Hiking the Siphon Draw Trail

March 10, 2012 – Sarah and Jason joined us for the day at Lost Dutchman SP.

Our plan for the morning was to hike the Siphon Draw Trail. This hike is an out-and-back trail, 4 miles round trip with 1,000 ft elevation gain.

This picture was taken from our campsite, and shows the trail going up into the Superstition Mountains.

The trail was steady up for the first portion……

Becoming steeper for the last 3/4 miles.

If you look carefully to the center right in this picture, you can see some hikers on this rocky section of trail.

At the Siphon Draw…….a breathtaking view……..and a place to sit and rest before heading down.

This hike was a good first hike of our trip……a chance to try out new equipment (I have a new day pack, and we are figuring out the best way to carry the camera) and to do some ‘shake down’ hikes before we tackle the Grand Canyon in a couple of weeks.  I have to admit, however,  to being a bit discouraged.  I had really hoped (after all that work in the gym) that hiking would seem ‘effortless’………which is was not……and it is tough to have groups of young people passing you…..with seemingly boundless energy! My feet are a bit tender (the rocky ground makes difficult walking) and my legs are a bit tired. But I know that, with a few hikes, we will get our ‘trail legs’ back (at least I sure hope so!) And I try to keep in mind that even my hero, Colin Fletcher, wrote about needing a few days, or weeks…. each trip out…… to get used to the effort of, as he would put it, “……carrying a bloody big rucksack”. So……we plan to use the next two weeks of hiking at Lost Dutchman (during the days, while Sarah is at work) to get our bodies conditioned to the trail.