Backpacking the Superstitions - April 2013

Eugene

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Never posted this but thought I would add it. Four of us from the Houston Texas area decided to do a hike in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix in late Apr 2013. We drove to the Rogers Trough Trailhead and did a loop using the Rogers Trail, Frog Tanks Trail and The Reavis Valley trail. To our surprise the weather was nice - even froze one night at the Reavis ranch. Water is scarce in the mid part of the hike (Frog Tanks trail) but other than that water was not a problem.

Rogers Trough Trailhead

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Going up Rogers Canyon
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Camp - nice shaded area along Rogers Canyon

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Heading up Reavis from the intersection with Frog Tanks
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There was a farmer/rancher living in this valley in the late 1800s. Later there was an apple orchard (remnants still exist). Google Reavis Ranch and you will find lots of info. There is a story that old man Reavis was attacked by Indians. He was out numbered like 20 to 1 so being desperate he took off his clothes and ran out doing some sort of war dance. The Apache seeing this as an indication of a crazy man, ran off and never bothered old man Reavis again. ( I do not vouch for the authenticity of this story but did read it in a book on the superstitions.

Apple trees left over from the 1930s or so in full bloom.
Lots of nice camping areas in this valley.
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Old abandoned hay rake from the 50s when the ranch was still being used. Quite a bit of abandoned stuff lying around the area.
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As you can see it was cold in the morning - had ice on the water bottles. But the campsites are GREAT.
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Huge tree along the trail.
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Old man Reavis's grave - it is over a saddle going back down the south side of the Reavis Ranch trail. Rummer has it that he was heading into town and "died"... Someone found him later and "buried him here.
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Looking down the south side of the saddle back towards Rogers Trough.
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For a final night camp we went back up Rogers Canyon a bit for a nice campsite. Nice relatively easy desert hike.
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The last morning out we encountered a group of riders riding mustangs from Mexico to Canada. I failed to get a picture but they completed their journey. Check them out on "unbrandedthefilm.com". They are making a film of their journeys - also on facebook. Here is a link to the website:
http://www.unbrandedthefilm.com/#!theride/c60z

And here is a sample picture:
unbranded.jpg
 
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Very cool. Some nice looking mountains and some sweet camp spots. It's always fun to learn the history of the land beforehand. So is this in Arizona or Texas?
 
Arizona - just 60 or so miles east of Phoenix. There is a book "Hiker's Guide to the Superstition Wilderness" by Jack Carlson and Elizabeth Stewart with lots of info. I thought I had another book with just a bunch of info on old man Reavis but I can't find it right now.
 
Very cool. Some nice looking mountains and some sweet camp spots. It's always fun to learn the history of the land beforehand. So is this in Arizona or Texas?

Arizona - just 60 or so miles east of Phoenix. There is a book "Hiker's Guide to the Superstition Wilderness" by Jack Carlson and Elizabeth Stewart with lots of info. I thought I had another book with just a bunch of info on old man Reavis but I can't find it right now.
 
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