I'm back in Arizona for a week and had a free morning, so I went to the Supes for a long run. I arrived as soon as Lost Dutchman opened at 6am and headed up Siphon Draw. The slickrock sections were slippery and wet, as it was lightly raining. I made it to the top of the Siphon Draw climb where the Flatiron trail diverges in 55ish minutes. From there it was just a practice of route finding (made a few errors) and avoiding getting poked by plants infringing on the trail (also made a few errors :) ). It was pretty cool to see several spots with pools of water, as I've been on the Ridgeline Trail before when its hot and dry. This was a different experience. It was wet, there was water, and the landscape was green with flowers. There was a light rain on and off throughout the run. Some of the spots near cliff edges had really strong wind gusts which actually made me, a Wisconsin resident, feel cold! Fortunately for the final descent down Carney, it wasn't raining and didn't appear as though Carney had gotten rain. With the dry trail, I was able to make pretty good time down that descent. I finished at Carney Springs Trailhead in 3:06:30.
From there I took a series of trails that stayed just outside the Superstition Mountains to make it back to Lost Dutchman Park. I considered going back the way I came and making it an out and back, but I was wearing road shoes. A check of the forecast at Carney Springs Trailhead showed that Siphon Draw had rain forecasted. I recalled that it was slippery on that initial climb, and descending would have been sketchy. Besides, I'm running Boston in a few weeks, so I should probably be running the flatter stuff anyways... right?! Finished at Lost Dutchman Park at a shade over 27 miles covered.
The Supes never disappoint!