They even sang songs together for about a half an hour after we went to bed.

Very flat tent sites made this our most comfortable camp.

Walnut Spring

I got up at 6 am again on Monday. The horses are always the slowest things so I started by currying and feeding the horses. We might have gotten off at about 8:40 but Pepsi had gotten sore from the western saddle and pack we had on her. The horses had eaten about 100# of food, the dogs and people had eaten too so I was able to reshuffled the load and packed everything on Musica. We left camp at 8:55.

This day started off with a long steep down hill grade. It looked bad on the map but it wasn't on bedrock or strewn with boulders so it was fine. We had been worried that this last day would be the hardest. There was a lot more vegetation on the trail. We pulled cactus spines out of our legs, the dogs legs, and the horses' legs all day long. (It's been 5 days now since we got back and were still pulling out spines). The elevation gain was less than the second day but more than the first. Music had slowed down quite a lot. Dragging her up all those hills while she tried to nibble on grass and stumbled over prickly pear somehow seemed very tiring. I guess we were all getting tired. The country was scenic with even more cliffs and mountains than they day before. It was fun to look back at the precipitous country we had traveled through. From a distance it looked even more difficult than it had as we went.

We were too busy when the trail was really bad to take photes but this is the general idea.

Pepsi sliding down

.

Without rocks steep trail was no problem.

Juniper, cactus and cliffs.

By the fourth day the horses were tired and so where we.

The trail goes through a major draw, follows a high ridge and then crosses Pinon Mountain in the first 8 miles or so. There is absolutely no water. Past the shoulder of Pinon Mountain the trail joins a forest road for a mile. We found a stock watering trough at the intersection. After the trail leaves the road it drops into a canyon and is reportedly badly eroded so we had left the bus where the forest road meets the black top about 4 miles down. It was over 2000' vertical feet down but the road made it easy going.

Our first look at Roosevelt Lake.

Looking back at the Superstitions.

The horses couldn't help getting cactus thorns in their legs.

There were lots of plants, particularly Agaves in the trail.

We cleared the trail a little.

The trail finally flattened out

.

Water after a long walk over Pinon mountain.

We had been worried we would arrive after dark but ended up getting in a little after 4 pm. The girls were a big help putting the gear out to dry and getting the electric fence up for the night.

The road made the descent to the valley floor easy.

Back on the valley floor near the end. Superstitions

All in all it was a tiring but satisfying trip. It was fun to have finally done a pack trip with the horses and to have a better feel for what things we needed to prepare for. I was pleased with how well the horses had handled the trail and I feel like I have a better idea of what they can traverse now without having too many problems. In the future, we don't plan on taking horses on trails that are labeled “difficult” because of the terrain and we now we know to ask about how rocky the trails are. We were fortunate not to get caught in a storm. The day after we got back a cold front moved down that dumped a lot of rain and snow. Next time we probably should check the weather forecast before we head out. Nothing makes camping in an RV feel as luxurious as camping in a tent. We are all happy to have a nice warm bus to sleep in, running water, non-camping food and electric lights and warmth after darkness. The horses seem content to relax a little too.

Camping at Picketpost trail head

12/11
We had thought to go on a longish ride today on the Arizona trail. The girls made sandwiches for lunch and we packed up, then we discovered the horses were sick, particularly Tandy and Cinnibar. We did actually get on the AZ trail but we only went down it about a 1/2 mile. Denise and I did a little more riding latter. We cut cross country for a ways; both horses were rewarded for their efforts with cactus and cholla spines. They were pretty calm about letting us pull them out.

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We are in saguaro country now.

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After telling so many people we plan to ride the Arizona trail we finally made it to a trail head.

12/12
I found some cholla spines in my saddle bag this morning! I stayed at camp, got some chores done and made dinner for when the girls returned.

The girls went to Phoenix to the zoo. They had a great time, feed giraffes, and rode camels. Lily and Jackie couldn't stop talking about it all when they got back!

Denise picked up some penicillin at a feed store. We gave Cinnibar a shot and attempted to give Tandy one. Tandy seemed pretty traumatized by it all. We only got about 4 cc's (out of 8) into her.

12/13
Denise and I thoroughly traumatized Tandy and only got 3 more cc's into her. We decided to get her some oral antibiotics if possible.

Denise and I rode about a mile and a half north on the AZ trail after we gave up on Tandy.

There is a corral in a draw next to our camp. We put the horses there and Denise and I went climbing in the afternoon. I like to joke that the worst day climbing beats the best day working. That maxim held true once again, but but by a slimmer margin than usual. It was windy, cool and there were a few drops of rain. Accessing the climbs required descending a long steep scree slope and crossing a gully bottom. I started off on a 5.7 sport route (bolted), 2/3's of the way up I discovered that it was a mixed route (I needed to place some protection). I lowered back down to the ground, grabbed a light rack and finished the climb. Denise followed and found the climb fine though she was none to keen on the day in general. I decided to jump on another 5.7 with anchors close to the top of a couple 5.11's (I like to top rope 5.11's when I get the chance). The first bolt was way way up there (about 15' of easy terrain). Somehow I failed to notice until I got there that the hanger had been removed from the bolt rendering it almost useless. The rain drops were starting to spatter me and the wind was picking up. I was a little rattled. I managed to get a funky stopper placement and launch off for the next bolt. (I carefully checked, it did have a hanger and wasn't far off.) A few bolts latter a I came up to another bolt without a hanger!

