Ballentyne Stole My Heart

Ray Richardson

On a cold, wet day in February, I went on an adventure that would change my life forever. February 28, 1987 will always stand out in my mind as a momentuous day in my life. I had often gone on outdoor adventures, whether on scout outings, Father’s and Son’s outings, or ski trips, but I wanted to try something different: making a plan and carrying it out to explore a new place I had never been. I had noticed the Ballentyne Trail in my maps and was excited to try out this 12-mile trail, which extends from near Four Peaks to the Beeline Highway. I got my brother Melvin and his friend Vince to go with me. Another brother Kenneth was to busy to join us on the hike, but was kind enough to drive us to the trailhead and pick us up in the afternoon. I planned the hike such that we would be hiking downhill most of the way. We were impressed by the stormy mood in the weather as we drove to the trailhead up the rough dirt road.

We started out on the trail, naïve and happy-go-lucky, thinking nothing about what it would take to cover the 12-mile hike. We checked out a nice little waterfall and started looking for the trail. We followed a faint path for a couple of minutes but were soon engulfed in some thick brush. Vince was enamored with the idea of bushwhacking, but this non-trail was ridiculous. We backtracked to the waterfall, and soon discovered that the trail went the other direction, to a point where the Ballentyne Trail officially started. We were happy to be on our way, and made our way in and out of several drainages as we climbed up Pine Mountain. Even as it began raining on us, I admired the view of the ever-present icons of Weaver’s Needle and the famous façade of Superstition Mountain behind us as we continued.

We crossed a gate and presently made our way to the pine-covered saddle of Pine Mountain. I was impressed by the colorful red and purple rocks we saw throughout this area. The whole Four Peaks area is famous for amethyst rock, and I could see why now. The rain not only continued; it began to snow on us. As the weather worsened I became alarmed. What were we thinking going on such a long hike in unknown territory? What if we had an emergency? Realizing that we had little choice but to continue, my fears were soon alleviated. Joking around with Melvin and Vince, we soon forgot about our big task at hand. We actually enjoyed the snow here so close to home. As we started our way down from Pine Mountain, we took a small break to enjoy a small pool and its emanating tiny flow of water.

Continuing our hike, we left the pine trees and entered the transition-zone manzinita. Being such a little-used trail, we came to several places where we had to use our best judgment to find the trail and continue. We found our way into a valley, complete with a nice creek and riparian foliage. We found ourselves crossing it a couple of times as we continued. We stopped to rest by a huge boulder reminiscent of Papago Park. Vince tried to make his way up it and thought it would be fun to get into rock-climbing. We were impressed by the number of cow droppings along the trail and joked that we had discovered a new perfume which we would market as “the Essense of Moo”.

We then found ourselves leaving the creek valley. Again the trail became very difficult to follow as we passed by an old cattle corral but after looking around a bit we found ourselves continuing on. I love challenges like this. I was impressed by Boulder Mountain to our north. It is one of those mountains that is so inaccessible and unvisited, yet so picturesque and inviting.

We then made a steep descent down another canyon, circling around the north side of an interesting set of buttes known as the Boulders. The environment was becoming more and more that of the desert as we continued our descent to the Beeline Highway. I found it interesting how we had passed through such different climate levels today: from being snowed on in the pine trees all the way down to being baked by the warm desert sun.

We continued our descent to a saddle, where we then entered our last desert valley on our way to the trailhead, where we met Kenneth. I shouldn’t have, but I rubbed it in to Kenneth that he had missed the greatest hike ever. Of course, that was just the start of my big adventures.