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Get Out. Get Lost.

Superstitious Superstitions

10/24/2011

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Picture
Weavers Needle and the Superstition Wilderness







The Superstition Wilderness is an incredible place.  It's as wild and as rugged as anything you will ever find.  Anywhere.  The trails closest to the city are worn a few miles from each parking lot and then quickly become over grown, faint, rocky, and at times, flat out dangerous.  You can't see the prickly pear under the creosote bush or cedar branches, the cholla drives deep into your thighs as you try to sneak past the agave daggers and full grown men yell out whimpering cries as they try to pull out each spike driven into their flesh.  It's heaven.  In that insane kind of way like, "Look how deep this gash is!!"

Yet despite this, despite enduring this over and over again, these brutal stretches of beatdown that the Superstitions provide free of cost, I keep coming back.  I started in the Superstitions when I first moved here hiking the Siphon Draw trail straight up the mountain to the Flatiron, the imposing spire of rock that juts out of the mountain range, overlooking all of the glory that is Apache Junction.  It's a steep, rugged and imposing hike, short enough yet so much upper body needed it's not for the wary.  It was my introduction into Arizona hiking that quickly led to one after another adventures that took me farther into the area.  At one point I would literally drive out on the Apache Trail which borders the northern side of the Wilderness area and pull off along a slot canyon area and park.  Then I'd hop the guardrail and either alone or with my brother, we'd work our way up a river bed, side canyon or random cattle trail in the search of who knows what.  We'd find crazy rock formations, tiny slot canyons, rattlesnakes, random backpacker gear, and a lot of times, some incredible watering holes hidden deep in the impenetrable forest that is catclaw hell.  

So when I began to form a mindset that I could cover more ground if I just ran some of the trail instead of walking I started to see more, experience more and learn a lot more.  That led me to the interior of the Superstitions where I quickly found there to be an vast, expansive network of over 180 miles of linked trails.  You can literally get lost out there, just up and disappear.  Frontier men & women worked hard to eek out a living out there, some old houses still leaving their mark on the interior of the park, the upper elevations but generally, it's desolate, and incredibly beautiful.  It's the kind of place you can't help but think to yourself, "You know...I wonder what's on the other side of this valley" and then work your way back up the steep incline to see one more time, just what is beyond that last ridge.  Breaching the saddle and laying eyes on an entirely new valley, new canyons, new rivers that seem to stretch on forever is something a lot of people don't understand having never really seen something like that.  Or maybe they just don't care.  Maybe some people don't ever wonder what's beyond that mountain range, what's around that last bend that you should have turned around at.  I do.

So many people have taken off to search for old gold mines in the Superstitions, old miners have died trying for that last big score, treasure seekers still to this day are dying out in the desert looking for the famed, Lost Dutchman.  They never find it, hell, it could have been found 100 years ago and we wouldn't know.  Yet there is something about the Superstitions that has that affect on people.  The Search & Rescue team we came across in March in our 50 mile adventure out there was looking for three young guys from out of state that went missing the previous fall.  They found one guy, dead, at the base of a palo verde tree on the top of Black Mesa.  Not but 3 miles from a main parking lot and less than 1/4 mile from the Black Mesa trail.  There are still a half dozen bodies that were never recovered out there, hikers, gold seekers, tourists.  It's a tough place, it will beat you up but with every trip I come out I feel that much stronger.  Short or long those Supes are a beat down but with that beatdown comes some of the most incredible trails (used loosely), and some of the most scenic miles in the entire state.  I've said it before, and I'll repeat it here, it's the most beautiful place in Arizona outside of the Grand Canyon.  And it's less than an hour from Phoenix.  

With all the trips I've had in the Superstitions I've had my share of challenges, many more trips without issue but some that bear repeating.  

I once took a girl on our 2nd date up the Siphon Draw trail who then blew out her knee on the way down.  It was a long walk back to the car.  Why would I take someone to Siphon Draw on a date?  Dumb.  Go do the hike and you'll understand.  http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=686

I went for a run out there in September with one water bottle (dumb) and on the way back it was so hot I was rolling a pebble around in my mouth to keep my mouth salivating.  It was 109 degrees.  No water the last 4+ miles which you can't run because you'll die it's so hard, rocky and bloody.  I finished and my core temperature was close to 200 degrees.  I say "200" because it's the only way to explain how my contacts felt like they had melted to my eyes.  

