On a chilly Saturday morning in early December, five trailblazers met to take on the challenge to summit Peak 5057 in the Superstitions. Peak 5057 is the highest peak in the Western Superstition Wilderness. We started around 6:30 AM. on the Hieroglyphic Trail.

It was a bit chilly so we bundled up, turned on our headlamps and started up the trail. Even though it was a bit cold, just being up and seeing the beautiful sunrise was amazing! The first part of the trail was fairly easy to navigate. The Trail was relatively flat so we were able to move along quickly. We then arrived at a few large boulders that we navigated our way over and we arrived at the spring with the petroglyphs. The spring is usually crowded on the weekends but not this time of the morning. We only saw a handful of hikers.

As we continued the trail became more difficult. We read on Alltrails the reviews of the some recent hikers saying that the trail was overgrown and hard to follow. Bruce and I had been on this trail before, so between the two of us we were able to stay on trail without any issues. We also discovered that it was not overgrown at all.

The trail itself was difficult because of the scree and boulders. Hiking poles were a necessity. As we continued on we took in the scenery, with all the jagged rock formations. It was beautiful!

On the way up we took a couple of breaks. About a quarter of the way up we took a quick snack break. This part of the trail was just all boulders, so I can understand people losing the trail at this point. Our second break was at the saddle.

After our break, we continued on up the trail, which became more difficult because of the scree. At times, the trail became very slippery, so our pace was very slow.

We were almost to the saddle when we met our first hikers. We chatted with them and they told us they started up very early but did not make it to the peak, because they were cold. We all decided that if we are getting up at 4:00 AM to hike the 5057 Peak that we would make sure we summit.

We took a nice break at the saddle then continued on the ridgeline toward the east. From the saddle to the peak it’s about a little over a mile. This was also the more challenging part of the trail. With teamwork we were able to climb up the wall to continue on the trail.

After getting up the wall we continued toward the peak and were rewarded with the view of rock steeples. A sign that we are almost to the summit.

After climbing the last wall we made to the summit. Hallelujah! We made it!

After take a nice long break we headed back down.

We made it back to the parking lot with a feeling of accomplishment. It was a beautiful day with nice temperatures and wonderful company to do this hike.

A big thank you to Bruce for the wealth of information he shared with us about the Superstitions. He also had hiked this trail a few times before so was able to help with leading us. Between the two of us we were able to successfully navigate the trail.