A Superstitions weekend: Two days and one night backpacking the Tonto National Forest

Maybe one day I’ll go backpacking somewhere where everything isn’t trying to maim, stab, injure, scratch or otherwise kill me.

But, because I live in Arizona, yesterday was not that day. 😉

Ryan and I just got back from a two-day, one-night backpacking trip down in the Superstition Wilderness Area of the Tonto National Forest, where we turned off our iPhones, traversed across dry creek beds and took in expansive views of towering Saguaros.

Ryan and I opted to take a loop hike composed of Dutchman’s Trail, Whiskey Spring, Red Tanks and Bluff Spring, which ended up being about 14 miles and 2,200 feet of elevation gain.

I actually didn’t realize it until we got home, but we hiked a different portion of Dutchman’s Trail on our last Superstitions backpacking trip two years ago!

We left Flagstaff Saturday afternoon and arrived at the Peralta Trailhead’s overflow parking lot in the early afternoon, where we tossed on our packs, loaded Ochi up, and headed out to the trailhead, which was a quarter-mile away.

We picked the Dutchman’s Trail, Whiskey Spring, Red Tanks and Bluff Spring Loop because there’s actually a smaller trail — the Dutchman’s Trail and Bluff Spring Loop — that kind of cuts the four-trail loop in half.

We figured we’d head counterclockwise out on Dutchman’s Trail and then see how we were feeling when we approached Bluff Spring, and if we wanted to take the shorter hike (9 miles and 1,500 feet of elevation gain), or the longer hike.

By “we,” I mean myself and Ochi, since this was Ochi’s first big backpacking trip (he tested out the waters last summer!) and I’m kind of a huge baby when it comes to physically strenuous hikes.

But, Ochi and I were both feeling decent when we got to the fork in the trail, so we opted to take the longer path.

I was also a little worried about water because, yunno, desert. We’d mapped out springs and checked water reports (using hikearizona.com) and read recent trail reviews (on AllTrails) before we left, and packed more than a 14 liters of water between the two of us just in case, but it’s been a really dry winter across the state, so we were both a bit wary about finding water sources in the Superstitions.

It didn’t help that about a quarter-mile into our hike, an older woman stopped us to ask if we had plenty of water because “all the springs are dry. All of them!”

…which only fueled my anxiety.

However, Ryan told me we would be fine (and I totally trust his judgment, he’s done this enough!) so we plodded on.

After we veered off of Dutchman’s Trail to Whiskey Spring, we made our way to Red Tanks, where we hacked our way through overgrown catclaw and brambles as we crossed over the dry LaBarge Creek riverbed a handful of times.

It was strange to wander through riparian areas without a drop of water in sight.

Ryan and I chatted a bit about how much more incredible our hike would have been had the creek been flowing.

Regardless, the Superstitions are still stunning.

We ended up making it to our camping site about 9 miles in, right next to LaBarge Spring (which, luckily, was trickling water!), at about 6:30 p.m.

Ryan pitched our tent, and I got our dinners started and fed Ochi.

Ryan and I each grabbed a dehydrated meal before we headed out for our hike and didn’t really compare notes or anything, so it was kind of funny when we both showed up with the same meal.

It wasn’t my favorite backpacking meal I’ve ever had, but I always stg I’ll eat anything after a long day on the trail.

We were both so tired that by the time we got everything set up and refilled our water at the spring, we decided to forgo the campfire and just crawled into our tent to finish our dinners. We immediately fall asleep as the light trickle of the spring lulled us to bed.

It’s always a little tiring to make the drive from Flagstaff to the trailhead, and then to embark on a long hike after noon.

I slept like an absolute rock, although Ochi struggled a little bit. He’s not the cuddliest, and he likes having space to sprawl. He doesn’t quite get that in our little two-person Big Agnes tent*, where he has to fight against my feet for room at the base of the tent.

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Regardless, he survived, and we were all awake with the sun the next morning.

Ryan made us coffee, and then we skipped breakfast so we could pack everything up and get back on the trail.

By “we,” I mean all three of us. Ochi was given his breakfast, but chose not to eat it. Stubborn husky!

While we’d snagged a campsite right by the spring, our Sunday morning hike let us know we’d kind of f’ed up by not wandering just a touch further the night before. About a tenth of a mile into our morning hike, we found an even better campsite with a full canyon view.

Just a little tip if you end up hiking this trail! Venture just a touch past LaBarge Spring to snag a campsite with incredible canyon wall views.

After that, we had about six miles to go until we made it back to Ryan’s truck.

Our hike back out was pretty uneventful. The trail was fairly empty, and we only passed a handful of other hikers — most a little closer to the trailhead.

The views were stunning and the weather was perfect. Daytime highs were about 70 degrees for our entire hike.

After we got back to the trailhead, we packed everything up and headed to Four Peaks to meet Ryan’s parents for veggie burgers.

Overall, it was much different from our last Superstitions backpacking trip.

No lost gold seekers, no rain/hail/snow/wintery mix, no walking uphill through streams and no bottom-of-foot blisters.

Just two tiny blisters on my left toes. Huge improvement.

And, Ochi did great! He did try to turn around a few times, but when we prodded him forward, he obliged.

I really hope the Superstitions get some precipitation soon. I can’t believe how different they felt from my first time hiking them two years ago, when everything was vivid and alive.

Regardless — I always love, LOVE the Superstitions. The desert never fails to fascinate and enthrall me, and I could spend weeks wandering and admiring if only my feet and calves would let me! 😉

Happy hiking!

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