A short hike along the Lost Goldmine trail

Sunday was another pretty day; just a few puffy clouds on the horizon. I went out to Peralta road again. I was thinking I'd better go out there while I can. The Arizona Renaissance Festival starts this weekend, which means that going east on 60 out of Phoenix won't be easy for a few weeks. I was halfway planning to walk the length of the Lost Goldmine trail. I've been on it before, though. I was open to distractions.

The trailhead is just before the Peralta Canyon trailhead.

The mountains look different from over here.

Saguaro with a whole lotta arms.

The trail goes along the fence at the southern border of the Superstition Wilderness area. At one point when I had stopped to take some pictures, three hikers came from the other direction and started talking to me. We talked about various trails in the Superstition Mountains. As we were talking, I noticed a "gate" in the fence, and a faint tail on the other side. No, I couldn't resist.

A gate in the fence, sort of.

I could follow the trail for about 30 yards before it faded away. I saw pieces of clay pigeons and an old Penzoil bottle. I thought the trail might pick up again, so I wandered around where I thought it should go. I never saw any sign of a trail out there again. I never saw any more indications that other people had been out there (though I'm sure they had been). It was nice. There was a small hill in front of me, so naturally I climbed it. I took pictures of the hill, but you can't distinguish it from the background. It was hard to do that even when standing there. I stayed on top of the hill for a few minutes taking pictures and enjoying the view. Once, I looked back at the trail and there were four people standing there. It was kind of far away, so I couldn't tell what they were doing. I zoomed in all the way with the camera and it looked like they were just standing there looking at the mountains. I took a few pictures of them, thinking that I might be able to tell what they were doing when I looked at them at 100% on the PC monitor. The people stayed there for a really long time but finally wandered off. When I looked at the pictures later, it looked like one of the guys was pointing right at me. I guess my white T-shirt stood out.

If I had known they were looking at me, I would have waved.

A view from the hill.

When I got back to the trail, I decided to head home. I was glad I did by the time I got back to the truck. I was worn out. Hiking once a week doesn't cut it. The days are getting longer, though. Click below to see all of the pictures.

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