Peralta Canyon Trail

I was trying to remember the last time I had taken the Peralta Canyon trail up to Fremont Saddle. Unfortunately, the dates on a lot of my old pictures got modified somehow, but it looks like the last time I was up there was October of 2004. I only took 24 pictures that day. It was one of those days with high, thin clouds that I don't like, so maybe that's why I didn't take many pictures.

When I left the house Saturday afternoon, I thought I was going to hike somewhere near Canyon Lake. I was surprised at how clear the air was, though. It had been so polluted on Friday that the Superstitions could barely be seen from our neighborhood. Since the air was so clear, I thought it might be a good day to hike the Peralta Canyon trail. If I had known I was going to do that, I would have left the house a couple of hours sooner. I only had 3 hours to get to the saddle and back before sunset. Also, the canyon was in shadow for the whole hike. Not good for pictures and I also got a little cool. I was sweating on the way up, but my ears and forearms were very cold. I put a sweatshirt on at the top (after I dried off) and was comfortable all the way back down.

Another reason I thought the Peralta trail might be nice is because my ankles were still a little achy from all the hiking I did over the Christmas break. Well, now I remember that the Peralta trail is tough on the ankles. It isn't real rough, but it's long (for me).

Back in 2004, I remember huffing and puffing quite a bit. I wouldn't have been able to carry on a conversation because I was breathing too hard. This time I don't remember breathing hard at all. Either I'm in better shape, or I move a lot slower, or stopping to take over 100 pictures gave me lots of time to rest.

There are a lot of hoodoos in the Superstition Mountains, and a lot along this trail.

From Peralta_Canyon_2009_01_10

There was also quite a bit of water flowing through the canyon. I was accompanied by the sound of splashing water for most of the hike.

From Peralta_Canyon_2009_01_10

I hurried most of the way up and back down. I didn't spend much time at the saddle, either. I made it back to the trailhead right about sunset. There's a sign-in log at the trailhead. It's supposed to help locate lost or injured hikers. It's in a box (for protection from the elements). Here's a picture of it with a shoe that was lost by a very small hiker.

From Peralta_Canyon_2009_01_10

The Peralta Canyon trail is very popular. It has a large parking area, and an overflow parking lot has been added. Both were full, except for one spot right by the trailhead that I took. Saved me some walking. Ha ha. Since I got such a late start, most of the people I saw on the trail were on their way down. There were people from 5 years old to their 80's on that trial. Boy, I hope I can still hike that trail when I'm in my 80's.

The nice thing about the late start is that I was the only person at Fremont Saddle. On the way down, I only saw two other groups of people on their way up.

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