For many years I have wanted to ride some of the trails in the Superstition Mountains, near Phoenix, Arizona. Being an Arizona boy myself (currently living in Utah) I am very familiar with the area and the legends of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine, from which an entire tourism industry arose in the area known as Apache Junction.

As the legends go, way back in the late 1800s a fellow came into town with a sack of gold to deposit in a bank, but he would never tell anyone where he got it. Eventually he died and nobody ever knew where his mine was located, except that he was believed to have been mining in the mountains now known as the Superstitions. Since then, that small, but very rough mountain range has been scoured by treasure hunters to the degree that it eventually became a favorite hiking area that sees very high foot traffic throughout the year.

Being a lover of difficult and challenging trails, I have long wished for an opportunity to ride in the Superstitions. Last week (the weekend of December 29-31, 2022) I finally got my chance. My good friend and riding buddy, Derek Habel, was looking at buying a horse in the Apache Junction area. He decided that he needed to combine a trip to look at that horse with a ride or two in Arizona, where the weather was much warmer and more hospitable than here at home in Utah. So, he called me and tossed out the idea of us heading south for a few days, combining a short visit to my parents in Eagar, AZ with a trip to the valley to check out that horse he was looking at. I, of course, jumped at the chance!

We decided to take a couple of Derek’s horses, as they are trail novices and need some work to make them good trail horses. Big John is a 12 year old Missouri Fox Trotter gelding, standing about 15-3HH, weighing in at around 1200 lbs. That’s the horse you’ll see me riding. Powder is a 6 year old (I think) registered MFT gelding, standing about 15-2HH and about 1000 lbs or so. Derek rode him. Both these horses are well saddle broke and have calm dispositions, but lack a little in good bridle and trail training.

HINT: click on photos for large version

We departed the Spanish Fork, Utah area on Wednesday, December 28 amid a serious snow storm and headed for Arizona. We drove nearly 8 hours through snow, sleet, ice, fog, and rain, finally breaking out into better weather for the last three hours to my folks’ place in Eagar, AZ.

We spent one night there, then headed the following morning toward Apache Junction, which is a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. I love that drive! It had been more than 30 years since I had driven it and I thoroughly enjoyed describing all my memories to Derek as we passed through Show Low, then the Salt River Canyon, Globe-Miami area, and down Devil’s Canyon, through Superior and on into the Valley of the Sun, by which the Phoenix area is sometimes known. Dangit! Amid all the talking, we forgot to get any photos of the drive!

We arrived at the stable where the horse Derek wanted to see was boarded at about 4pm. After evaluating this registered Missouri Fox Trotter, we were less than impressed, given the asking price, so Derek and the owner were unable to come to agreement. (Derek, being a large man, looks for large Missouri Fox Trotters that have a natural gait. I help him make them into excellent trail horses.) We grabbed a hotel room for the night and began to plan for a ride the following morning.

We decided to take the trail recommendation given us by the owner of the horse we had come to see, so we headed back toward Superior, to the Picket Post Trailhead, located about three miles west of Superior.

The Picket Post Trailhead offers several options for hiking and horseback riding. We selected the loop, which is designated as the Arizona Trail #222. This is a loop of 8.4 miles, much of which is also a section of the 700 mile long Arizona Trail, which stretches from the US/Mexico border all the way to the Utah/Arizona border.

We found the signage on the trail to be somewhat confusing, as apparently someone else did.

We followed the signs for the Arizona Trail, moving in a clockwise loop, which eventually led us through Telegraph Canyon, then along a two-track ranch road, and eventually back to a true trail bearing the Arizona Trail markers, returning to the Picket Post Trailhead. You can find our track on my page on the Ramblr ap @westerntrailrider.

The USFS has graciously provided an ample parking area at the trailhead, including an area specifically designated for trailers, however, as is usually the case, the hiker parking lot can fill up quickly on weekends, after which the trailer parking area begins to fill up. I have learned by sad experience to park with my rig pointing to the exit in such a way that nobody, not even a tiny little electric car, can park in front of me. The trailhead is a little farther off the highway than I expected. You will pass a set of corrals within sight of the highway, but this is not the trailhead. Continue on the dirt road, bearing left at the first intersection. This road will dead-end at the trailhead. There is a pit toilet at the trailhead and covered picnic tables, but no other services. Bring your own water.

The Arizona Trail #222 loop is an excellent desert trail for horseback riders and hikers. No motorized (including E-bikes) traffic is allowed on the portions which are part of the Arizona Trail (all but about a mile of the loop). You should expect to encounter numerous hikers, as this is a very popular hiking destination. This is USFS land, so dispersed primitive camping is allowed. The trail follows two streams, so water for the horses and humans (if filtered) is available most of the year. This is a fairly easy trail, however in Telegraph Canyon we found a couple places where a competent trail horse was called for. Some sites rate this trail as “moderately difficult”, but we thought that was a little higher on the difficulty chart than we would place it. The terrain is rocky, so while I would recommend shoes on horses, we rode it barefoot and our horses never got tender (If you are planning more rides in the area within a couple days, however, unshod horses will definitely get ouchy). Derek and I agreed that on a difficulty scale from 1-10, this trail was about 90% a level 2 (easy) and about 10% level 5.

One caution I will definitely mention is the cactus. There are numerous varieties of cactus in this area, including the mighty and beautiful Saguaro, prickly pear, barrel cactus, and several varieties of cholla, also known as “jumping cactus.” Cholla cactus is what you have to watch out for. It has unbelievably sharp spines, of which even the lightest touch can cause a nodule to attach itself to the victim (ergo the name “jumping cactus”). The horse and/or rider not acquainted with cholla cactus can quickly escalate a simple prick to an emergency 911 situation.

