been wanting to get out in the supes lately, and this loop has been on my list for a repeat
denny, john and i set out just before 0700
went clockwise, to avoid later crowds on peralta and ascend the loose rock on terrapin
have only been on the northern part of peralta trail and terrapin once
most of peralta seemed familiar, but much of terrapin did not
cool to start with
took a break along the short segment of dutchman
very pleasant scenery and temps throughout the hike
started seeing a few people once on bluff springs trail
finished just before noon to a packed parking lot
very little water out there
nice to be out with the boys again
denny and john sprang for street tacos at mi casita in chandler - yum!
good times

Classic loop after a day of rain. Too bad there were only a few small pools here and there, nothing much. Didnt see anyone at all on the way to Fremont. Actually didnt see anyone until I got on the Terrapin trail. This was my first time hiking the Terrapin and I liked it. It was a nice challenge and a different perspective. My favorite part of the hike was right around Bluff Saddle. It was a strange flat rocky area unlike any of the hike previously. Almost out of this world looking. Good to be in the Supes.

Enjoyed the route, the weather I could do without. Bruce covered our day top to bottom.

Putting this route together I was looking to extend Robbers as much as possible. Rain hampered the mega loop so we stuck with a respectable loop. The key to the loop was getting down from Weaver's Overlook to Terrapin. Low and behold I stumbled upon a route by @juliachaos that helped bridge the gap!

Heading north on Weaver's Overlook Route Scout showed the turn coming up soon. My waypoint rattled off turn into the abyss. Surprisingly the turn was cairned and looked well traveled. Tensions eased a touch. With all the recent rain everything was very green. The route is fairly well cairned with a hiccup or two. We wanted to follow it out but needed to get over to Terrapin in the Crosscut vicinity.

After a busy week I stumbled upon the rest of the story... backwards. @Nonot has a great description for Barks Canyon - Complete Route. Soon that led me to @Fritzski on his Barks Upper Canyon Loop. Which in turn he put together from the Grand Poobah Jack Carlson.

Based on the above two mentioned descriptions the route off Weaver's Overlook down to Barks used to be a bloodbath. I faired well in shorts. Abandoning the route directly over to Terrapin there was one nasty section. Bruce led since he wore pants. I followed step by step without issue. The route down was more fun than a concern. Hope to explore the area more someday.

Wildflowers
Paint brush, blue dicks, fairy duster among others. Saw a bunch underway that could bust a move in a week and change the horizon.

We did this loop starting from the Lost Goldmine Trailhead. The first car in the lot, shared only with 20+ porta-potties for Sunday's marathon.

We opted for a CCW loop, starting on Bluff Springs #235. This is always a good way to get the heart started first thing in the morning, climbing cardiac hill.

I'd never been on the Cave Trail #235 going this direction. I think I like it better. Lots of interesting rock formations, the Devils Bathtub and then climbing up the Devils Slide. The cairn collection seems to have been slimmed down at "The Cave".

Joe found us a well cairned and used track down the east side into Barks Canyon. We tried to play out the well used path, but it started taking us in the wrong direction. We reversed our direction and bushwhacked over to Bluff Saddle.

Now on Terrapin #234, the off and on rain, was on for a while now. This trail has seen a very recent and welcomed trimming.

On the Dutchman #104, we were looking for some shelter from the rain and wind to have some lunch. No luck.

It finally let up a bit on Peralta #234 enough to have a brief bite.

Also the first time climbing to the Robbers Roost from Peralta, a nice change up. We had the Roost to ourselves.

The sky was starting to get noticeably darker. Starting down my least favorite trail in the Supes, West Boulder Saddle, the deluge hit. Nothing like hiking down a steep, loose, rocky path, while holding an umbrella with glasses that are fogged up.

Another fun day in the Supes....

The plan was Weavers and then Bluff Mountain summit from the southwest ridge, back to Eli Anderson, Bluff and TH. Jackie and the pups came along for this one, however, with the expectation of being spectators for Weavers. It was apparent from the start that this was going to be a wet foggy day, however, I still held out hope that Weavers would be dry enough to summit.

Weavers was in fact dry enough and someone left a line behind making the difficult first part of the climb pretty harmless. The scramble up was slick in a few spots, but never felt in danger. Chilly, windy and zero visability on the summit. In fact, throughout the entire hike to the Needle, we never saw it until we got to its base. I kept thinking the wind might blow the fog out of there, but it never did and the fog lingered the entire day. No worries though, as I enjoyed the little climb and scramble up Weavers. After meeting back up with Jackie and the relieved dogs, we backtracked to Terrapin. I then realized that I did not upload the route of Bluff via the SW ridge, but not to be deterred, I suggested we at least walk down to that area and look for something indicating a route up. We turned off the trail at some cairns and found a few more, but I was not overly confident it was the route and felt we were most likely on the wrong ridgeline, from turning off too early. After that wasted endeavor, it was to a fun little set of waterfalls off Terrapin, where I then proposed we just complete the Dutchman, Peralta Loop since we had gone so far down Terrapin already. I told Jackie that, "I could not imagine the loop leading to more than a 12 mile day." We came in just under 16 miles after taking Terrapin down to the Dutchman and then across to the Peralta Trail for our return to the TH.

Despite the higher than expected miles and wet conditions (on and off light showers) we enjoyed the loop. We were finally able to enjoy some nice views of the relative surrounding area and the Needle around 3 p.m., the opening in the fog lasted about two hours and then it was back to 50 feet of vision for the descent down to the TH. We finally broke at 6:10 p.m. and put our head lamps on for the final few minutes on the trail.

