Crawling over Flatiron Mountain (also known as "Ow...my legs")

I have one word for Flatiron Mountain: KILLER. 

Flatiron Mountain is about an hour out of Phoenix by Mesa.  I had heard about this place from my long-time friend Dave who works at the TV station I was at in Sacramento. He had climbed it in the past and when he learned I was moving to Phoenix told me I had to check it out if I got the chance.  He also told me it was hard. Naturally, I didn't believe him.  I assumed he thought I was wimpy or something.

Little did I know he was right and my legs would hate me for three days after climbing the thing.

So here's the scoop in case you want to try it yourself -- because you know, misery loves company and right now I'm needing the company.

The Siphon Draw Trail at Flatiron starts at Lost Dutchman State Park and it is 6 miles long  – which sounds like nothing until you actually do it.  This is because, the higher you climb, the harder it gets – and my friend and I also went when it was 106 degrees.  Yes, it was hot.  Way too hot to be climbing a mountain, but whatever.

If you go, at first you are going to think I’m a wuss because the first mile of the trail is easy.  It’s well-maintained and marked.  But keep going.  The farther you walk up the trail, the more rugged the path gets. 

Soon the dirt path disappears and is replaced with small loose rocks and the higher you climb, the more narrow and rough the path gets.   There are giant boulders to climb over and a large smooth stone basin which probably has water in it part of the year, but was completely dry when we went in September. By the time you get to the basin area, you've already reached a 1,000 foot elevation gain.

From there, the trail (if you could call it that), leads towards Flatiron, which is the flat plateau on the top of the Superstition Mountain. It's another 2,000 foot elevation from the basin to the top and the brochure recommends that only experienced hikers in good shape should attempt it.

I was considering to do this mountain alone, but was glad I went with a friend.  The path is kind of marked (you have to look for faded blue spray painted marks on the boulders), but even with that, we got lost and made up our own route for part of the way. 

Then there’s the climbing. This is what was challenging for me. I’ve hiked, but never actually had to climb and pull myself over giant rocks before.  Of course, I’m wearing normal sneakers and not hiking shoes as I had no idea the climb would be so intense.   And then just when you think you’re done and can see the top, there is a 12-foot vertical rock wall. 

I admit, I didn't get that far. I had to wimp out about 10 minutes before reaching the top. 

This is because just before giant vertical wall was a slightly smaller (yet, still too big for me) boulder area and I couldn’t pull myself over it.  Yes, the mountain defeated me and if they hidden cameras in the area, I would totally be on the blooper reel as I am not a graceful climber.  I'm more like the people on that show "Wipe Out" with arms flailing everywhere and hanging on any which way possible.

But what I really needed to make it to the top was two people: One to pull my arms and someone behind me to push my butt up from behind -- or maybe catch me as I slid back down.

My friend (who went on ahead) tells me that if I would have been able to scale the 12-foot rock wall, I would have been at the top of the mountain. Sigh...so close, but not close enough.

I don’t have any regrets though. I was exhausted just getting to where I got to, and going down was just as hard as going up. 

You see, going up you can use your hands to claw and clutch your way up, but going down, there is no clutching.  There is only scary sliding down on your butt and hoping your feet find a little hook in the rock to stop you. I swear, I crab-crawled my way down the mountain and was glad I had my biking gloves with me or else my hands would have been shredded.

So will I do it again? Yes. But here’s what I would do differently:

        

-- Bring more water

        

-- Start earlier and not at 11 a.m. when it’s super hot

  
-    -- Do more upper body training so I can make it over the rock wall

- Buy some sort of repellent to deter the giant wasps that live up there.

   If you want to go, Flatiron Mountain is in Maricopa County in the state of Arizona (AZ). It climbs to 1,693 feet (516.03 meters) above sea level and is located at latitude - longitude coordinates of N 33.570037 and W -112.832399.