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.

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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.

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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.

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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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To the top (well, close enough)

Remember that small mountain I climbed up the side of last weekend? I went back today. The weather was perfect. Mid 90's, light breeze, clear sky. Before I left last time, I was looking at various possible routes to the top. I think I picked the right one today. I looked at some alternate routes on the way down, and they would not have worked. They wouldn't have worked for me, that is. Since I hike alone, I have to be very careful about avoiding situations where I could fall and get hurt. There's nobody around to help or even know that I need help. I didn't have a phone signal today, either.

The climbing was easier this week, too. I haven't replaced all those red blood cells yet, but at least I could climb for a couple of minutes before I was gasping for air. Another thing that made it easier is that the humidity is finally dropping. When I stopped to take a couple of pictures, my face was usually dry by the time I started moving again.

Here's a picture of where I went. If you see where some of the pictures are geotagged, you can tell that I didn't get to the very top. In the picture the summit looks like it's surrounded by vertical rock. It looks like that from up there, too.

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The Superstition Mountains look nice from this angle.

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It took about 55 minutes to get to the top. I spent some of that time deciding which way to go, or changing my mind and retracing my steps. There are spots up there that look like trails, but I think they are rabbit trails. You can follow them until they go under a bush. As I approached the top, the wind died completely. I was back out in the sun, too. Closer to the top, I could hear the wind blowing up there. That motivated me to hurry that last 20 feet or so. The breeze was great.

The closer I got to the top, the more determined I was to get there. The curiosity about what the view on the other side was like was driving me nuts. Here are a few pictures of the view from the "top".

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I decided to get a picture of myself up there. I put the camera on the small tripod I carry in my back pack and pushed the shutter and came to a screeching halt when I realized it had already taken the picture. Oops, forgot to set the timer. Pushed the shutter again and didn't even get in front of the camera before it took the picture. Two seconds isn't long enough. I fiddled around with it for a little while trying to change it to 10 seconds before I decided I would just have to move fast. Pushed the shutter and "dashed" to get in position. Didn't make it. It isn't a good picture, but it is sort of funny.

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Click below to see all of the pictures.

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Just off Peralta Road

It's a beautiful day today, and cool. Only got up to the low 70's. I started out heading for Canyon Lake this afternoon but decided to go down Peralta road instead. I hadn't been out that way for a while.

It's been windy for several days now. It looked really hazy on the way out there from all of the dust in the air. I parked in a small cleared spot next to the road, near a small mountain that looked like it needed climbing. I noticed this morning while doing some yard work that I still really miss all those red blood cells. Seems like I heard somewhere that it takes about 6 weeks to replace them. Maybe the stress of hiking will convince my body to replace them sooner than that. I hope so.

I started up the mountain just to see what I would see along the way. I couldn't tell if I would find a route to the top, and didn't really care if I made it to the top or not. I was going in this direction.

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Here's the view of the Superstition Mountains in the other direction.

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It seems that you can always find something interesting in the desert. Maybe I feel that way because I'm easily amused. Maybe most people find my discoveries to be quite droll. Oh well, that doesn't matter as long as I'm happy. But I digress. Let's see, something interesting. Oh yeah, part way up I saw what looked like a seldom traveled trail. As I was trying to see where it came from and where it went, I heard a metallic rattling sound (remember the wind?). Looking towards the sound, I saw what there seem to be a lot of in the desert; a memorial to a lost loved one. The wreath and pieces of artificial flowers had been scattered by the weather.

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There was a small American flag folded up on the ground near the cross. Normally I don't touch these memorials, but seeing the flag made me thing of our troops in the middle east. I placed the flag in a plastic box full of rocks at the base of the memorial.

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You can see that his (or her) buddies drank some beer, and left some beer there, too. It was tempting, but it was Budweiser so I was able to resist.

The view from where I stopped climbing was nice.

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The wind was really annoying, so I headed down. I drove the rest of the way to the Peralta trailhead. I stopped at the Lost Goldmine trailhead. This sign made me wonder about something. If they do a background check on people buying guns, why don't they also do a brain check? Maybe it's for the same reason that tobacco isn't outlawed; it would put too many people out of business and be a disaster for the economy.

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Click below to go to the web album with all of the pictures (no HDRI today).

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