Siphon Draw to Flatiron
I've had some free time after finishing my first year of college, so here is a blog post about my dad, Arlen, and I doing a fun day hike on a Saturday morning.
Flatiron via Siphon Draw is a six mile, 2700 feet elevation gain hike located 45 minutes east of Phoenix in Lost Dutchman State Park.
The drive from Phoenix to Flatiron itself is pretty fun; however, most of the drives around Phoenix are pretty pleasant due to how scenic the area is. Phoenix itself is engulfed by a variety of jagged peaks and mountain ranges. From the city, the peaks just appear to be dark silhouettes, but they serve to remind us a good hike/adventure is always out there. Arlen, Dad, and I woke up at 5AM to dodge the Arizona sun. We got to the trailhead at 5:45 and began our hike.
*Quick Note: I want to include how much I appreciate what time the sun rises in the summer. After a super long winter in New Haven with the sun setting at 4PM and not rising until 7AM, it was a delight to have the sun well over the horizon at 5AM.
The first part of the hike is nothing special. There's stable terrain with a moderate incline. Despite covering about half of the total distance of the hike, only about 1/3 of the vertical distance is actually gained. Things really started becoming fun when we found ourselves in this open canyon. It's really neat to see all the places where water has carved out routes along the rocks. One thing that I did take note of during the first part of the hike is how quickly the size of Flatiron grows on you after every few minutes of hiking.
Once we reached the canyon, the hike actually began. For the next three miles it's a lot of rock scrambling. It's kind of funny because we've done this hike multiple times and always seem to end up lost. Nothing serious, but the path is poorly marked (or maybe we're just dumb) and always end up straying off path, but in the end, we do manage and find ourselves back on path. The rock scrambling itself is really enjoyable. We found ourselves dodging cacti, doing some bushwhacking (we got lost), and taking gratifying brakes to enjoy the breeze and the views.
Soon enough, we were at the top. The view from the top was nice, but it wasn't vastly more mesmerizing than all of the other views we got from the hike. The backside of Flatiron actually looks kind of funny because it's basically a plateau.
The cool thing about summiting this peak is that there are a plethora of other higher altitude peaks in the backdrop. Almost all of them look like pointy pencils erecting from the ground. If you pay attention closely, you'll notice how lots of them have already eroded and cracked away.
Well basically that was my Flatiron day hike with my Arlen and my dad. The hike down was not nearly as enjoyable as the hike up since the sun and the gnats came out. Nonetheless, it was very much worth it and I would 10/10 recommend.
