Right next door to our park is a sister park to our RV resort. SunLife has a hiking group on Friday mornings - we like this group because it is smaller than the Mesa Regal group on Mondays. They are cheerful bunch and Lloyd, the leader is in his mid 70s and out hikes all of us! Today, we drove into the Superstition Mountains to the east of us and then 2.5 miles on a gravel road to the First Water Trailhead. We followed the stream - unusual because there was still water in the streambed - past a disused windmill and horse corral from old time ranching days. Eventually, we got the Hackberry Springs - the source of First Water Creek. The views were wonderful, the sky a clear azure blue and the temps great for hiking. We stopped to eat our lunch in a cholla cactus "garden" and then took Second Water Creek Trail back to our cars - total 5.17mi with lots of ups and downs. We love it!
While we were hiking we saw helicopters doing a search pattern nearby - a few days ago, the bodies of 2 hikers were found near here. They were hiking in July when temperatures were 110F and never returned. They are still searching for the third hiker. A real caution for hiking in the desert at any time of the year.