The Peralta Trail - Superstition Wilderness
Posted to OHE on 9 March 2012 by Doug Walker <kaularock2004@YAHOO.COM>
There are a number of quality trails that I've been fortunate to travel. I like a trail that provides a solid workout as well as good views along the way...or at the end. Olomana, Makapuu / Tom Tom, Awa Awa Puhi, Kuliouou and Three Corners / Kealia easily make my greatest hits list. The Flume Trail, a mountain biking adventure above Lake Tahoe, also qualifies.
To this list, I add another. The Peralta Trail in the Superstition Wilderness...Tonto National Forest. This is a top shelf hike. Located east of Apache Junction, AZ...the trail head, about a 35 minute drive from our winter home...is mostly a dirt road leading to a large parking lot with a toilet facility and signage...posted maps etc. It is a known, popular hike.
The trail is a ravine hike 2 miles to Fremont Saddle, the best viewing area for Weaver's Needle. The elevation gain is 1,400 feet and the trail gradually gets steeper...but switchbacks ease the pain, making Fremont Saddle reachable by many. It took me an hour and 17 minutes to reach the saddle, moving at a very steady pace.
The trail is a fantasy-land of of southwest geography from your first step. Organ pipe and other unique, eroding volcanic formations treat your visual sense the length of the trail. And when you reach Fremont Saddle, Weaver's Needle sits right in front of you...rising 1,000' above the desert floor. Frankly, I was stunned...very pleasantly.
A half hour later Annmarie joined me and we hiked another third of a mile around to the forward viewing point. Few people hike this far and we had it to ourselves. The aina. Very spiritual. AM was smitten.
An hour or so later, as we headed down, we passed a professional photographer lugging a big tripod up. He said a full moon was rising behind Weaver's Needle just after sunset. Wow! We were sorely tempted to hike back up with him.
PS: Anybody else on the list done this hike?
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