In the end it was really nice getting out to an area in the Supes where it is hard to go wrong when there is flowing water. It could have been a little dryer, but we prevailed, however, spent several minutes discussing our regret in not bringing our rain pants. We only ran into a couple of hikers all day and never passed a person on Peralta. The loop may have been long and the conditions not ideal, but it was nice to achieve solitude in such a popular area of the Supes. The SW approach to Bluff looks cool, will probably be out there shortly, but with a route.

The plan was to hike the Bluff Spring Mountain summit loop but when we reached the point to turn off Bluff Spring Trail and begin the ascent, the thickets of cat's-claw quickly wore out their welcome. Not being prepared for this much thorny brush Tracey was having none of it.

We were prepared for 8.5 miles and ~2500' AEG so let's see... make it a Weaver's Needle loop instead? Should be similar? NOT!

Not having pre-loaded Terrapin, Dutchman or Peralta Trails on Route Scout we took a WAG and figured adding maybe another few miles. WRONG! We added over 60% in distance and 40% AEG so by time we were dragging ourselves up to Fremont Saddle on the return we were already out of water and almost out of energy. Although now all downhill it didn't seem to be any easier, what with the knees complaining and the extra mental effort after a few close calls to make sure every foot placement was perfect on the sometimes loose rocks. But with a bit of extra care we made it back to the car where we had extra fluids.

I hadn't been on the Terrapin Trail in well over a dozen years and Tracey never had so it was nice to see familiar landmarks from a different viewpoint.

Welcome back to the Supes

It was a really beautiful day for a hike with Claire, 9L, and Lily. It got a bit toastier than expected and I worried about Lily a bit but she really pushed through this one with shockingly little complaint. Her back pads are still a bit of an issue. I had to stick the boots on her back feet for the last three miles. We gotta get those things back up to par-- we got hiking to do

As for trail condition-- Peralta beyond Fremont saddle has definitely been worked on. Its in the best condition I've ever seen it. Terrapin is pretty tolerable-- there's some catclaw issues in a few spots but not enough to warrant complaint. We definitely did not get shredded today as expected.

I hiked the Weaver's Needle Loop with some co-workers in connection with a fundraiser that our company is sponsoring. We hiked in a clockwise direction from the Peralta TH.

It was a gorgeous day with plenty of water along this route. There was a slight breeze early, increasing to occasional gusts in the afternoon. In spite of the fabulous weather, we saw just three other hikers on the day, all of them along the connecting portion of the Dutchman trail.

Vegetation is pretty thick along the sections directly east and west of the Needle. Along the east side, you have to burrow through some sections of the trail, much to the dismay of one of my bare legged co-workers. I was out here a few weeks ago and left a blood trail myself, so I let everyone know beforehand to prepare accordingly. They were warned!

In spite of a couple of rough sections, we all had a good time on a great day for a good cause.

I looked at the Saturday forecast on Thursday and saw that the temps would be in the low 90’s with a breeze of 10-15 mph and a slight chance of rain. Cool morning temps, not too hot, some breeze and possibly some cloud cover. I figured that was worth a shot at a day hike in the Superstitions. I chose Weaver’s Needle Loop in the counter clockwise direction.

I left the Peralta TH a little after 5:30, barely light outside, and headed up Cardiac Hill. It’s a good way to start your hike. You get your second, third and fourth winds out of the way in the first mile and get a nice break for the next mile plus. Once past the heart thumping start, the rest of the Bluff Springs trail offers fairly easy terrain and wonderful views all the way to the intersection with the Terrapin trail. There was still a fair amount of water from the last rainfall as I passed Barks Creek.

The Terrapin trail was enjoyable. The views in some areas were stunning. I found myself taking too many pictures and cursing myself because the last leg on Peralta would be exposed to a warming sun. I needed to keep moving! The vegetation in the area below Weavers Needle was overgrown and barbed. The walking stick I brought with me to beat the bushes and rocks ahead of me for snakes allowed me to push most of this stuff aside. Often, though, an arm or leg would get caught and I would have to stop and unravel (I should have worn long pants and a shirt with sleeves). It was slow moving through this area. I saw a white tail deer just after Terrapin Pass, but it bounded away and down a hill before I could get a picture.

There was water in the creek near the junction of Terrapin and Dutchman. After passing below Black Top Mesa along the Dutchman, I stopped to eat and rest for a bit at the creek in East Boulder Canyon. There was a fair amount of water there, too. I noticed a nice campsite close to the creek.

It’s time to get moving again. It was warming up and I wanted to get to Fremont Saddle before it got too warm and my nice hike turned into a slog. After a short distance, I turned left onto the Peralta trail and the last leg of the hike. Heading south, views of Weavers Needle were ever present. I found myself snapping too many pictures again. Keep moving! As the trail approached Weavers Needle to the west, I ran into the second rattler in a week. This one had black and white rings below the rattle. Beautiful. Okay, another picture!

I reached Fremont Saddle nearly six hours after I started. The sun was directly overhead when I got there. As I descended from the Saddle on the upper section of trail where there is lots of slick rock, I could feel the heat radiating off of the rock. I felt like I was in a toaster. But then that breeze I mentioned earlier kicked in. Relief! I passed a guy on his way up the saddle, the first person I’d seen all day. I passed another two gents who on their way down.

This was a very enjoyable hike, but I was glad to be done. Time for some A/C!

Our yearly Weaver's Needle Loop hike. We took a small detour and hiked down into Needle Canyon off Terrapin Trail to try to locate Al Morrows water hole. We made it into the canyon, which was very tough going, at one point I stopped to see how Ryan was doing to see his beanie hat off his head at the top of a cat claw bush, and him fighting to release himself from the bush. Pretty funny from my view but not so much from his. We eventually got to the area were the water hole would be and we found 2 deep wells that could be it, although they were both relatively dry. Made our way out of the canyon and resumed the loop. Great overcast weather and as always a FANTASTIC hike.