A waterfall in the Superstition Mountains

We had puffy clouds today. I like puffy clouds, even if they are so thick that their bottoms are dark gray. I like them even though they force me to make HDRIs so they'll look good in my pictures.

Puffy clouds over the Superstition Mountains.

I left the house this afternoon knowing that I was going to get some pictures of them. I just didn't know where. By the time I got to the edge of the neighborhood, I was thinking I might go towards Canyon Lake, so I headed east. As I drove along Baseline road, I could see snow on the mountains out towards Superior, so I got on 60 heading east. As I drove through Gold Canyon, I kept thinking about how long it would take to drive to Superior, and so I decided to drive down Peralta road. As I drove down Peralta, I thought of several places out there that I might take a short hike. I stopped at Carney Springs Road (which is closed now). I decided to hike a short way down the Lost Goldmine trail. I stepped out of the truck and the cold wind hit me. (I'm a cold weather wimp; it was probably in the mid 50's.) I changed my mind about the hike. I turned to get back in the truck, looked up at the mountains, and stood there awestruck. They were just too beautiful. I would wear a sweatshirt and earmuffs and wool socks over my hands if I had to, but I could not resist those mountains.

Irresistible.

I watched the mountains as I walked along the remnants of the Carney Springs road. There's a place near the Carney Springs trail that I noticed many years ago where there should be a waterfall. I've seen lots of places like that in the desert, and I always wish I could be there when there is water pouring over them, but I always figured I would have to be out there in a monsoon downpour to see it. Today, I looked up at the waterfall that had always been dry before, and there was water pouring down. Not just dribbling, as I had seen in other waterfalls, but really pouring. This week's winter storms wreaked havoc all over Arizona, but it's been great for waterfalls. As I stood there taking pictures, I realized that I could even hear the waterfall.

Finally, a waterfall with water!

I was suddenly very glad that I had left the toasty comfort of the truck. I decided to hike along the Carney Springs trail for a while and see what else I could find. It's on days like this that I'm glad I have a SPOT. "They" say you should always let somebody know where you will be hiking. I didn't know where I would be hiking until I got there, but my wife and brother knew where I was within 10 minutes of when I got out of the truck.

The waterfall from closer up.

The trail soon takes you out of sight of the waterfall. I continued for a little while to see if I could spot anything else interesting. A couple of times I stopped and listened to see if I could hear any other waterfalls. That's almost impossible. I could still hear the one I could no longer see. It's a sound that is hard to locate, and sounds echo all over the canyons. Still, there seemed to be a slightly louder sound of water up the canyon I was in. I finally located it. It was water pouring over dozens of small waterfalls on its way down the center of the canyon.

I hear water up there...

... and there it is!

This is a scenic trail.

I didn't go very far up the trail. After I got into the shade of the canyon, it was too cold for me. Maybe I hadn't eaten enough at lunchtime. On the way back down, as I was passing by where I had taken a side trail to a cave a week or two ago, I noticed a large bare spot to the west of the trail. I went to check it out and found something that must have been constructed by the Carney brothers many years ago.

This is made with concrete and rocks. There's a pipe coming out of the top.

It frustrates me that I can't even capture a hint of the beauty of these mountains.

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