Misadventures
The Old Man led the climb out of the canyon. They had been several days in the mountains and though The Kid was in his teens the Old Man had worn him out and he was lagging behind on the climb. The events of the past night had left him weak and tired and he would be glad when they were back to the truck. The trail was rough, steep and narrow but the Old Man went up it like a durn mountain goat. All The Kid could think of was how much easier this would be if they had brought the horses, but the Old Man had insisted this trip be kept as low profile as possible. They were going into some places where he did not want to be noticed and it was a whole lot easier to do on foot.
The hike in had been fairly uneventful. They had parked at the Don's Camp on the edge of the Superstitions, packed their gear, locked the truck and before nightfall were up over the mountain. They had made a dry camp in a little canyon, had a bite to eat and listened to the coyotes singing. About 10 that night the Old Man had roused him quietly and told The Kid they were moving and not to make a sound.
They moved about 100 yards onto a little higher ground into a sheltered area with boulders the size of houses around them and then bedded down there for the rest of the night. They did not hear anything and sleep was peaceful. The next morning they hiked out past the canyon where they first stopped. The Kid's heart beat a bit faster when he saw tracks where several people had come down the canyon and looked around their first stopping place. The Old Man never said anything other than, "Keep an eye out today." as they headed on into the mountains.
Their goal was a working that lay somewhere north of the Needle. It was a small dig consisting of a shaft sunk maybe 20 feet with a short 5 or 10 foot tunnel running off of it. Above the shaft in the hillside were two tunnels that had been driven back into the face of the cliff 15 or 20 feet, one directly above the other. The Old Man had come up with a description of the workings and some photos. Where he got them The Kid did not know and knew better than to ask. One of the photos showed Weaver's Needle in profile from the mouth of the lower tunnel. The Old Man's idea was to work his way around the Needle until he had the profile correct, then start searching the canyons until he found the diggings.
The description of the diggings and the photos showed that there was no taling dump any place around it. Someone had hauled all the dirt and rock off so the workings would not be noticed. This in itself was intriguing. The person who had taken the photos had written that you could look right at the workings and unless you were real close you could not see them even though you were looking right at them. It obviously had hooked the Old Man. That they were here in the mountains searching for it was proof of that.
The search would take them right through the heart of some disputed territory. The area was home to claims, counter-claims, and little wars that erupted over supposed trespasses even though most of the claims had never been registered. Quite often one of the prospectors in the mountains just staked out an area and began to work it. That was his claim as far as he was concerned. Trespass on it and you could be in serious trouble. The Old Man wanted to get through the area as quietly as possible and without attracting too much attention so he decided not to bring the horses. This trip would be on foot. They would travel light and be able to move fairly quickly.
In previous trips over the years they had stashed water in various hiding places and both the Old Man and The Kid knew that if water ran short they would never be more than an hour or so away from one of their stashes. In country like the Superstitions you had best have some back-up plans because you were pretty much on your own. The hidden water had come in handy on more than one occasion, and if used, was always replaced. This Spring however had been a wet one and most of the little creeks and washes had quite a bit of water. There were also tanks in the rocks at various places that trapped the water and The Kid did not think water would be a problem. He was more concerned about who had left those tracks at their first camp.
The Old Man carried a Ruger .44 Magnum. It was a fairly new one... 6 1/2" barrel ... adjustable sights. Ruger had only been making the .44 Magnum for 5 or 6 years and this was one of the first. The Old Man was sure proud of that gun and used it a lot. Already the blueing was worn from the muzzle and the cylinder in places from him carrying it nearly every day. He shot it a lot too, his favorite load being handloads assembled using the Keith semi-wadcutter bullet. He often astounded the local shooters with his 300 and 400 yard shooting using the Ruger.
The Kid was packing an H&R .22 revolver on his hip and carrying an old well-worn Model 92 Winchester in .44-40 caliber. He had purchased it at the Jewel Box Pawn Shop in downtown Phoenix the year before for $47.50.... and had worked hard for the money. Along with the gun he had gotten a box of original UMC .44-40's in an old green box. They had been made Lord knows when but they all fired just fine with the exception of several hangfires. Blackpowder, they had been a mess to clean up after and The Kid wanted no part of blackpowder loads anymore. He took to handloading for the rifle and eventually found a nice smokeless load using a hefty charge of 2400 that shot accurately. He was able to keep his shots in the front section of a deer outline at 400 yards from a rest with that load and figured it was a magnum in it's own right!
They each carried a backpack with food and essentials, a good knife, an entrenching tool, and a large canteen. Not overly burdened they knew they could stay in the mountains a week should they have to.