Let me just jump up on my soap box for a moment. There are traditional (trad) climbers that don't like bolts and sport climbers that never touch gear. The two groups don't necessarily get along. If a route has traditionally been climbed on nothing but gear, even if it is run out and dangerous, it don't think it should be bolted. It alters the route that the “original discoverer” found. If there are some bolts on a route, but they were put in on lead it is arguably still a gear route. If the route's bolts were originally put in with aid gear or on rap it is a sport route. The whole point of a sport route is to have a fun and safe climbing experience. It takes a lot of expense and effort to put up a sport route. To remove bolts from a sport route is nothing less than vandalism. Climbers who truly thinks there are to many bolts on a route can choose to not clip the “extra” bolts when they climb the route.

Every climber knows that their grade on a trad route is different than their grade on a sport route. When a climber who's limit for sport climbing is about 5.7 climbs the route I was on, it could be a real problem for them to have to place gear. Being as it was originally created as a sport route the expectation of subsequent climbers is, that it is still a sport route. It therefore potentially increases the risk to subsequent climbers to steal the hangers off of a route. Because a climber's grade on gear is always lower, stealing hangers is not justifiable, even when gear placements are a viable option.

So anyway I got to the top of the 5.7 to find another 10' of choss above between me and where I hoped to find the anchor for the 5.11's. I got above the 7's anchor's, got a decent cam in, and worked my way up through the choss to the spot I had in mind. Hallelujah, the anchor for the 11's was there, but, dam the luck, the anchor was cold shuts. This is a sport climbing type anchor that is open on the top. The climber simply drapes his rope over them and lowers back to the ground. It is fine as long as you never, never get above the anchor or somehow let a loop of slack come up and flip the rope out the top of the anchor.

Denise didn't want to climb the 5.7 in the first place because it follows a fin and is very airy. None of my shenanigans persuaded Denise that she wanted to follow it after all. So after more fiddling around and I built a gear anchor, lower off of, and re-climb the 7 cleaning my own gear. When I went by the choss the first time I was very careful and only kick off a few pebbles; Denise was none to happy about these pebbles. I kind of forgot about the choss coming back up on top rope and showered Denise with rock as a handhold tore away. Well she liked that a whole lot less.

So after much hassle the route was clean except for my gear anchor and the cold shuts and I was at the top of the 5.11's. It all came down to swinging the rope around the arrete to the overhung side where the 5.11 route ran and cleaning the gear anchor all without letting the rope slip out the top of my final anchor to the cliff, the cold shuts.

I guess I am grateful that when I lowered down the 11 Denise was willing to belay me on top rope back up one of them. I did make it right up without a take so it made for a fun ending to the day. Denise really doesn't like windy days; she was stressing that the gorge between us and the car would fill with flood water; she was a little chilly, it had taken me a realy long time, I did drop rock down the cliff towards her and most of all (I think) she was worried about Tandy's condition. After all the hassle I wouldn't have minded another 5 minutes to try the other 11 but even so, it still beat the best day working.

12/14
Today should have been the day we started on a three day trip up the Arizona Trail. Next best, it should have been the day Tandy was busy getting better because of the penicillin. Next best, it should have been the day I went to town to pick up some oral antibiotics. Next best, how about the day that after hours on the phone and waiting for vets to call back, we finally got a prescription of oral antibiotics at a pharmacy in town which we can pick up first thing in the morning. In Guatemala I can walk into the local pharmacy and buy human grade antibiotics for about $5 it requires about 5 minutes of my time. In the US, if we hadn't paid a vet a whole bunch of money in Spokane before we left (to get the coggins test, health certificate and brand release form), we would still be trying to get a prescription. Or of course we could have hitched up the bus, loaded up Tandy and hauled her about 40 miles one way so a vet could say "yes your horse does have a runny nose, give me $150 for the visit and here is your prescription".

We have six water jugs that hold in total about 34 gallons of water. The bus tank also holds about 100 gallons of water but of course when it is empty we have to take the whole bus and find some place we can fill it. The horses drink 20 to 30 gallons per day so the water jugs last a little over a day.

We went to some nearby botanical gardens today with our six water jugs to see if they would let us fill them. They did and suggested we talk to Frank Heron, a local rancher who's house is about a ¼ mile from our camp about water options. Frank turned out to be very friendly. He was already familiar with us because he drives by our camp every day on his way to work. He invited us into his house and in about 2 minuets time invited us to water our horses at his watering trough, fill our water jugs at his hose when ever we wanted, and bring our whole camp into his back yard once our horses got better. It never ceases to amaze me how many truly nice people we end up running into.

South to warmer latitudes

12/7
A storm was forecast for today. We loaded up, stopped by a feed store for more hay and headed south. We drove through Las Vagas, across the hover dam and camped on some BLM land about 20 miles into AZ at about 3700'.
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Camp.

12/8
We had our best ride yet down a wash to Lake Mohave. The footing was good for the horses and the landscape was interesting. Lake Mohave is a reservoir on the Colorado River. It was surprisingly warm, the girls all went for a swim. It was 21 miles round trip, we didn't get off too early and, once again, returned after dark.

Lily and Cinnabar.

The canyon was pretty.

Jackie sharing gummy bears for lunch desert.

Lake Mohave.

The horses liked Lake Mohave too.

12/9
Another driving day. There were free range horses where we camped. Generally when we unload the horses they stay close to the trailer waiting for dinner. This evening they took off down the road and Denise had to run catch them.

A convenient and pretty camp albeit very close to the highway (there was a cattle guard).

This winter made possible by Flying J, our home away from home.

12/10
Drove again, this time to the Picketpost trail head on the Arizona Trail. We once again made camp just as it was getting dark. Because the weather has been a little cool we have gone a little farther south than we had originally planned.

We have Picketpost mountain for our backdrop at this camp.