Ellie's Travel Adventures: Sunday, February 17. An amazing hike in the Superstitions!

This morning we drove east for about 30 minutes to Gold Canyon and then drove north on a dirt road for several miles, ending in the parking lot for the Peralta Cave Trail Loop, on the southern side of the Superstitions. We followed the very rocky Peralta Trail for about 2.5 miles up Peralta Canyon as it climbed 1300 feet to the Fremont Saddle. The trail begins in a desert riparian landscape with beautiful saguaro cacti on the rocky walls of the canyon. At some places on the trail we actually had some shade as we passed through groves of small trees and shrubs. We had some good natured joking as our participants from “greener” states questioned our guide's descriptions of these rather short desert plants as "trees." After some rocky, steep switchbacks, we arrived at the saddle where amazing views of Weaver’s Needle suddenly appear. At the end of a short hike out the Weavers Needle Overlook Ridge, we ate lunch looking at the beautiful views of the surrounding cliffs and canyons.

Starting up the trail.

Beautiful rock formations

Weaver's Needle from the saddle.

We returned via the Cave Trail, described in the program literature as an “off the beaten track route . . . with some steep sections where you will learn to trust your boots.” For David and I this trail was a highlight of the week, as we have hiked the Peralta Trail on our own but have never attempted this return route. With words in our book of trail descriptions like “slick steep rock face,” ‘allow extra time for route finding,” and “be extra careful when shimmying down here,” we have not wanted to venture here on our own. But Mike’s guiding and encouragement were fantastic, and we all descended back to the waiting vans without major mishaps.