Flat Iron Hike

Bennett & Gwynne came to visit last weekend & we all decided it would be fun to hike to the top of the Superstition Mountains behind our house - Laura & Bryant came too! Had I known what we were signing up for, Maddie & I would have spent the day getting pedicures or playing at the park. Brandon and I wanted to take Maddie so it would be a family experience. We had a child's hiking backpack, so off we went. Little did we know this very well may have been the most physically exhausting day of our lives. All in all, I am really happy we went and I feel very accomplished now as I see those mountains on my drive home. However, this experience will be a once in a lifetime thing for me. Flat Iron & I will never meet again.

Here is the view from the bottom looking up. We didn't know it at the time, but we were headed to that yellow circled peak. Yep. All the way up there.

Here we are headed up with those big Superstition Mountains looming in the distance. We started hiking about 9:30am.

Our trail guides, Bennett & Gwynne. These two were probably the only ones qualified enough to have any business on this hike. I'm pretty sure we slowed these seasoned hikers down, but they were so polite, they never complained.

Brandon & Maddie assessing the situation, maybe starting to realize how far and how long we would be hiking.

Pretty soon after the ascent started, the trail wasn't so flat anymore. It actually didn't look like a trail at all. We were hiking up a canyon/wash filled with huge boulders.

About 2/3 of the way up, there is a waterfall called Siphon Draw. We stopped there to eat lunch and give Maddie a break from the backpack. She had a fun time playing in the water & stretching her legs out.

We thought we were pretty close to our destination until an elderly hiker (who had passed us earlier & was on his way back down - so embarrassing that we were out-hiked by a senior citizen) pointed out where we were actually headed.

Yep, that peak way up there in the haze. At this point, Maddie decided she was bored & went to sleep in the hiking backpack. The rest of us carried on.

The last mile was extremely steep and required skills called:
BOULDERING - a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope
&
SCRAMBLING - a route where hands must be used in the ascent.

I did not know these terms until Saturday's hike, but I can tell you it is physical work. There are no pictures of this time of the hike because we were all trying to breathe and put one foot in front of the other.

And then, somehow, we made it to Flat Iron!

The views were incredible and well worth all the work to get up there.

This is the view looking back towards the parking lot. That circled area WAY out there was where we hiked in from. It was pretty daunting thinking about having to turn around and hike back down. At this point, I was wondering how much it would cost to have a helicopter come and air-lift us off the mountain.

Gwynne and I on the way down. Flat Iron summit is at the top left. It was incredible to look back at that peak and think we had just been standing up there. We were so happy to be alive!

We got back to the truck about 4 or 5pm and collapsed in our seats. We were sunburned, sore, exhausted, but most of all ... accomplished! There is great satisfaction in working so hard and finishing what you started.

Later that night, after we rested for a bit, we went out to one of our favorite restaurants, San Tan Flat. It's hard to describe because there is nothing else like it. It's a country themed outdoor restaurant with fire pits at each table. There is a live country band playing and you can dance under the stars. The food is great and it is so much fun.