Siphon Draw

This past Saturday we as a hiking group decided to hike Flat Iron.  

Flat Iron is the at the top of the Superstition Mountain (pictured at the bottom).

I thought I was in shape enough, however with the pain I feel today, I think I was wrong.

Parker ended up coming with me and we left dad with the other kids.  

Here we are before we started (a little cheerier than at the end):

Parker at the top.  You can see the valley below in  the back.

Here is the far East Mesa Valley.
See those little houses down there?

Here we are at the top.
Still feeling okay.
Because we hadn't gone DOWN yet!

Here is my cool story of the day.  
Or I think its cool.
The day before Thanksgiving I happened to have the news on, which I never do.
But, this day I did and saw the lady who lost her three children last year to the plane crash .
This was the plane that crashed on Thanksgiving Eve into the Superstition Mountain.
Her three children were on this plane with her ex-husband (I believe) going to Safford, AZ for Thanksgiving.
The newscast was reporting it was the year anniversary of their death and this mom was hiking to the top of the Superstition Mountain to put a flag and a memorial up there for her children.
This mom, Karen (I took note of her name), was going to hike up on Friday and camp up top and hike back down on Saturday.
I realized this would be the same time we were hiking up.
I thought to myself, "I hope I see her.  I'd love to just tell her how sorry I am for her loss."
I thought this because you feel such a bond to others who may understand your pain.
At this point I took note of her name and then forgot about it.
As we were hiking we would randomly ask people, "Did you make it to the top? What time did you start?"
Mainly because it was taking forever!
My friend asked a group and their answer was, "We camped up there last night."
I asked, "Oh, did you see the memorial? (I instantly remembered the name, Karen)
They said, "Yes, we put it there with Karen."
I asked if one of them was Karen.
Her friend answered, "Yes, this is Karen."
I don't know why this brought me so much joy to meet this person.
But, I was happy to meet her, and to be able to tell her how sorry I was for her loss.
I explained I lost one child last year, not three, but I understood a bit of her pain.
It was just a short conversation, but I was really happy it happened.
I had hoped for it.
I know God works in mysterious ways.
Here is a picture of the plaque she put at the top of the mountain near where the plane crashed:

I posted the following pic again so you can see the Superstition Mountain.

Flat Iron is at the top of the mountain where it is flat (left hand side of the picture).

If I knew how to put an arrow on here then I would.

You see the little jagged parts from the left hand side over--first part where its Flat.

Correct me if I am wrong anyone....

I am still waiting for my friends to post the group pictures.

A side note:  Flat Iron is the top of the trail that Ethan's bench used to be on.

I feel connected to this Siphon Draw Trail, and probably always will. 

I love it because it gave us much comfort during those first months after his death.