Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
Siphon Draw is one of the first areas I explored in Arizona. After that initial visit I began to treat the (normally dry) waterfall as a milepost to the more challenging Flatiron and ridgeline hikes beyond, a mere marker on more epic adventures, with the exception of one time when I carried…
Light quickly flooded into the western Superstitions, changing the rock formations from a dull red to bright yellow as the sky woke above. From my perch on the summit of Bluff Springs Mountain I watched the scene unfold as I shivered and ate a hasty breakfast. It was beautiful, mountains and…
A mostly-full moon hung high over First Water Trailhead and my lonely car parked there. I gazed up at it, debating once again on simply turning around and driving back to a warm bed. My breath wheezed in and out through the congestion of a week-long chest cold as I stood there and let the darkness…
The thermometer on the car read 112 when I stepped out into the parking lot in Apache Junction. Hot air rushed over me, feeling more like an oven than not, and I took an unsteady breath in. I was about to tackle a hike that I probably should not in temperatures that I probably should avoid and I was…
Peter's Canyon winds and twists for a short distance through the northern Superstitions before joining up with Tortilla Creek and emptying into the Salt River. It starts near Music Mountain, drains the north side of Peter's Mesa and the shoulders of Tortilla Mountain, then cuts a deep gorge next to…
One of the central locations to the Lost Dutchman story is a small sloped piece of land called Massacre Grounds, within a few miles of Siphon Draw and First Water. According to legend there was a bloody massacre of Mexicans on these slopes during the 1840s that is tied to Peralta mining deeper in…
Another summer hike with Chris, another predawn stumble down a dusty trail in the Superstitions. We were on the Lost Dutchman, headed towards Parker's Pass from First Water Trailhead, and it was dreadfully early in the morning. There were two reasons for starting so early: I wanted to catch the…
My topo map was an old one, dating back to the '80s. As I slowly walked along Cavalry Trail in the Superstitions I gazed over it. This trail headed southeast within a little valley for about a mile before turning sharp south over Red Hills and looping back west along Needle to Boulder Canyon. There…