Boulders in the Superstitions

[Idahodutch]

Howdy all,
Many of us have spent more than a few nights in those mountains.
My question is:

Has anyone been in there when boulder(s) came down?

Al morrow was killed by a boulder, that became dislodged during a heavy rain.
I guess he was sheltering under it.

 

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[Al D]

I have never seen or heard anything that sounded like a boulder falling, but I have heard a lot of strange sounds in those mountains at night.

 

[Idahodutch]

Lots of places in there, where stacks of boulders look like the ultimate balancing act.
As if a lizard crawled on it, it might come down.

 

[Idahodutch]

Lots of places in there, where stacks of boulders look like the ultimate balancing act.
As if a lizard crawled on it, it might come down.

When I was teenager, a group of us went camping in Boulder Canyon, a ways south of 2nd water.
We got it in our heads, to go see just how hard it would be to budge one.

We finally decided on a candidate and scampered up over to it.
We all just about popped blood vessels to no avail.

We tried several more, going down in size each time.
Decided to try one last time, and to our amazement, we budged it..... maybe a 1/32 of an inch, but it made noise.
We all looked at each other ....

 

[Idahodutch]

When I was teenager, a group of us went camping in Boulder Canyon, a ways south of 2nd water.
We got it in our heads, to go see just how hard it would be to budge one.

We finally decided on a candidate and scampered up over to it.
We all just about popped blood vessels to no avail.

We tried several more, going down in size each time.
Decided to try one last time, and to our amazement, we budged it..... maybe a 1/32 of an inch, but it made noise.
We all looked at each other ....

The time frame was late 1970’s. ..... not much traffic back then, especially off trail.
...... would any of you, as a teenager, with teenager friends.
Would you do it?

 

[dredgernaut]

maybe... if it was still the 70s

 

[Idahodutch]

Yeah .... it was the 70’s.
Peyote was along as well.

I’m pretty sure we did it.
I will say, it was absolutely incredible. Stupid, but incredible.
It made it all the way down.

After about 50 yards, it was headed right for a huge Palo Verde tree, and looked like that was going to be it.
Nope, a big blast of splinters, and branches as it didn’t even phase the boulder.
Then it bounced off of some outcropping, and went at least 20 - 30’ in the air.

The peanut gallery was full of oooo’s and ahhhhh’s

The destructive power was unbelievable.
The noises were echoing like crazy. We thought for sure somebody was going to come.

I don’t think any of us did anything like that again.

Edit: nobody came.

 

[dredgernaut]

i feel bad when i even break a branch.. just say no to peyote... lol..
would have been fun to see that though..

 

[Idahodutch]

i feel bad when i even break a branch.. just say no to peyote... lol..
would have been fun to see that though..

Was a different time, for sure. Peyote might have lowered good sense, would by my first guess.
Lol. Was the one and only time for me, boulder and peyote.

We ate it at 2nd water, then finished hiking in. Set up camp, . .. Everybody puked and then it was off to races.
We were going to just go check out one boulder, and it turned into afternoon 5 mile hike, zig zagging back and forth from up near one ridge, over to another, trying to find one that would move.

We hadn’t taken a canteen along to look at the “one” boulder, so was probably thirst, more than anything else, that made us finally head back to camp.

Dumb kids.

 

[dredgernaut]

lol. sounds awesome. wish i was there. that is a good memory bud..

 

[Idahodutch]

lol. sounds awesome. wish i was there. that is a good memory bud..

Thanks, it is a good memory, a little embarrassing, but glad to have the memory.
I’m sure if you had been there, ..... it would have probably been 100% participation.

We did a lot of camping back then. Stuff seems to just happen when rambunctious teenage boys are out playing in the wild.

 

[Idahodutch]

I have never seen or heard anything that sounded like a boulder falling, but I have heard a lot of strange sounds in those mountains at night.

Alan,
You up for sharing .... one of the “strange sound” stories.
Doesn’t have to be about boulders, unless she went along.

 

[Al D]

Alan,
You up for sharing .... one of the “strange sound” stories.
Doesn’t have to be about boulders, unless she went along.

Sure, there is not much to tell, it was a typical outing, my buddy and I went in the middle of October as I recall, this was way back in 1984 or 85. We went in at the Western trail head at Dutchman park and after a full day of exploring, made camp within sight of Weavers needle, pretty close to the trail. Around 1:30 or 2:00 am I woke up for no reason, I am a light sleeper and it was deathly quiet, eerie not even the sound of a breeze. So I got up and went outside the tent and stood there starring at the stars in the night sky, I did that for must have been 10 or 15 min, and as I was heading back inside the tent I heard what sounded like a laughing scream, somewhat far off. It was weird, I have heard mountain lions, bobcats etc. this was something I had never heard before. It creeped the hell out of me.

 

[Idahodutch]

Sure, there is not much to tell, it was a typical outing, my buddy and I went in the middle of October as I recall, this was way back in 1984 or 85. We went in at the Western trail head at Dutchman park and after a full day of exploring, made camp within sight of Weavers needle, pretty close to the trail. Around 1:30 or 2:00 am I woke up for no reason, I am a light sleeper and it was deathly quiet, eerie not even the sound of a breeze. So I got up and went outside the tent and stood there starring at the stars in the night sky, I did that for must have been 10 or 15 min, and as I was heading back inside the tent I heard what sounded like a laughing scream, somewhat far off. It was weird, I have heard mountain lions, bobcats etc. this was something I had never heard before. It creeped the hell out of me.

Do you think it was a person?

 

[Al D]

Do you think it was a person?

I have thought about it a lot, I think it was just some party at one of the tourist camps, sound travels a long distance and in weird ways in those mountains.

 

[Idahodutch]

A laughing scream off in the distance, middle of night, while camping in the Supers,
.... would creep anyone out.

I probably wouldn’t have been able to go back to sleep.... for a while.
Just would have laid there looking at the door of the tent

 

[Al D]

A laughing scream off in the distance, middle of night, while camping in the Supers,
.... would creep anyone out.

I probably wouldn’t have been able to go back to sleep.... for a while.
Just would have laid there looking at the door of the tent

I did wake my camping partner and we stayed awake off and on till sunrise, I always carry a sidearm when I go into those mountains....it was very reassuring to have it at that time.

 

[Idahodutch]

That was a good Strange sound story
Like the trusty sidearm too.

Thanks for sharing it. Idk if I have a strange sound story, maybe someone has another one or three.
I’m game

 

[Al D]

That was a good Strange sound story
Like the trusty sidearm too.

Thanks for sharing it. Idk if I have a strange sound story, maybe someone has another one or three.
I’m game

All of my other strange sounds stories have to do with beer, develed eggs and the morning after.

 

[Terry Soloman]

1986, camped about 2-miles west of Tortilla Flats, checking out old mines. About 4pm I hear my buddy say "Holy SHI..!" I look up and see a VW-sized boulder coming down the cliff and rolling to a stop about 60-yards from our tents. That is what you call an adult diaper moment!