Grinding up to Robber's Roost in the Supes

On the road at 5:30am to make a 7:00am group hike from the Lost Goldman trailhead in the Superstition Wilderness. It's a long drive but worth it for the destination and enjoyment of hiking with David & Letlet, our co-leaders for today's adventure. The sun rises at about 6:10 and some clouds linger from an overnight rain, just above the Supes as I transit through the town of Florence.

 Typically, David & Letlet attract a full crowd but the hike description probably deterred a few so we left with something less than the 15 maximum quantity for organized hikes in the Supes. Those that did attend were fit and ready. We follow Letlet for a little over a mile along a rolling route and then....

....begin one of the steepest climbs in the area, up Carney Springs trail. After about 1.4 miles and 2500' of elevation gain, we reached the above flat area and then begin ascending another significant climb to a ridge where we regrouped and....

....contemplated yet more climbing but not as steep or long as what we had previously covered.  The ascent so far had a number of spots where the grade was 35-50%.  My hiking legs are coming around but this climb really took it out of me.

We don't really follow a trail but more a route with some route finding required but an abundance of cairns (piles of rocks placed by other hikers) lead the way.

How about that....a feature known as "The Bunny" and it does not take much interpretation to see why.  Some of our group scramble into the mouth and have the pic taken before we continue with.....

...awesome views to the south.  Now we begin looking for a pile of rocks that indicates we should head south toward the rim and....

...this jumble of rocks where we poke around a bit, going deeper and deeper until the.....

...opening to the "Roost" is found.  I don't think this, unlike other "Robber Roosts" elsewhere around the West, was ever used by thieves but it sure would have made a good one.  Through the opening in the center is a drop to another level that requires ropes to explore and then beyond that, a drop to the base of the mountains.

Some of us are anxious to return to watch football or have other plans so Sobha and I depart first.  Here, she pauses to check if a cactus needle penetrated through her shoe. Fortunately no.  We went off route so we could stand at an overlook and see.....

....great views to the east and points left and right of that.  We got back on the route, rounded a burn and ....

....there was the awesome Weaver's Needle with hoodoos in the foreground.  We reached the Peralta saddle and followed the Peralta trail for around 3 miles to the trail head where we were surprised to find....

....Superstition Wilderness' hiking legend, Phil Livingston.  Dude has traveled every square inch of the western Supes and a regular at the group hikes.  We still had about half a mile to reach the parking lot where we had left our cars and Phil was nice to offer us a ride in his car.  WHAT A GUY!!!!!