Photos of a hike on the Black Mesa Loop in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness

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The Black Mesa Loop out of the First Water Trailhead is the second or third most popular hike in the Superstition Wilderness. (The most popular hike is from the Peralta Trailhead to Fremont Saddle overlooking Weaver's Needle. The Miner's loop hike out of the Peralta Trailhead competes with this hike for second place.) When showing out-of-town guests the Superstitions, this is my first choice. The entire hike is scenic and provides a variety of terrain and views giving a good introduction to the Superstiton Wilderness. If I'm not sure of their physical fitness, we hike in a counter-clockwise direction and stop at Parker Pass--just before the descent. I let them know this is the last logical turnaround point. If we descend to the flat area, we have a climb out in either direction. If we turn around at Parker Pass, it's mostly downhill back to the trailhead.

The Black Mesa Loop is 8.1 miles and takes 4 to 5 hours. The starting elevation is 2270 feet, the high point is 2720, the low point is 2210 feet. There's a big dip in the middle so you'll have two 500 foot ascents. It doesn't make much difference if you choose to hike this in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. In either case, stop occasionally and look at the views behind you. The Black Mesa Loop uses a portion of the Second Water trail, the Black Mesa trail, and a portion of the Lost Dutchman trail.

There are long distance glimpses of Weaver's Needle from the Black Mesa and Dutchman trail segments of the hike. The closest approach to Weaver's Needle is near the southwest corner of the hike at the junction of the Black Mesa and Dutchman trails.

The path is generally wide and easy to follow but you have to be alert on the western end of the Black Mesa trail. The trail goes through a flat area with sparse vegetation and crosses a normally dry creek bed (see photos 37 to 41). If you're not alert, it's easy to loose the trail in one of the open areas. That isn't a big deal if you pick out a couple of landmarks in advance. Most of the trail is realtively smooth. There's nothing much worse than what's shown in photos 16 and 32.
- If you're doing a clockwise loop, stop as you're descending into the flat area and locate the Dutchman trail running north to south at the far side of the flat area (see photo 37).
- If you're doing a counter-clockwise loop, stop at the junction of the Dutchman and Black Mesa trails and locate the Black Mesa trail as it descends to the flat area (see photo 44).

Please take a map and sufficient water. I constantly run into people on this hike who have no idea what trail they're on, how far it might be, and are carrying only one bottle of water. On sunny days, the rocks are heated by the sun and you'll get baked from all sides. There aren't any trees or shade on this hike. This is not a good hike if the temperature is going to be above 90° during your hike. Unless you're acclimated to hiking in the desert, avoid the Superstitions when the temperature will be more than 80°.

Years ago on a hike with my daughter and her boyfriend, we got turned around (lost) and ended up on the abandonded East Boulder trail. I had been on the Black Mesa loop several times--but not recently. My biggest mistake was letting them lead--there's a natural tendancy to follow the leader. We took pictures of the group around the Black Mesa/Dutchman trail sign. After all the milling around, we headed off to the south instead of north. Regan Gawan has written a good short story that is very similar to our situation titled: The First Water Hike. I, like Regan, noticed early on that Weaver's Needle seemed to be in the wrong spot--but we were having such a good time talking that the ramification took a long time to sink in. Her story, including the reaction of those at home, is very realistic--read it and plan before you leave as though her experience will be yours. The two reactions: rush to the trailhead , or wait are common. Decide ahead of time how long your friends will wait to come looking for you ,or before they call Superstition Search and Rescue.

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