Putz Around Superior 2.5

Snow is a rare sight around Superior

Spend a day putzing around near Superior.  Wagon and mule tracks etched in stone, Apache tears, Mattie Earp's grave and nice overlooks and rock formations.

GPX track at bottom of the page.

Wagon Tracks, Apache Tears and Arnett Canyon

Begin at the east end of the airport and follow the trail to the Wagon Tracks.  According to the Tom Kollenborn Chronicles the tracks were the results of the ore wagons hauling silver ore from the Silver King Mine to the Pinal Mill on Queen Creek just west of this location during the late 1870s and early 1880s. The ore wagon road crossed a large deposit of welded volcanic tuff. This type of rock was not too resistant to the metal rims of the old wagon wheels carrying heavy loads of silver ore. The wagon wheels etched two deep ruts across this large deposit of welded volcanic tuff (ash).  Each member of a mule team stepped in the same location as the mule ahead, thus the mule tracks also are visible today.

​Head south across Queen Creek.  The creek can have a natural flow of water after a heavy rain, but it is usually only the outflow from the Superior wastewater treatment plant.  Do not worry - no odor.

Wagon tracks

Queen Creek crossing

Look east of Superior to see a high, steep cliff.  This is "Apache Leap".  ​The origins of the "Apache Leap" legend can be traced to U.S. soldiers stationed near present day Superior in 1871. Although no official record exists of a skirmish between troops and Indians at what is now called Apache Leap, it is possible that the legend has basis in fact.

The legend relates that "Apache" warriors were trapped on the large rock ledge by cavalry troops from Camp Pinal.  Rather than surrender, however, about 75 of the warriors leaped off the cliff to their deaths. It was because of this incident that the cliff became known as "Apache Leap."

Relatives of those who died gathered a short distance from the base of the cliff and mourned their loved ones.  Legend says their sadness was so great that their tears were imbedded into black obsidian stones.  When held to the light, they are said to reveal the translucent tear of the Apache.  

Apache Leap

Small tears can be translucent

Not far from the crossing you will come to a gate and a bunch of rocks.  This blocked road is a 0.6 mile hiking path to a spot where perlite was mined from the Perlite Caves.

This photo shows how Apache Tears (obsidian nodules) are formed in nature.  As obsidian (volcanic glass) flows become fractured and hydrated over eons of time, the original glass is altered to a white, flaky, mineral called perlite.  Perlite has a variety of  uses, including soil amendment and insulation. 

If the conversion of an obsidian mass is only partial, there can be residual nodules of obsidian encased in perlite.

Although obsidian nodules can be found in many Western U.S. localities, the term Apache Tears should be attached only to those glassy obsidian nodules found near Apache Leap in Superior, Arizona.

Apache tear in perlite

Apache tears can be chipped out of the perlite faces of abandoned quarries, but it is much easier to find them in the mining waste.  Take a small implement to dig in the loose material.

There are a number of abandoned quarries in the area, but this one called the "Perlite Caves” is the most interesting.

Perlite Caves

Return from Perlite Caves and continue on the road for an overlook of Arnett Canyon.  

Toward Arnett Canyon

Arnett Canyon

Mattie Earp's grave and a high viewpoint

Return to US 60 and go directly across the road to Silver King Road.  You will pass Imerys Perlite USA.  They mine and process perlite.  They do not allow the public to pick through their perlite piles, but they do have free samples of Apache Tears in the office.

Continue to Historic Pinal Cemetery, where you will find Mattie Earp's grave, as well as many more.

Historic Pinal Cemetery

Mattie Earp's grave

Mattie Earp

​Celia Ann Blaylock was born in 1850 in Wisconsin, but raised in Fairfax, Iowa. Apparently, she ran away from home at the age of 16 and made her way to Kansas, stopping first in Scott City and then moving to Dodge City. 

While touring the west in various employment capacities, Wyatt met "Mattie" either in Fort Scott or Dodge, possibly as early as 1873. By this time, the Earp brothers began to have investments in brothels and gambling parlors. (It is the common theory that Mattie, as well as several of the other Earp brother's wives, was a prostitute.) She was certainly his "common-law" wife by 1879 when they left Dodge for the booming mine town of Tombstone, Arizona.

Wyatt developed a relationship with “Sadie” Marcus while in Tombstone, and eventually married her after leaving Mattie.

Mattie became devastated when she learned of the relationship, and developed an addiction for laudanum, a common painkiller of the day, an opium distillate in liquid form.

After the gunfight near the OK Corall, Clanton killers sought revenge, wounding Virgil and murdering Morgan. The Earps left Tombstone. Mattie traveled with the Earp survivors to Colton, California where they joined up with Wyatt's parents. However, at some point, she left them and ended up in Pinal, Arizona (about 1 mile south of the grave site) where she returned to prostitution. She told her friends her husband had destroyed her life when he deserted her. Tragically, she died of a laudanum overdose on July 3, 1888 in Pinal, Arizona.  

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Return to Silver King Road and drive toward a high viewpoint with great views of Superior and the Superstition Mountains.  One area seems to have a high number of saguaros with a high number of arms.  There are also a few quartz outcrops along the road.

Saguaros with many arms

Quartz outcrop

The last quarter mile is the most difficult portion of the road.  There is a somewhat tippy washout and a narrow hill.  The views are worth it.

Superior

Superstitions

Wood Canyon

Wood Canyon is an in-and-out trail south of Superior.  It is a seldom used trail with some nice rock formations.

Narrow road

Somewhat rocky and bumpy

The road is a bit brushy and it is in and out of the creek.  We suggest you turn at the end of the track because it is REALLY brushy after that.

In and out of the creek

Rock formations

Hope you enjoyed the day putzing around Superior.

​Page updated 2019.

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