If you or your horse should brush a cholla cactus and get a nodule stuck to you or it, remove the nodule by grasping the spines with a tool, such as a multitool pliars. Grabbing the spines with your fingers usually results in the nodule sticking to your fingers in a never-ending cycle. After removing the nodule, check the area and remove any remaining spines. Infection does not normally occur unless part of the spine is left beneath the skin, like a splinter. Chaps for the riders is a good idea.

One last word about trails in the Phoenix area: These are trails best visited in the cooler months of the year. During the last weekend of 2022 the weather was damp and temperatures hovered around 60 degrees F during the day. During the summer months, this area is a veritable oven, with temperatures regularly rising above 115 degrees F. Also, during the hottest months, it is likely the streams will be dry, offering no water at all.

The following day, Saturday, December 31, 2022, Derek and I decided to give the Bluff Springs Trail – Dutchman’s Trail Loop a try. I had done a couple searches on the Internet for “Equestrian Trails Superstition Mountains Apache Junction, AZ” and come up with the Bluff Springs Trail as the #1 recommended equestrian trail in the area. The Trailhead is the Peralta Trailhead, located northeast of Apache Junction, within about a half-hour of town. The loop is about 9.6 miles long. Our trail track may be found on Ramblr.com @westerntrailrider.

The official trailhead offers inadequate parking for hiker traffic, however, just south about 100 yards or so before you arrive at the official trailhead, there is a designated RV and trailer parking area large enough for several fairly large rigs. However, as stated before, this area serves as overflow for the hiker parking. You can expect both parking areas to fill up during the weekends. There is a pit toilet at the trailhead, but no other services. There are a couple of streams that cross the trails, but I expect they will be dry much of the year. They were running quite well during our visit and offered plenty of water for our horses.

At the trailhead we found a USFS Ranger, who advised us against taking the Bluff Springs Trail on horses. He said that particular trail is “not recommended for equines”. He described some of the trail and allowed that horses are not prohibited, but the Bluff Springs Trail was not recommended for them. After talking with him for a few minutes, we decided to give it a try anyway. Derek and I are both very experienced on difficult trails and felt we are capable judges of a horse’s ability to negotiate any particular trail obstacle. We assured the ranger we would dismount and walk where necessary (and we did a couple times).

Departing the Peralta Trailhead by the regular trail, about 100 yards along, we came to a trail sign where the trail diverged in three directions.

Having read that a clockwise circuit of the loop was recommended (to put the hard climb at the beginning), we selected the Bluff Springs Trail for our start (the loop returns on the Dutchman’s Trail). The Bluff Springs Trail climbs steadily for about 1.5 miles and climbs and descends several times thereafter for another 3 miles or so.  In the first 1.5 miles, we decided we agree with the USFS’s position that this trail is not recommended for equines.

That is not to say that an experienced trail horse and rider team cannot negotiate this trail, but even an experienced team will find it very challenging. I will state emphatically that a horse/rider team that is not experienced in this terrain and is not in condition for a very challenging trail will not enjoy this ride in the least. It is a very difficult and challenging trail! Derek and I agreed that this trail rated about 7/8 on our difficulty scale. If you have followed any of the adventures Derek and I have had, you know our difficulty scale is a bit tougher than some other folks’ scales. Keep in mind that we did not photograph the most difficult spots, as we were busy keeping our horses upright and ourselves on top!

Having said all that, after about 3 miles, the most difficult of the obstacles were behind us and the trail was quite nice. Some of the views of this rocky and broken terrain were quite spectacular to me. Derek, on the other hand, doesn’t appreciate the desert as I do. I guess you love what you grew up with.

For the average trail horse/rider team (and that’s not meant to be derrogatory) a very enjoyable and moderately challenging ride can be made as an in-and-out of about 8-10 miles on the Dutchman’s Trail. Just go right instead of left at the first trail sign out of Peralta Trailhead. This ride will offer several moderately difficult, or as is commonly said, “technical”, spots, but most of the trail is easy, passing through some very scenic desert areas.

The same cautions apply to this area as to the Picket Post area, regarding water, cactus, and heat. This is a trail for the cooler months. Horse shoes are highly recommended for this trail, although Derek and I rode it barefoot. Our horses being barefoot offered them greater traction on the rock faces and boulders in some of the more difficult sections of trail.  Trail boots would help with traction, but it is likely some would be lost in the rocks.  Water will be available for the horses much of the year, but will likely be dry during the hotter months. Again, this area regularly reaches above 115 degrees F during the summer months, but is wonderful during the cooler months…like December and January ; )… During the late summer and fall months, monsoon storms can be spectacular to watch, but very dangerous to be caught out in due to flash floods and lightning and temps start to reach the 100s in April or May…just sayin’…

Due to winter storms threatening Utah, Derek and I headed north immediately after our ride in the Superstitions. We made it to Page, Arizona, within sight of [what’s left of] Lake Powell. On Sunday, we made our way past Kanab before hitting rain, then snow.

Luckily, the snow petered out just north of Panguitch and we made it home in the rain, encountering snow again just a few miles short of Spanish Fork, Utah. We were glad we headed home when we did, because it snowed most of that night and all the next day.

It’s good to be home, but what a nice couple of rides we had down in Arizona while the world was covered in snow here in Utah. Derek and I are talking about making this an annual trip. We’ll see.

TH

PS. I posted a lot of photos of the trails on my Ramblr track, which are correlated with their location on the trail.