This second day found them working their way around the Needle, up the canyons and trying to find the profile that fit the photograph carried by the Old Man. By noon they had knew they had it. And by that time they knew they were being watched. By whom they did not have a clue but both the Old Man and The Kid had that "hair standing up on the back of the neck" feeling several times.... like maybe someone was looking through a set of sights at you.
Keeping the Needle to their backs and working a north-by-northeast direction they climbed canyon walls and worked their way over the mountains. In the third canyon they hit they found it. High on the south-facing canyon wall was a rock-strewn slope. Boulders from the size of your hat to as large as a bus were scattered for a half mile across the slope and what appeared to be shadows of some of the boulders turned out to be the two tunnel faces. Perfect camouflage! You could look at it all day long and never see it even though you were seeing it. The vertical shaft was dug about 10 feet from the tunnel mouths and was situated so that you had to be right on top of it or above it to see it.
Standing there and looking back south across the canyon they see where the debris from the digging had been hauled across the canyon and scattered for a quarter mile up and down the sides of the canyon, effectively hiding it right out in the open. Someone had put a lot of work into this and gone to great lengths to keep it out of sight.
Poking around in the scrub brush The Kid found an old wooden windlass with an iron handle, used no doubt to haul dirt and rocks and whatever up out of the shaft nearby. It was in pretty good condition considering. About 5 feet long, the shaft on the windlass was about 6" in diameter and appeared to have been hewn out of a tree limb. No other signs of equipment were anyplace around the diggings.
The tunnels appeared to have played out or perhaps there never was anything there in the first place. The Old Man and The Kid poked around in them but never found any signs of color. A dry hole? Hard to tell. And why all the work hiding the signs of digging? There was no answer to the mystery to be found. Though they looked they never found any markers or other signs of a claim being staked. Just the lonely holes in the ground .... and the windlass.
The feeling of being watched persisted and as evening approached the Old Man said, "Let's walk out tonight. We will leave around sundown, make our way over around the Needle and hit the trail on the other side of it. We can be up over the ridge and to the truck by sunup if we push it." The Kid silently went along with the plan knowing that if the Old Man made up his mind to do something they would end up doing it that way. He did not look forward to a night hike around the Needle however and wished quietly that they had the horses with them.
They stayed on the high ground that afternoon and rested, ate, napped and watched the country. The Superstitions were beautiful in their own right. Rugged as the lunar surface in places, the whole range seemed to have a special mystery all it's own. It was not always something you could define. It sort of nibbled at the edge of your consciousness. The Apache could feel it and had designated the mountains as a holy place. Some people say they still watch the sacred places, the burial grounds and ritual sites, guarding them from intruders and vandals.
Near sundown the Old Man stood up, shouldered his pack and said, "Let's go." and set off down the canyon. The Kid followed along trying to stay alert. Working their way across the canyons they set the straightest route possible toward the Needle. As night fell their pace slackened somewhat but the Old Man held his course and pushed as hard as safely possible. The Kid could tell he was worried and wanted to get out of the mountains. They worked their way around immense boulders, over ridges, under boulders at times and through country so rough a mule could not have made it. At times they walked up to what appeared in the starlight as a dark hole. A small rock dropped off into the darkness fell for a long time before returning any sound and they would have to backtrack sometimes 10 or 15 minutes to find a way around.
Around 2 in the morning they came through a terrible jumble of rock and debris and suddenly stepped into a clearing. It was devoid of growth and rocks, empty except for 2 pine trees and a large Saguaro cactus growing in the center of the area. The hair stood up on The Kids arms as he realized the pine trees and the cactus formed a triangle! Stepping it off the best he could they seemed to be exactly the same distance apart. This was not something that nature had done. This had been planted by man! But why here? And what did it mean?
The Old Man and The Kid took compass bearings on each point of the triangle and looked it over for awhile but could come to no conclusions as to what it meant. It was too dark to tell if there were markings on the rocks although they risked the use of a flashlight to try and see the surroundings more clearly. In the short time they looked they discovered nothing else in the clearing. After a bit the Old Man got that "itchy" feeling again and said, "Let's go." in a tone that The Kid knew better than to argue with, even though he wanted to stay and check out this special place in daylight.
Moving out as quietly as possible they both heard the sound behind them. A scraping on the rock. Pebbles dislodged and rolling. They had not been moving silently... it was almost impossible to do so in this kind of country .... but they had been making as little noise as they could. Any conversations were short, whispered up close and held to a minimum. Both of them understood the risks and acted accordingly. Both had felt as if they were under observation all day. And now they had proof someone was tailing them. The Old Man eased his Ruger out and looked it over and then uncharacteristically of him he loaded a sixth round and let the hammer down between the cartridges. He asked The Kid "Do you have a shell in the chamber?" and The Kid nodded in the affirmative. Saying nothing more the Old Man led the way through the rocks and on down the canyon.
