With the craggy spires and hoodoos of the mysterious Superstition Mountains serving as an impressive backdrop, eleven intrepid Arizona Trailblazers (left to right: Wendy, Della, Aaron, Rudy, Jenni, Eileen, Debbie, Michael, Doug, Chuck, and Wayne) brave the elements on a chilly, damp, and overcast Saturday morning.

We are gathered at the Peralta Trailhead, decked out in our colorful raingear and prepared to take on whatever Mother Nature decides to dish out on a day more typical of the Pacific Northwest than the normally sunny and dry Sonoran Desert.

The temperature stands at a bone-chilling 45 degrees as we prepare to move out in search of Dripping Spring, which may be dripping more than usual today.

Misty, low-hanging clouds appear like wisps of thick fog, as they randomly drift through the surrounding peaks of the Superstition Mountains, adding a somewhat somber mood to the day. With a light shower already falling, we strike out on the Dutchman’s Trail and head northeast through Barkley Basin towards Miners Needle, quickly gaining elevation through a series of hills and rises, as we carefully navigate over and around wet, slippery rocks and boulders.

The immediate goal is to see how much ground we can safely cover before the weather forces us to turn back.

Right now that only seems like a remote possibility, as we keep a positive outlook and a sharp set of eyes on the sky.

Like the tall masts of a sailing vessel breaking through a dense layer of sea fog, this strange collection of hoodoos and columns momentarily breaks clear of its thick shroud of cloud cover long enough to provide an unobstructed view.

The ancient monolith, a result of countless eons of weathering and erosion, watches silently over its vast army of giant saguaros marching across the desert floor as far as the eye can see.

Light showers slowly transition into light mists and become more intermittent, but the heavy cloud cover shows no signs of breaking up, as we push onward toward our destination of Dripping Spring.

Miner’s Needle, lying due south of Miner’s Summit, finally comes into view, a prominent landmark near the crossroads of two major trail systems tracking across the Superstitions — the Dutchman’s Trail and the Coffee Flat Trail.

Although the eye of the needle looks very small from our perspective, it is actually large enough for a grown man to stand up in its center, with room to spare.

On previous hikes we have spotted rock climbers scrambling to the top of the needle, but on this wet, misty day the needle stands alone and stark against a dull gray Arizona sky.

By now the rains have stopped completely, and the raingear and outer layers began to come off, as we heat up with the exertion of the climb and the distance covered.

We take a short break and enjoy the stunning views of the Superstition Wilderness surrounding us.

Good Grief — it’s a four-pointer up ahead!

Quick – someone hand me my spotting scope.

No – wait a minute here. What the heck ... ?

Oops — false alarm.

It’s only Rudy and his new-found friend, Mr. Cold Bones. Rudy had stumbled across Mr. Cold Bones earlier, while crossing a dry wash, and was only able to locate his severed head.

The whereabouts of the rest of the deceased remains is unknown, but we strongly suspect foul play and can only hope that he met his demise in a relatively quick and painless manner.

The perpetrator of this dastardly deed is no doubt still lurking about in the general area and may even be watching us at this very moment.

Wayne, Eileen, Debbie, Doug, Aaron, Jenni, and Michael (with Chuck behind the camera lens) pause at Reeds Water, a long-abandoned windmill and livestock watering area.

Although blue skies are still only a distant memory from several days ago, the rains appear to be over for now and all raingear has been stowed for the remainder of the day.

Part of the group opts to stop here for a lunch break, while the rest of us push on in search of Dripping Spring, hopefully not too much further down the trail. We have hiked over five miles to this point, and we are all getting a bit tired, hungry, and anxious to finally see the spring. We will join forces again on the hike back out after lunch.

the home stretch [photo by Chuck]

At one point, while slogging through this wide sandy, boulder-filled wash, we discover several pools of standing water in an oasis-like setting and determine that we must be getting very close now. Rudy scrambles up a nearby hill and eventually locates what he describes as an “oozing spring” behind a lot of brush and tangled growth.

Could this really be the Dripping Spring we have been searching for? Should we continue on, or call it a day?

We finally decide that we have gone far enough and locate an inviting group of large boulders and logs in the wash for our lunch spot, where we settle down for a well-deserved lunch and rest break. According to Michael’s trusty GPS, we have traveled just under 5.5 miles to this point, which will make today’s hike a total of eleven miles, about two more than I had originally calculated.

After lunch we return to Reeds Water to rendezvous with the rest of our group and start our return hike through the Superstition Wilderness and back to Peralta Trailhead.

Although one or two in the group express some reservations about being able to complete an eleven-mile hike, we eventually make it back to the trailhead with the same number of hikers we started out with, which is always a good sign of a successful hike. This day has been a very interesting and unusual experience, with unique photo opportunities and a chance to see the Superstitions under seldom seen conditions. It has also been an opportunity for at least one hiker to push her hiking envelope and set a new personal long-distance hiking record. Congratulations, Debbie!