After a group picture and introductions, thirteen hikers started from the Lost Goldmine trailhead, heading west to the junction with the Carney Springs trail.

Originally we were going to start from the Carney Springs Trailhead, but the parking lot was full (again), so we drove the short distance to the Lost Goldmine parking lot, which was almost empty.

It was another beautiful day in the Superstitions and we had the trail to ourselves.

Shortly after the junction, Bruce showed us the remnants of the old Carney Spring watering hole. The Carney Springs trail starts off easy, but we soon began a very steep climb, gaining 1000 feet in a mile to reach a lower saddle with hoodoos.

The trail is pretty well marked with cairns, but there are no switchbacks; instead, we scrambled up the canyon.

Some people continued with hiking poles, whereas I gave up and relied on my gloves to keep my balance as we climbed over exposed rock and loose gravel. Because of the recent snow and rain, we had the rare sight of trickles of water running down the side of the canyon.

We took a short break after reaching the low saddle enjoying a cool breeze on a day that was getting warm.

Three hikers decided they had scrambled enough and waited there, while the rest of us took off, climbing 400 feet over the next 0.4 miles to reach West Boulder Saddle.

At this point we had hiked about 2.7 miles (leader’s GPS) and the plan was to turn around and head down. However, Bruce suggested hiking to Robbers’ Roost and returning by way of the Peralta Trail. He took Nancy, Carolyn and Ian on that route, while the rest of us made our way down on the Carney Springs Trail. Do to the loose rock and steepness, hiking down the trail was pretty challenging.

Arriving back at Lost Goldmine trailhead, we said our goodbyes, with some of us going to lunch at De La Cruz Mexican restaurant in Gold Canyon.

We knew that the Bruce’s group would take longer and since they had a car, they would get back on their own to our Home Depot meet-up.

The Club rated this hike as a "B-", but I think the rating should be "B+" due to the steep ascent and tough descent. According to my GPS we hiked 5.4 miles in 4 hours 13 minutes, with an elevation change of 1473 feet and an accumulated elevation gain of 2100 feet.