Superstitions

Last weekend I went hiking with my friend (and regular hiking partner) Dallas in the Superstitions, just east of Phoenix. While not the longest or technically the most difficult hike we've been on, it was probably one of the more foolish ones we've done. It was a lot of fun, but involved quite a bit of "off-trailing." From the Peralta Trailhead, there are essentially two parallel canyons - the hike we did (which we found in a book) had you follow a trail up one canyon to a saddlepoint at the back end, and then hike over the ridgeline and down the opposite mountainside to a trail on the floor of the other canyon. Generally I'm not a fan of "off-trailing," especially in the desert (although in a worst-case scenario it's probably easier for rescue helicopters to find you in the desert than in the forest...), but this was in a book, to find the other trail once you get over the ridgeline it shouldn't matter how you get the floor of the canyon as long as you go down, and once you find a stream to follow it can obviously only take you down. So it didn't seem that foolish. The huge amount of rain we've had this year (seriously, Tucson is already approaching its average annual total, and it's only March) meant that we probably found the creek a lot earlier than we otherwise would have, however all the rain also meant that the normal brush (i.e. prickly things) were super overgrown and difficult to get through. Anyways, we made it out ok, and had a good time.

True to my roommate's word, the Superstitions are very pretty. Since I'm a slacker and didn't charge my camera battery beforehand here's the proof, courtesy of Dallas:

Peralta Trail, Tonto National Forest