Superstition Wilderness
March 1974
I am not going to try to create a journal for this weekend hiking trip. There is the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, I think that is only partially true. If I had not provided the title and date shown above it is very doubtful that you would have been able to answer the questions – What? When? Even with those answers you do not know the answer to – Where? Maybe from prior knowledge you know that the Superstition Wilderness is near Phoenix, AZ but the pictures will not tell you that either. The pictures do not answer another question – Who? You can assume that I have taken them because I’m posting them on my web site but the pictures would not tell you that. Lastly, the pictures do not tell you – Why?
I’m not certain that I can tell you because it has been so long ago but I think I went on a weekend hike to test my new hiking equipment. I know that I bought the sleeping bag in January of 1974; it was a Frostline Kit, with goose down filler, that I sewed on a borrowed sewing machine. That bag was with me for over 30 years, I gave it up to the Salvation Army in 2007, and it is probably still being used. The backpack was also bought in January or February 1974 so I’m assuming this was a test hike. I have looked on the web at a map of the Wilderness Area hiking trails but cannot determine for sure what trails I took. I think I probably left home early on a Saturday morning and drove to the Peralta Trail Head and then hiked the Dutchman’s Trail until I found a good campsite. After spending the night I was most likely up at sunrise, turned off Dutchman’s to Bluff Springs Trail, Terripin Trail to Peralta Trail back to my truck. I don’t know that this is what I did or where I went or even when I did it for sure but the who and why are probably correct! I’ll now let each of the pictures that I took convey their thousand words to you.
