Here's the list of who went on the hike:
Submission from Kathy Sharp:
After many false starts, we finally got to hike Haunted Canyon on the east side of the Superstitions. I had heard about this trail from a caver describing the hike to a cave near there. I don't know where the cave is, but I liked the sound of the canyon he described. So I put the hike on the schedule--three times before we finally got to go.
To get to the trailhead, we drove out past Superior, almost to Globe, and then turned off the highway to the north and followed the little "Public Access" signs on the road for the Pinto Valley mine, a big eyesore that is highly visible from US60. We couldn't drive all the way to the trailhead, though, because the road was gated with a sign saying that it was temporarily closed. I wish I could remember how long the drive was; I think we picked up Richard at about 6:30 a.m. and were hiking before 8:30 a.m. Even though it was an unseasonably warm weekend, and I was quite comfortable when I left home, it was quite nippy at the trailhead, and we looked forward to a sunny part of the trail. Eventually the day warmed up, though.
From looking at the trail's elevation profile using the hiking club's topo software, I had gotten the impression that the trail would be easier than it was. A few places were pretty steep with a loose jumble of rocks, so you really had to watch your footing there. We crossed the pretty creek in the bottom of Haunted Canyon several times, but we could see at one point from the trail, which was high up on the side of the canyon at that point, that the canyon got narrow and steep in places. We couldn't see into the canyon there but really wanted to!
One hiker passed us on the trail and he turned out to be the only other hiker we saw on the trail. When we stopped for a mid-morning snack, he was wandering around, partially within our view, near the trail, but we couldn't figure out what he was doing. At first I thought he was hunting for something, but then Richard figured it out. The other hiker was finding and placing stepping stones to make a creek crossing. When we started hiking again, he had just finished his work and let us use it. He said he wanted to make the crossing easier for the people he'd be bringing out the following weekend.
Our destination, 6 miles in, was Tony's Cabin. I don't know who Tony was or why he put his cabin there, other than the nearby creek and spring and beautiful scenery, but now the cabin appears to be pretty well-stocked by horse packers. We met up with the other hiker again there, had lunch, and explored in and around the cabin. It had taken us about 3 hours to get to the cabin, and it took us about the same to get back.
On our way back, we decided to stay in the canyon when the trail crossed the creek right before the interesting part. I'm sure glad we did that! That little bit of canyon is my kind of canyon--narrow with beautiful, steep, rock walls. The other hiker joined us for the scrambling in the bottom of the canyon (and hiked all the way back to the cars with us). Once the canyon opened up, we decided to go back to the trail, knowing that there was a fence between us and the trail. As luck would have it, there was a gate right where we reached the fence.
When we got back to where we'd parked, there was a group of people standing around a van. I noticed one was wearing binoculars, and we'd seen lots of birds, so I asked if he was birding. He said he was doing that, among other things. And then one of the other people starting introducing people, all with very impressive titles from the Audobon Society, Sierra Club, and such. They asked us how we enjoyed the canyon (We enjoyed it!) and gave us brochures. They were there exploring the possibilities for protecting Haunted Canyon and preventing a new mine in the area, which they've been doing for years. The brochures have a picture of the creek in Haunted Canyon and say, "Would You Trust a Mining Corporation to Protect This Creek?" Haunted Canyon drains into Pinto Creek, which is polluted from mining spills. Pinto Creek drains into Roosevelt Lake, a major source of drinking water for the Phoenix area.
We then went to my truck and starting pulling stickers off our clothes. Richard had decided to call the hiker who joined us "Tony," the ghost of Haunted Canyon and resident of Tony's Cabin. I heard Tony saying, "Are you Bruce?" to one of the people around the van, and curious about how he happened to know anyone, I looked up and realized Tony was shaking hands with Bruce Babbitt. I hadn't recognized him!
Many groups are working to save Haunted Canyon, but they need help, including letters to politicians, asking for action "now to protect this unique and scenic waterway once and for all." See the web page at http://aspin.asu.edu/pintocreek/.