Praying Hands Loop

from First Water Road

On February 8, 2025 Kim and I hiked past the Praying Hands Rock via several trails, including the Praying Hands trail, off the First Water Road. The route was fairly flat along Jacob’s Crosscut Trail but began to climb while on Prospector’s View, Treasure Loop, and the start of Praying Hands trails. At the saddle near Praying Hands Rock we detoured to take a “social trail” behind a cut rock, which eventually required quite a bit of scrambling in loose rock (on some fairly steep areas) before reconnecting with the Praying Hands Trail. That sidetrack was fun, but probably not needed! The Praying Hands Trail back to the parking lot was a fairly easy gradual descent. Fun trail. Would do it again.

Walk-Specific Map

See Superstition Wilderness Overview page for an overview map of all hikes.

Take Note
  • Click on a segment to get specific information.
  • Numeric labels correspond to the same labels in the elevation profile and summary information below.
  • See Superstition Wilderness Overview page for description of use of controls.

Elevation Profile

Images

GPX Download

A sanitized GPX file of our hike is here.

Summary Information

NUM trackID Primary Description Distance CumDist DeltaElev
1 CNJCUT05 Connector to Jacob's Crosscut Tr First Water Rd parking area to Jacob's Crosscut Tr 0.09 0.09 29
2 JCBCUT05 Jacob's Crosscut Tr (58) Connector from First Water Rd to Praying Hands Tr 0.02 0.11 6
3 JCBCUT06 Jacob's Crosscut Tr (58) Praying Hands Tr to Crosscut Tr 0.60 0.71 -2
4 JCBCUT07 Jacob's Crosscut Tr (58) Crosscut Tr to Treasure Loop Tr [North] 0.23 0.94 18
5 JCBCUT08 Jacob's Crosscut Tr (58) Treasure Loop Tr [North] to Treasure Loop Tr [South] 0.09 1.03 11
6 JCBCUT09 Jacob's Crosscut Tr (58) Treasure Loop Tr [South] to Prospect View Tr 0.74 1.77 48
7 PRSPVW01 Prospector's View Tr (57) Jacob's Crosscut Tr to Treasure Loop Tr 0.60 2.38 400
8 TRSRLP10 Treasure Loop Tr (56) Prospector's View Tr to Praying Hands Tr 0.16 2.54 2
9 PRYHNDS01 Praying Hands Tr Treasure Loop Tr to Praying Hands Tr (Alt) 0.22 2.76 239
10 PRYHNDS05 Praying Hands Tr (Alt) Praying Hands Tr to Praying Hands Tr 0.27 3.02 67
11 PRYHNDS06 Praying Hands Tr Praying Hands Tr (Alt) to Jacob's Crosscut Tr 2.27 5.30 -777
12 JCBCUT05 Jacob's Crosscut Tr (58) Praying Hands Tr to Connector from First Water Rd 0.02 5.32 -6
13 CNJCUT05 Connector to Jacob's Crosscut Tr Jacob's Crosscut Tr to First Water Rd parking area 0.09 5.41 -29