Heading Out For My Annual Desert Walk-About

Love the red rocks, green vegetation, and blue skies. Have fun

Have fun! and make sure you look for the "Lost Dutchman's" mine hidden in the superstition mountains!

I'm back from my annual desert walkabout .... fully relaxed and amazed at what 6 days without electronics will do for your spirit ... couple that with hard exercise ... 27.2 miles in the desert wilderness with a net of 2200' of elevation gain one way ... tremendous hike I say!

A few photos to share ...

My life long friend Rob drove his 4x4 to the end of a sandy wash ... as far as we could go. Over 30 years of desert camping experience were thrown out the window as we made first night truck camp in a deadly slot canyon ... do not try this without a lot of knowledge!



We headed out the following morning with 65 pound packs and 5 liters of water between us ... need water to survive and move the hike forward.

Late on Day #1 we finally hit the desert jackpot in a sandy wash canyon ... a sub-surface flow of water below the sand that impinged against a non-permeable rock ... call it a wet spot in the sand in a random canyon after a long day of searching for such a beast. Now 1100'above the truck and going back would be a flashlight adventure.



Drop packs ... and mine the water ... LOL. Rejoice that the hike continues.

My friend Rob shows here 5 full bottles of water ... treasure in the desert ... and he and I are thrilled that we have moved the known water source for the hike beyond the truck ... otherwise it was a late evening retreat back to the truck.



We spent a full day in that otherwise dry canyon ... hiked to an old mine where we obtained raw silver and lead ore .... back to camp at 2pm ... where we made a shade from the sun .... reading books now and chilling out.



Hiked from there another 1100' vertical ... to Reef Tank in the Santa Theresa wilderness .... all day ... long slog ...wondering if there was any water there?

Retreat was back to water #2 ... the sandy wash ... I supped some of you know about hiking in the desert?

Indeed ... wonderful ... a full tank of water ... photo near sunset as we made our way in in day #3.



Ahhhhh ... spent 2 days hiking about the Reef Tank area ... and one simply laying back reading books.

Camp here looks like this ...



Alas I'm now back in the world of electronics ... I commend to all 6 days of internet silence as a tremendous way to recharge your batteries.

Enjoy - David

Glad to hear that you had a wonderful time.

Nice photos,thanks for sharing David.
John1

Glad you had a safe journey , great pics.

What a wonderful adventure you had! Great pics, thanks for sharing those.

Thanks for the photo's! now..that's a getaway!