Amazing Arizona Trail: Cottonwood Creek to Beautiful Pine Creek

Arizona Trail: Cottonwood Creek Basin to Superstition Wilderness Boundary, Tonto National Forest

Today on the Arizona Trail started with a climb from the headwaters of Cottonwood Creek to the boundary of the Superstition Wilderness in the Tonto National Forest. As I climbed through the area burned in the Woodbury Fire that summer, the effects of the fire remained very evident all around.

Arizona Trail: Superstitions Wilderness Boundary to Pine Creek
Superstitions Wilderness, Tonto National Forest

The trail starts out on a forest road but then branches off and climbs into the Wilderness. The spectacular red sediment contrasts tremendously with the blue sky, streaks of clouds, vegetation, and shadows of the rugged mountains. As the trail reaches the summit of Two Bar Ridge, spectacular views emerge. The Salt River Canyon and Apache Lake between the Superstitions and southern Mazatzals come into view. Roosevelt Lake shines behind. The rugged Superstitions lie ahead, rock layers exposed and covered in all kinds of desert flora.

qPhoenix is the sixth largest city in the United States, and the Superstitions are one of the most popular hiking areas around Phoenix. However, the AZT cuts through their quieter eastern side, ensuring that the wilderness character of the trail as a whole is preserved. Wildfire impacts are visible at varying intervals. Aside from the spectacularly rugged mountains, the trail crosses through occasional grasslands dry from the summer heat, that somehow lucked out and escaped incineration by fire over the summer.

Crossing Two Bar Ridge, the trail descends into another basin ringed by soaring cliffs. Desert flora abounds as it rises again to crest a ridgeline below Two Bar Mountain. Crossing the ridgeline and a subsequent exposed area, the trail passes Walnut Spring. It’s getting dark a little while later as I reach my finish point for the day, Pine Creek. Water can be a real challenge in this area, but Pine Creek provides a great source for the night.

Arizona Trail: Superstitions Geology

Many of those who hike through this spectacular area have no idea they are walking through a supervolcano. A fair number of individuals are aware that the largest that currently exists is the Yellowstone Caldera. 50 miles wide, it has an explosive history that has blown a hole in the Rocky Mountains and altered the climate within its path. The Superstitions were more like Yellowstone’s little brother. 25-15 million years ago, they erupted in three successive eruptive events. This produced the Superstition Cauldron, Goldfield Cauldron, and Tortilla Caldera. The former two are invisible today; the latter does show some surface features (hence the different terms used to refer to them). Collectively, they are known today officially as the Superstition-Goldfield Volcanic Zone or the Superstition Cauldron Complex.

While two of the three calderas no longer exhibit visible surface features, the mountains in the vicinity show plenty of evidence of the activity. Rhyolite rock and welded tuff, ash that was still so hot when it descended that it fused into a rock form, form dramatic cliffs that rise above the hillside and mountains, creating a ruggedly spectacular landscape. During its lifetime, 2500 cubic miles of ash and lava were released. Features like Weaver’s Needle and Picketpost Mountain, plus the eroded resurgent dome of the main range, remain today as reminders of these events.