Hiking Peralta Canyon Trail

 I was just starting to move around when the phone rang this morning at 8 o'clock.  It was a young lady from my agent's office.  We had a nice discussion and she explained to me that I had done correctly and filed a claim and I only needed the one claim.  She sent me a link to the claim, so I could update it with the information about what happened and upload the receipts I had for their evaluation and payment.

My brother, Richard's son owns 80 acres of land on Merritt Island, Florida and they have been clearing it slowly over the last few years.  Their entrance road developed a new bump.

One big alligator!

It is cloudy out this morning, but a nice warm 56 already.  I wanted to go back to the Peralta Trail and hike it today, but with the clouds, I'm not so sure.  I was planning to go online and update my claim after my coffees and breakfast, but the sun made an appearance.

I decided to put the claim stuff off and  do it later after my hike, so off we headed at 11 o'clock for our day of hiking.  As I headed up the road from Kay's house, there were turkey vultures in the road eating a dead squirrel and when I approached, several flew up to a neighbor's fence.

Turkey Vultures

By the time we got to the Peralta trailhead, it was 1 o'clock and I figured we had plenty of time to get up and down from our hike before sundown, easily.  The online description of the Peralta Trail is 5 miles total.  The goal of the hike up Peralta Canyon is to reach Fremont Ridge overlook where we would get a clear close-up view of Weavers Needle.

Five miles on flat land is hard for me, but five miles of up, down, windy, rocky trail turned out to be almost more than I could handle.  I am going to break this hike into two days because I don't plan to do much tomorrow and let my feet and legs get well.

Yuma leading the way into the canyon.  Trail starts out rather flat and smooth.

Beautiful canyon walls.

Look what red eyes you have.  Not sure the name of the bird.

Looking up the canyon.

Looking back down the canyon.

Beautiful little waterfall from the recent rains.

Yuma leading the way, as usual.

Stand-off.

Canyon walls.  Lots of pinnacles.

Yuma checked out everything.  He just loves running and walking on trails.

As I got close to the ridge, my feet were fading fast.  I kept stumbling, but luckily, I caught myself each time and didn't hurt anything but my pride.  A family of three were slowly making their way the final leg and we hooked up.  The young man, Marcus, took a real liking to Yuma.  He is at the perfect age where this hike is all adventure. 

Marcus leading the way.

I think I would have fallen if it weren't for my stick and that boulder.

Another of the pools from the recent rain.

Rina hiking ahead.  Mother of Marcus.

Balancing boulder.

Marcus and Yuma checking out a small cave.

Jim, the leader of our group, with Rina and Yuma.

Jim is very knowledgeable of the Superstition Mountains.  Over 20 years of backpacking on all the trails, there isn't much he doesn't know, except for where the Lost Dutchman's gold is hidden.😄

Belmont Ridge is just beyond that boulder with the hole in it.

Marcus at the ridge overlooking the canyon below.

Made it to the top.  Weavers Needle on the left and the Lone Pine on my right.

So many pinnacles on the canyon wall to the west.

Weavers Needle

Being an experienced hiker, Jim brought lunch.  He and Rina had a perfect spot overlooking Weavers Needle and the valley below for their lunch table.  They shared their rations with me and Jim even had some Tylenol.  I probably would not have made it back down the mountain without those little white pills.

Yuma is hoping for a snack.

Looking down the Peralta Canyon.

Lone Pine

We will continue tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by.