Praying Hands Hike

Soon the Monday morning hikes will be finished but today we still have some ground to cover. We drove again to the First Water Trailhead and began our hike there. We are headed toward the rocks at the end of this range in the Superstition Mountains. You can see the large rock on the lower right - the space between that and the next rock constitutes the "Praying Hands".  It will be easier to see when we get closer.

  The parking lot is in the distance at the top left. We have hiked up about 700' of elevation - you can see Barry, our tail gunner, bringing up the rear while we stop for a "water break". Today will be a high of 85F but it is still pleasant at 9am. We are hiking away from our goal of the Praying Hands to add an extra mile and an interesting rock formation.

We are going through that cleft in the rock up ahead.

                                Bruce will give us a hand (or a boost) if we need one.

Hmmm..... Is that Winston Churchill or George Washington?

Now we are heading toward the "Praying Hands" - the saddle between those two rocks.

We made it - now it's time for a snack break!

Of course, when you have hiked uphill, you have to go down again. This is often harder to do - not easy on the knees and loose rock can roll under foot and land you on your behind is you are not careful.

The chain fruit cholla is saying "so long" as we return to the parking after  our 4.5 mile (or 7km) hike.