Superstition Backpack

[Deborah]

It was great running into Suz, Trish, and Elizabeth. Imagine we were just coming out of camp at La Barge Spring area, and there they were. I led a trip for our Tucson Backpackers group and 2 intrepid friends joined me.
We left relatively late on Sat. 2/1/11 from the Peralta Trailhead. Our destination was Charlebois Spring . We took the rough Bluff Springs trail in and then connected with the Dutchman. As 3:30 PM hit and I knew we would really be pushing it to get to Charlebois, I saw a grove of Sycamore trees below us. We stopped at the Junction of La Barge and Red Tanks Trail and set up camp. Wood was plentiful and by 4 PM the sun was setting. At 8PM frost was forming and water was already freezing. I made a hot rock in the campfire and took it in my tent, wrapped in newspaper I put it at the bottom of my sleeping bag. My feet were toasty warm most of the night. I had brought a thin space blanket and covered the top of my sleeping bag with it as well as placing above my cold nose. I was pleased to wake up and be breathing in warm air.
The stream lulled us into a peaceful sleep and other than waking up every now and then to snuggle deeper into the bag or adjust a blanket I was very pleased about how warm I stayed. Temps probably got down in to the teens or very low 20's .
Sunday I read the newspaper in my tent so we could start a small morning fire. The sun came up quickly and warmed our campsite up so we enjoyed our morning until we started at at noon and met up with the girls doing the Full Dutchman, ( not the full Monty). We took the Dutchman Trail out to the parking lot for variety and ran into a couple who had stayed at Charlebois. A popular campspot as we had made it there we would have had to share with several other groups
The Sups are such a magical place .I am eager to explore more this wonderful mountain Range.
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Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. - Rachel Carson

[azbackpackr]

It was great seeing you, Deborah! We made it to First Water at 5:30. It was a fun hike!

Wasn't it great to see all that running water? This was my only 3rd hike in the Supes. (One backpack, plus 2 long dayhikes). But I had not been there for at least 6 or 8 years.

The write-ups give different mileage than my GPS did. It was supposed to have been 17.6 miles to do the entire Dutchman Trail, but my Garmin said it was 19.4, and based on other 20 milers I have done in the past, it did feel closer to 20.

[Trishness]

Great to finally meet you Deborah! Here we were sitting in the middle of the trail and either Suz or E said "I hear voices" and there you were. Glad you found a great (although chilly) place to camp near Red Tanks. As we went up through Charlesbois there were only two guys camped up there.....wish they had BLT's waiting for us.

If you get back to Sups before the heat of summer, there are lots of nice campsites in Marsh Valley (just north of Charlesbois) and I believe it is about 7-8 miles in from First Water TH...depending on which way you go.
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~~~Trish~~~

"Eastward the dawn rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into guess; it was no more than a glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of the memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains." � J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings.

[beckett]

Sounds like y'all had a great hike!
Linda
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"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."

-- Walter Winchell, American newspaper commentator