Massacre Grounds Trail Hike
The Superstition Wilderness is in Tonto National Forest and we camped and recreated there for a week. Let me tell you, it is badass. It’s rugged and scenic with over 160,000 acres of nature to explore. We picked this first hike because it ends at a waterfall and after all the falls we hiked to in Tucson, we decided to keep it going. It is a shorter hike at 5.5ish miles done as an out and back with around 1100′ of climbing. The wildflowers were all sunning themselves and we stopped a lot to admire and photograph them.
A couple weeks ago on our hike to Romero Pools I saw a pale yellow flowered green bush that I couldn’t identify. Then one day while in my mom’s front yard, she showed me a flowering bush. It was the very same! Turns out it’s a hop bush. It looks nothing like the hop plants I know from Oregon, not related. Anyway, now that I know what they are I see them everywhere.
If you’ve read this far you might be wondering if I’m going to explain the name of the hike. I did a little research. Supposedly a group of Spanish miners was ambushed by Apaches in 1848 and…..massacred. Apparently they stole the horses but left the riches.
The hike ended at a small fall cascading off the rocky canyon wall. I climbed up and stood in the splash. Once again, we had the place to ourselves and once again, we soaked in nature and loved every minute.
Boulder Canyon Trail
AllTrails ranked this hike hard. I agree. We hiked up, mostly on a rocky surface with our backs to Canyon Lake. Around and up we went with panoramic views of the Superstition Wilderness. Dropping into La Barge Canyon was a treat and I dipped in the water there before continuing on to Boulder Canyon. I’ve never seen a clay mine before but we passed one and looked around. The views most of he day were of rugged mountains, including Weever’s Needle, Battleship Mountain, and countless others. Wooweee that climb back out is a beast. I can’t see how anyone could do this hike if it was hotter then the 80 degrees we experienced.
More and more great pictures – thanks!