The Upper Syphon Draw Trail to the Superstition Mountain’s iconic Flat Iron is marked with occasional light blue spray paint dashes. We didn’t know that on our way up the 2,600-foot ascent. Not noticing the paint’s presence along the trail, we certainly didn’t notice its absence. Instead, we notice the lack of hikers descending and the increasingly steep scrambles up loose shale rock.
This can’t be right.
Can it?
Exploring the Superstition Mountains
The Superstition Mountains have been alluring—and intimidating—adventurers for centuries. Rising sharply from the Sonoran Desert, this rugged range is steeped in Apache lore and Wild West myths. Gold prospectors whispered of a lost gold mine deep in the mountains. Its existence is as questionable as the Lost Dutchman who purportedly found the gold, disappeared, and is now the namesake of Lost Dutchman State Park sprawled below us. Somewhere in that desert valley, our truck camper is parked at a campsite.
People have disappeared in these mountains. I don’t want to be one of them. I intend to spend tonight in that shiny home on wheels.
Upper Syphon Draw Trail
We woke up this morning with the goal to summit the Flat Iron, a particularly dramatic peak among the Superstition Mountains. It is a challenging hike, but just a hike. We pick up a trail next to our campsite which guides us into the Superstition Wilderness. Here, we plan to take the Lower Siphon Trail to the Upper Syphon Trail. It’s a climb, but not rock climbing. We didn’t see anyone else with belaying ropes and crampons. So why do I feel like I should have them now?
Back when we encountered the occasional hiker, they told us how much more difficult it was to descend the trail than climb it. I look over my shoulder. Yes, as much as this ascent makes my heart palpitate in ways that physical exertion does not, it looks even more dangerous to descend.
Park officials wouldn’t direct people to climb this loose shale?
Would they?
Finding a Way
The Superstition Mountains owe their jagged character to ancient volcanic activity, which left behind a wonderland of steep canyons, towering spires, and sheer rock faces like the Flat Iron. Over millions of years, wind and water sculpted this geological masterpiece, and today it offers some of the most dramatic desert landscapes in Arizona. But with beauty comes danger. The jagged edges and loose shale aren’t just features—they’re threats. And that stunning rock face that captures the imagination from a distance is utterly demoralized when face to face.
We reach a rock outcropping, the first opportunity in a while to stand on firm earth. Before all this shale, there had been a fork in the trail. We went right. Perhaps we can just work our way left? I peek over the rock to look for a safer route.
This is where I almost cry.
We are climbing parallel to a sheer stone rock face. If there is a better route, there is no safe access point.
One Way or Another
It’s either up or down.
“Down” is too frightful to contemplate.
“Up” doesn’t seem that far.
If we are right,
If this route is wrong,
Then at least, we won’t have to come back down this way.
That hope lasts until we encounter the rock wall. It’s only 15 feet high. At ground level, I wouldn’t give it a second thought. But here, we only have a couple of feet of flat dirt to fall back on. Beyond this ledge, it’s a fall that would last a long time.
Of course, it is the thinnest portion of the ledge, where the wall is also the easiest to climb. My running shoes were the wrong choice for this trail, but I still manage to haul myself over the lip of the wall and see THE trail: well-trodden dirt and level ground.
We’ve made it.
The Peak of the Flat Iron
At the summit, the reward is spectacular: sweeping 360-degree views that stretch as far as Phoenix to the west and the vast Tonto National Forest to the east. The desert floor sprawls below in a patchwork of cactus-studded washes and rugged foothills, its stillness in sharp contrast to the chaos of our climb. And there, atop the Flat Iron, as the wind cuts through the silence and we catch our breath, the hardship fades. It’s replaced by a quiet triumph—proof that the Superstitions can be conquered, though not without exacting their toll.
Finding Upper Siphon Draw Trail
Standing on the peak of the Flat Iron, we catch up with a few other hikers.
How did they find the trail?
“Fine?”
Was it scary?
“I supposed so….”
No, I mean, were you in fear for your life?
“Not really.”
Ah! Where did you finish the climb?
All those hikers who told us “climbing down was more challenging than climbing up” didn’t take the route we took.
Good for them.
Pro tip: The Upper Syphon Draw Trail to the Superstition Mountain’s iconic Flat Iron is marked with occasional dashes of light blue spray paint. And keep left.
