There was a banner cloud on the Four Peaks as we drove to First Water Trailhead. The mountain deflects wind upward, where moisture condenses at the higher altitude and forms a cloud banner streaming downwind from the mountain top.

It was a banner hike! The weather couldn’t have been nicer as Lee Hamel, Karla Coyle and hike leader Ted Tenny started south on the Dutchman’s Trail. We passed intricate rock formations and brilliant lichens in multiple colors, as Ted observed that the lichen is a plant community of algae and fungus. “Fred Fungus and Alice Algae took a likin’ to each other,” he explained, “But their marriage is on the rocks.”

We passed some folks camped in Boulder Basin, then started our big climb up the Black Mesa Trail. As soon as we were all the way up on the mesa, we turned left and climbed off trail to the edge of eternity.

On the map it has an elevation of 3097', the highest point on Black Mesa. On the ground it has the most glorious view of the Superstition Ridgeline, Parker Pass, Weaver’s Needle, and the mountains and valleys on all sides! As we reveled in the view, all three hikers lamented that we had forgotten to bring cameras.

How do we get down from here? We started east, and soon found ourselves bushwhacking through a dense forest of jumping cholla, Opuntia fulgida. The branches jump at the slightest touch, attaching themselves to any passing hiker or animal, who carries them until they drop off, thus planting a new cactus.

Noting how ingenious the plant’s propagation scheme was, none of us wanted to take part in it in the role of Stuckee. But we all did. Worse, by the time we got through the cholla forest we had lost too much elevation without finding the Black Mesa Trail. So we turned north to make our way up to a saddle for a better view. Then we heard voices.

The voices belonged to other hikers on the trail. We soon joined them, by way of another dense grove of jumping cholla. The rest of the hike was an easy trail walk, by way of Garden Valley. Here we visited an archaeological site of the Salado culture, the remains of First Water Ranch, and finally First Water Creek, which was bone dry.