When we saw a photo of a waterfall allegedly taken in the Superstitions, we were skeptical. But some quick research revealed that, lo and behold, there is one! It may be an after-heavy-rainfall-only waterfall, but it’s still a waterfall – in the low desert, no less! It’s no Havasupai, but it’s still a great sight to see, especially just outside the valley.
We patiently waited to hike Massacre Falls until right after the valley got some considerable rain, and highly recommend you do the same. And we mean right after. We’ve seen photos of the falls three and even two days post-rain and it was barely a trickle. We headed to the Superstitions the day after some rain and it was “raging” by its standards.
When you arrive at the Crosscut Trailhead, make sure to go through the gate on the east side, not the south. They don’t lead to the same trail and the entrances are not marked (or we weren’t paying attention).
You’ll cross over a wash and then hike 1/4 mile or so until you reach another gate; this is the original trailhead.
As you hike towards to the jagged peaks ahead, you’ll eventually start veering south and then notice a creek on the right side of the trail as you start going eastbound again. The amount of water you see from here on out is a good indication of what the falls will look like (or if you’ll see it at all). We happened to see a nicely flowing creek and a pretty wet trail the rest of the way.
Once you climb out of the canyon, the view opens up quite a bit with sweeping views of the Superstitions and Four Peaks in the distance. The trail steadily climbs all the way until the falls.
We noticed quite a few people ahead at the foot of the falls, so we decided to find a quiet spot to have lunch. I guess that means scrambling up the side of the ridge? There’s probably a better way up (we actually noticed some cairns once at the top), but we took the quickest way could find. This gave us an awesome view of Massacre Falls below!
After we had a bite to eat, we made our way back down to see the falls up close.
It may not be Havasupai, but Massacre Falls is still a treat to see in the desert!