I hiked a slot canyon near Reavis Ranch with my three dogs years ago, it's an unnamed canyon, very difficult to access and long story short my lab fell from a rock about 5 feet, couldnt' walk so I carried him (96 lbs) in my arms over the boulders upstream to the exit.  This took two hours to cover 200 meters and it started to get hot (It was naturally August...).  So when I was supposed to be back in my Jeep on my way home I now had less than a mile to go but all vertical, off trail and with a lame dog.  I had to leave my lab Monty in a sandy cave while I searched upstream for any source of water.  Found a green pool of water that my dog jumped into immediately.  Suddenly the water started to move and I quickly realized it was full of snakes, dozens of snakes and all over my dog Watson.  Watson jumped out quickly and shook off on as I started to panic that I'd just killed one dog due to heat stroke and a second due to multiple snake bites.  Watson ended up being ok, but I had to leave my three dogs in the cave, crawl out of the canyon with no water in 113 degree heat where I literally prayed to Jesus while leaning AGAINST a Saguaro for the only 3" slice of shade before making the last push of 200 feet to get to my Jeep.  I then had to drive 22 miles of winding road to the first gas station that would let me call someone and my brother came out with his wife to help me.  I drove back, went down expecting to see my lab Monty dead and while he was close he was still alive.  My brother arrived and we carried them out, taking over an hour to complete a half mile.  Monty would go on to have a weeks worth of emergency care.  He was given a 3% chance of survival and to proceed with medical attention the hospital needed 50% deposit on what was at least $5000.  He survived, and he's alive and well today although I'll probably never be free of the guilt of that day.  It was a valuable life lesson but almost at the cost of my best friend.

Oh, and Paul almost died in this years 50 mile adventure out on the JT trail.  Forgot about that one.

So it's no surprise that in less than two miles of running the Lost Dutchman trail this Saturday that my friend Jay Danek, in the midst of a 580+ day, 4 mile a day, running streak falls twice on the rocks.  The second a bad one cutting us his knee and bruising him up more ways than one.  Being the tough guy Jay is he made it through the day but barely as the trail is so rough it made it even harder on him with his hip not allowing him to lift his legs as he would normally.  Hopefully his streak lives on a little longer but it seems the Superstitions almost claimed another victim.  Our mutual friend Michael Carson, a Superstition veteran, made it out unscathed minus his choice in shorts.  Which were barely long enough to cover a penis slip.  Yes, that was a penis reference.  You're welcome.  

Check out Jay's account of the run on his website.  It's easy to find the one about the Superstitions.  Just look for "I hate Jeremy Dougherty-Death Run"  Yes, I'm famous.  www.mcdowellmountainman.com

I think for this years Superstition Wilderness 50K I might need a waiver.  

That might be the first waiver required race for a fat ass run ever...

I swear it's really beautiful out there.  January 7th.  You'll regret not going.  Maybe.




Picture
Superstitions Wilderness with Weavers Needle in the background
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1 More Day!

8/26/2010

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Tomorrow morning is my last meeting hopefully with my doctor.  I feel I'm almost putting too much on this one meeting when he could just tell me I have TB or some other random issue that will continue to keep me off the trail.  Tomorrow is 15 days without running, exercise or anything at all and my body can definately tell.  I'm feeling a lot weaker now than I did in May when I had a torn ligament and couldn't run because of that issue. 
Following the Dailymile.com and seeing other people's runs helps stay motivated.  Hopefully it's just a short holdup.  Either way I'm going to work with my running gear and I'm going to cross my fingers just in case I get the "ok". 

I'm also trying to plan out a 50 mile route in the Superstition Wilderness for this December for a new Trail Run.  The Superstitions are some of the most beautiful areas of Arizona and the USA.  I love the rugged ridges, and absoluteness of each crevasse, turn in the trail and the neverending cactus riddled, snake filled cracks in the trail.  It'll be a very challenging route for sure.  I'm excited to see where it takes me.
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  • Get Out. Get Lost.
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  • ACI - Acadia Cross Island
  • Past Races, Hikes & Adventures
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