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| Hiking | 7.28 Miles |
1,400 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.28 Miles | 4 Hrs 19 Mns | | 2.04 mph |
| 1,400 ft AEG | 45 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The morning started out kinda coolish with a light wind blowing down the canyon from Fremont Saddle. I cleaned the parking lot and outhouse and there was only 3 cars in the parking lot so I put on my gear and hit the trails (again).
This would probably be my final ascent to Fremont Saddle for this hiking season so I wanted to see how quickly I can get up there. With so few cars in the lot, I figured my chances of running into chatty hikers would be nil and I could make the trip non-stop. Ya-sure, I soon caught up with a group consisting of 1-girl, 2-guys and 2-dogs but they let me pass with only a "Good Morning". Then I met a hiker on her way down who told me she had spent a wonderful night on the trails before packing up and heading back to the trailhead. When I finally hit the Saddle, I checked the GPS and found that I had made it in 1-hr, 5-min, my personal best 
I took photos of Weavers Needle and the lone Pinon tree then set about picking up trash at the saddle area before heading off in the direction of Geronimo's Cave. I often get questions about the "Cave Trail" by hikers unfamiliar with the trails and hazards involved with making a loop out of the hike and discourage them from attempting the route. Since I hadn't been on the trail myself for a couple of years, I wanted to see what condition it was in and I wasn't surprised at the outcome 
The light wind that had been blowing at the start of my hike had now changed to a swirling, blowing dust storm with gusts hitting around 30 mph. I had little trouble finding the trail to the cave and took several shots of the cairns stacked everywhere along the shallow alcove. My hat kept blowing off so I was destined to carry it lest it blow away and never be seen again 
I opted to pass on the upper caves because of the darned wind and went on around to the steep slickrock and "Devil's Slide" where I descended to the steepest part of the rock face. My hands were occupied, one holding my hat the other hanging onto a hiking pole so try as I may, I couldn't grip rock, and still hold onto my stuff. I finally quit procrastinating and made my way back to the caves and the trail back to the saddle 
The winds kept picking up in intensity as I made my way back down Peralta Canyon so I was really glad to finally make it back to the parking lot. There was enough blowing dust by now that most of the distant features were obliterated or were a faint outline and only a few hikers were challenging the mountain. So I packed up my gear and pointed the truck towards home where a cool one could surely be found to wash the dust down  |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
The trail to the saddle is alive with all kinds of flowers |
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Peralta Canyon |
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Dry |
| | | As you gain altitude there will be no water in the canyon | | _____________________
| On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
