AZT Day 21: Superstitions and Rattlesnakes

Daily Miles: 19.6, Total Miles: 331.9

After two nights with Mrs. Haze in Tucson, I stayed at Superior’s Copper Queen Motel last night, clean and convenient. I should have known everything would be closed up Easter morning in Superior. Even the local Circle K was cleaned out of donuts.

Got back out to the TH, crossed Hwy 60 and headed towards the Superstition Mountains.

I came around a bend and hit the first rattlesnake with my hiking pole about the same time I saw it on the trail. I used my other hiking pole to vault to one side while the rattler chose the other side to escape. The second, bigger rattler was a mile further on, stretched out and crossing the trail four feet in front of me. I nudged it along with a few pebbles to speed up the slow process. Of course, every stick and tree root for the next several miles was a snake ready to strike.

Very pretty desert in this stretch and eventually views of the Superstition Mountains. After a good climb, I could see Weavers Needle through a smoky haze – must be a fire nearby.

I backpacked the Superstitions with my dad and friends while in high school but haven’t been on the eastern boundary before.

2,000 ft climb and then down to Rogers Trough and the Superstition Wilderness. I camped on Reavis Creek with good pools of water.