Outdoor Recreation

The walls of Fish Creek Canyon are the yellowish volcanics of the western Superstitions; saguaros and Sonoran Desert vegetation flourish high on the less steep slopes. Down at creek level, many of the rocks are darker water-polished lavas and rhyolites that tumbled from somewhere upstream. I find the trail some 40 feet up a steep slope. "Got it!" I yell down to the group waiting in the streambed below. "The trail came up this way!"

We had come to an impassable jumble of automobile-size boulders and realized that the trail had left the streambed somewhere downstream. I had climbed up one flank to scout.

Another voice echos from the other side of the creek. "Hey, there's trail over here, too!" The heads looking up swivel from my direction to his. "Better go that way," I concede. "The catclaw is pretty bad up here."

Trails in Fish Creek Canyon are sometimes like that, disappearing altogether and then offering several alternative routes. Fortunately, a trail is only a convenience, marking what previous hikers thought was the easiest path. And that's a thought that comes to mind in Upper Fish Creek Canyon, which is a different look at Superstition Wilderness hiking. Winding from the Apache Trail's one-lane Fish Creek bridge three miles up to the head of Lost Dutch Canyon, it is an adventure in route finding, boulder hopping, and desertcanyon beauty.Here the hiking style is regulated by boulder size. You hop from one to the next where they are relatively small and wellspaced, climb over or between bigger ones, and scramble up the canyon sides around the most massive obstacles.

This sort of hiking is a pleasant experience when the rocks are dry and trustworthy. However, rain and slippery footing take away the fun, particularly for tired legs.

FISH CREEK TO THE SKY ISLANDS DESERT HIKING AT ITS BEST

But desert hiking isn't limited to canyon rock hopping. Actually, there is a variety of landforms to choose from: the valleys and plains of southern Arizona, sand dunes of the southwestern corner of the state, piñon and juniper zones, grassland, and lush chaparral-oak woodland.

There are also Wilderness riparian communities where water flows year-round: Browns Canyon in the Harquahalas, Redfield Canyon, and Upper Burro Creek, to name a few.

Desert hiking also includes mountain trekking. The Chiricahuas in the southeast, the Santa Catalinas north of Tucson, these rugged heights are called "sky islands" because they abruptly rise from plains of cactus and creosotebush to top out with ponderosa pine and alpine lichen.Hiking clubs are a good way to begin desert hiking. These groups publish lists of planned group hikes, rating each on difficulty. And for those who want to do it on their own, there are a number of quality hiking guides available such as Arizona Highways' Outdoors in Arizona, A Guide to Hiking and Backpacking. The Sierra Club also publishes guides for trekkers, among the latest is Dave Ganci's Hike the Southwest.

Whether you hike alone or in a group, though, remember to use the "no-trace" method, which means traveling through a region and leaving only footprints behind. It's just good wilderness manners.

WHEN YOU GO

For information on hiking clubs, contact: The Central Arizona Hiking Club, 1046 E. Lemon St., Tempe, AZ 85281, (602) 894-5128; The Southern Arizona Hiking Club, P.O. Box 12122, Tucson, AZ 85732; The Sierra Club, 738 N. Fifth Ave., #214, Tucson, AZ 85705, (602) 620-6401; County Parks and Recreation, (602) 506-2930; or Arizona Hiking Shack, (602) 944-7723.

For information on trails, hiking areas, and Wilderness hiking, write or call the Bureau of Land Management, 3707 N. Seventh St., Phoenix, AZ 85014, (602) 640-5504; Forest Service, 517 Gold Ave., Albuquerque, NM, (505) 8423290. For the addresses and telephone numbers of the individual forests in Arizona, see the telephone directory.