Listening intently now as they moved they began to hear unfamiliar sounds in the night. Grunting. Brush scraping. Small rocks being moved. Other noises they could not identify. The Kid began to breath faster without noticing at first. Both of them were aware that whoever was behind them was now getting closer and did not seemed concerned whether they heard him or not. That was not a good sign!
Coming around the corner of the canyon the Old Man climbed up out of the wash they had been following. Pointing to a large boulder in the moonlight he whispered to The Kid to get up behind it and to keep an eye out. He was going to go up the opposite side of the canyon and set up in some rocks about 20 yards up the hillside. He told The Kid "Mark where I am. Don't watch me. Watch the wash. Whoever comes up this wash will be in the open for 10 or 15 yards. You don't shoot unless I do. If you start shooting, empty the gun and then reload and wait for me to give you directions. OK?" Breathless and heart hammering faster The Kid nodded his head and climbed up the hillside. Reaching the boulder he found a position where he could see down into the wash below and rested his rifle across the rock and waited. He noticed his hands were shaking slightly and he tried to keep his mind off it.
In the moonlight all the brush and rocks below seemed alive. He could see things moving when he stared at them, but then they did not move at all. Thoughts raced through his mind... Would he see them in time? What if they snuck up behind him? He resisted the thought of whirling around and looking all around behind him, focusing instead on the Old Man's instructions to watch the wash down below. The beating of his heart sounded so loud to him that for a moment he wondered if it would echo across the canyon. Then all that was forgotten for something was moving in the moonlight down below!
Coming around the bend of the canyon and following the wash was something ...indefinable .... and it was really big. Moving quietly it came snuffling up to where they had climbed out earlier and it stopped for second. Unconsciously the rifle was lined up on it and at that second the Old Man's 44 cut loose. The Kid started firing into the "thing". He still could not tell what it was but it looked as big as a cow! There was bawling and screaming and he could hear the Old Man's 44 going. Suddenly his hammer clicked. He levered the gun and pulled the trigger and it clicked again and he realized he was out of shells. Digging frantically in his pockets he jerked ammo out and with shaking fingers reloaded the gun all the time looking down toward the wash where the thing ..... whatever it was ..... had disappeared, going back up the wash the way it came but making horrible sounds. Yelling and bawling and growling. He dropped ammunition on the ground in his haste to reload, fumbled shells and generally felt out of control, shaking badly all over.
Then he heard the Old Man calling him softly ... "Are you OK?" and calming down instantly he said, "Yes. Are you Dad?" and the reply floated back in the night air, "Sure.. just sit tight for bit. We don't want to rush this."
After what seemed like an eternity he saw the Old Man's flashlight come on and watched as he made his way out of the pile of rocks and began moving downhill. He gathered up the stuff he had dropped, poked it into his pockets and made his way down the hill, glad that most of the shaking had stopped.
The Old Man was standing by the wash running his light up and down. Blood was pooled in several places and splattered around the rocks. "Did you see the size of that old boy?" he asked with excitement evident in his voice. The Kid said "Yeah. What was it?" and the Old Man laughed and said, "A bear I reckon." Shining his light down on the ground he pointed out claw marks and parts of footprints. "Do you think we killed him" The Kid asked. The Old Man thought for a bit and said, "Well we certainly changed his mind. But I don't think we will follow him. He was hit pretty hard, but it's dark and I don't care to become bear crap tonight."
Time passed quickly after that. It seemed no time and the sky began to lighten up. By now they were on the trail that would lead them up over the pass. They had discussed the night's events and replayed the scene again and again. The Kid was surprised that at certain points in remembering he would start shaking again. For some time as they hiked .... before the sky began to lighten up ..... he was pretty jumpy but by now he was just tired and wanted to lay down and take nap. The Old Man kept pushing however, wanting to get out of the mountains before the heat came on.
Once, during the last climb before breaking across the pass and descending the trail to where the truck was parked the Old Man had stopped for a breather. While resting he made the understatement of the year ... "This is one trip you are never going to forget." he said.
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Authors Note: It has been 40 years since the days spoken of above. I have been into the Superstitions a number of times but have never been able to locate the clearing with the pine trees and the saguaro again. Interestingly enough I have seen it referred to on a supposedly old map, so someone else at least has seen it or knows of it.