Richard's arch

I think I've mentioned this arch recently. Richard was with me the first time I saw it, so I call it Richard's arch. For years I've been saying I was going to hike up to it some day. On Sunday I was trying to decide where to go hiking and decided it was a good time to climb up to that arch.

On the drive to the arch I passed by this old stone foundation. I wanted some geotagged photos of it. On maps this is marked as "Rock House".

There is also a well next to the house. As far as I know, it always has water in it.

I like the rocky landscape out here.

It didn't look like it would be a difficult climb up to the arch, and it wasn't. It was very nice weather for a hike, too. There were some high, thin, but interesting clouds around. There were several trucks and ATVs at on the road at the Wolverine Pass entrance and a couple of vehicles were parked near where I was hiking, but it was very quiet. I didn't hear anybody roaring by the whole time I was out there.

The view to the north as I started up. I've been out that way a few times.

It didn't take very long to get to the arch. Of course, I had to stop a lot to take pictures. At one point after climbing steadily for a couple of minutes, I had to duck under some paloverdes, then took a few quick steps uphill to keep my balance, then just kept going to get to an easier place to stand. I climbed about 20 feet in a quick burst and my legs felt tired. It reminded me of chasing Emily (17 months old) up and down the hall just to hear her giggle. Kids can wear you out fast.

At the arch. That's Four Peaks in the background.

I guess it's more of a rock wall with a hole in it than an arch, but what the heck. I hung around there taking pictures for a while and put my camera in manual mode for a couple of pictures and accidentally left it there for most of the rest of the hike. Fortunately, most of the pictures were salvageable.

The arch from the other side.

I climbed a little higher from the arch to check out the views to the east and south. There's a good view of the Superstitions. The air was kind of hazy. It's "brown cloud" season. The wind doesn't blow, so air pollution just piles up in the valley.

A view of the Superstition Mountains.

Dave and I were on that cliff on October 5th.

This is the view from that cliff looking back towards the arch.

It's always fun to stand on various peaks and look around at other places I've been out there. I also often spot other places I need to go. Click below to see all of the pictures.

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