Five Trailblazers left the carpool location 5 minutes early on an amazingly cool morning to head to First Water trailhead. The road was a bit more rutted than usual, but the minivan was able to pass over some large rocks in the trail without tearing anything important. We hit the trail at 6:18 am, marveling at the mild 68 degree September morn.

A nice brisk pace to the Garden Valley followed. We did stop with our two novice-to-the-Superstitions hikers to admire beautiful 360 degree views on the way. We took a moment to examine the ruins at the Black Mesa Trail crossing and took a detour up the next hill to see the Garden Valley Arch.

We hiked down into the First Water Creek bed and to Hackberry Springs. No water to be seen, but a nice verdant spot for a snack. Next came a bit of boulder hopping in the creek bed, where we did finally see some brackish pools left from the last monsoon. We finished our hike traversing the desert plain back to the First Water Trail.

Glad to be done as temperatures rose into the 90s. We headed back to the city. It was a great morning getting reacquainted with the desert after a summer of hiking in cooler climes.