A Grand Adventure

Our group of 10 arrived at the First Water trail head for our 7am hike to Battleship Mountain in the Superstition Wilderness.  I was very surprised that for a Saturday hike, the parking lot was only about 30% full.

We departed, got onto Second Water trail, continued on a generally rolling route, reaching Green Valley which is still not so green since it was scorched last year.  We descended a ravine having plentiful black rocks/boulders on either side, some of which populated our trail making the going tedious and then....

....reached the descent to Boulder Canyon.  In the distance was Battleship.  We'd already seen a tarantula during our hike, marked by a scream from hiking buddy Lorna so what else might we encounter???

Just as we began the down climb to Boulder Canyon, we encountered "Lydia" who had discovered a rattlesnake laying in the middle of the trail.  After waiting 15 minutes, the snake had not moved so she turned around, bumping into us.  We proceeded as a group made larger by one and soon....

....there it was.  No longer on the trail but just to the side.  Each of us raced around it, then Lydia continued on but soon stopped and warned us of another....

....rattlesnake.  I've encountered dozens of snakes but never like this.  Not coiled to strike but content to curl into a ball and rest its head on its body, in a sleep like state.  In zoos, sure I have seen this posture many times but not in the wild.  It never rattled, just remained as is, surely cognizant we were briskly walked by.

Our new friend, Lydia decided to throw her lot in with us, cancelling her other hike destination and we were glad she did.  Reaching Boulder Canyon, we hung a right and began hiking upstream.  I've never seen the canyon so overgrown.  So much so, I lost the trail that crossed the canyon many times and just had to....

....head upstream and forget about the trail.  There were many pools of water but enough boulders above the surface to keep our feet dry.  The landscape was so different from all my 8 or so previous visits that I began to worry I missed a turn but then recognized a feature, gathered the group and we....

....ascended a steep slope, arrived at the base of the Battleship and began a climb up the first "wall".

I so much wanted everyone to at least climb the ship and all did so.  We looked at the magnificent views which included Weaver's Needle in the distance and much closer.....

....Lower LaBarge Box Canyon and the entrance to the Narrows.  So awesome.

Then we turned our attention to what was ahead.  The peak is only 3/4 mile away but it is a very long/time consuming 3/4 mile. Many "walls", poking around to find the correct route, obstacles, etc...  One choke point is.....

....Fat Man's Pass.  I climbed above it and got this good view of the others squeezing through.

As any of us waited for our group to catch up, we could admire the fantastic views around us.  The images just don't do it justice. And then.....

....we reached the "bridge".  I was pleasantly surprised that we all made it through this section and then all others until we....

....reached the peak.  Canyon Lake in the distance as we were surrounded by many prominent point such as Geronimo Head, Malapais Mountain, Weaver's Needle, etc...  We rested, took many pics, ate and then....

...began the challenging descent.  Again, everyone got through which, given the level of experience and fitness, should not have been a surprise.  Of course, having gotten through all that we previously encountered, there really wasn't an option but to keep down climbing.

We arrived at the initial wall, got through that with good gripping shoes of course, and got back into the jungle like Boulder Canyon.  We climbed out of that without a repeat encounter with either of the snakes but checking our water, many of us were low.  Fortunately, one group member, Jeff, had over stocked his needs and generously shared.  I can't say he saved any of our lives but it's possible!  We finished with 12 miles and 1800' of climbing, which seemed far less than what we experienced.