I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend. Once again, our camping trip up north was canceled due to crazy weather. The low was 38 degrees plus thundershowers. So, we decided to do a day hike on Sunday. Our backyard is the beautiful Superstition Mountains, so it was only fitting that we went exploring in its wilderness area. We decided to hike the Massacre Grounds Trail after hearing about it from Cosmic Ray. He puts out super cool travel guides with fun cartoons.
It was perfect weather and about a three mile hike round trip. The following is taken from azcentral.com and describes the history of the trail.
“A fairly short trek in the Superstition Wilderness takes you to the Massacre Grounds, where according to legend Apache warriors slaughtered a party of Mexican miners.
There are many variations, but the main story goes something like this: During the middle years of the 19th century, the wealthy Peralta family of Mexico operated several mines in what is now Arizona. In the aftermath of the Mexican War, with the new border shifting south, the Peraltas decided to extract as much ore as possible before their holdings became U.S. territory.
One last expedition, laden with rich gold ore, was on its way to Mexico when Apaches attacked, slaughtering the hapless miners on the northwestern flanks of the Superstitions. Years later, the single survivor of the attack revealed the location of the family’s richest mine to Jacob Waltz, who had saved another family member from harm.
True or not, the account provides a foundation for tales of the Lost Dutchman Mine.
Lending credence to the story is the report that in 1912 a couple of prospectors found gold ore worth $18,000 in the area where the massacre allegedly took place.
The first part of the trail to the Massacre Grounds is an old road that leads south from a small dirt parking area, climbing steadily into a magnificent desert landscape. Before long, the route passes east of a hill topped by a distinctive rock spire. As you proceed, you gain terrific views of the Superstition ridgeline, the Goldfield Mountains and a foreshortened view of Four Peaks. Soon you’ll see the top of Weavers Needle in the southeast, peeking over a distant ridgeline.
The trail is generally easy to follow, although it gains nearly a thousand feet of elevation and some sections are narrow, rocky and steep. Several spur trails, many marked by rock cairns, branch out across the area as you proceed.”
On the way up, I got really hot and needed a break from the sun. While the temperature wasn’t that bad, the sun in Arizona is brutal. I’m hanging out in a wash munching on a peanut butter power bar.
Chuck taking a break and sipping on his “bladder.” I think that has to be one of the neatest inventions. He bought it from REI last year and it’s a big pouch for water that fits in his backpack.
Views from the top were incredible! Chuck wanted to keep hiking further up, but I had reached my limit. I let him go ahead while I hung out below and read my book. I could watch Chuck perfectly, so I could be well aware if he plummeted to his death. Not too sure what I would have done, but at least there wouldn’t have been any questions about his fate.
Can you spot the Chucklebutt in this picture? If you click on the photo it will enlarge it.
The acoustics were great and Chuck and I could hear each other perfectly. After this picture was taken, he told me that he felt like that cat who had climbed the tree and now had to figure out how to get back down. DOH!
This is a more accurate representation of how far things were away from me. You can barely make out Chuck on the knobby thing on the left. Apparently right behind it is a perfect place to set up a tent. We’re thinking about coming back later and camping. There is no way to hike the mountainous structure on the right without proper climbing gear. Finally, while we had a great time, we somehow missed the actual Massacre site. I guess we’ll just have to go back.
Wanted to leave everyone with some great photos of what I found while watering my plants.
We got babies!!! Oh my gosh they are so cute. Their eyes aren’t even opened yet. If you notice the black structure above them, that’s our sprinkler system that showers them every morning. Oh well. That’s where mama bird decided to build her nest. I tried disassembling it once, but she had it built the next day. I guess she liked the idea of having rain showers every morning — either that or a built in cleaning service.
Happy day to everyone! Yipee! It’s almost the weekend!
