1/25 Canyon to Peralta Hike

[CatValet]

Well I guess no one has posted on this yet. Since I got up early to put Flex-all all over my body, I'll put down my thoughts. Valet2 and I went in from First Water on the Dutchman Trail, We met Sande J and Hopalong in Boulder Basin just as they were joining our trail from their route in to Garden Valley and Black Mesa.

We had an early lunch and hung out for an hour waiting to see if the Canyon Lake TrailHead crowd was still enroute or had passed the junction earlier. Just as we were ready to leave, my radio crackled to life. It was our mighty Forum Leader GTG, about ten minutes away. They joined us and we had a second lunch with them, just to be polite...

Sande and Hopalong headed out west on the Dutchman Trail and the rest of us headed south to Fremont Saddle. Selective memory is a wonderful thing. I recall a very modest uphill to the Saddle followed by the downhill tumble to Peralta TH. The climb was higher, steeper and seemed longer than the last time I did it (which was about ten years ago).

This was the longest hike Valet2 has ever done, almost twice as long, in fact, and over fairly rough terrain. She made some comments on the difficulty, and just before reaching Fremont Saddle, was sayng something about, "I see the light, it is so bright and white, I'm coming Grandma..." I think she was getting pooped, and I was too. I'm very proud of her for doing a great job and being a real trooper, and still speaking to me afterwards....(Meeting her was the greatest thing that ever came out of H*Z, at least in my opinion...)

GTG was waiting for us, like the friendly undertaker, at the Saddle. About a fourth of the way down to the trailhead we needed to turn on flashlights as it was totally dark. It was a different world with the trail illuminated by GTG's LEDs and my halogen. The stars were very bright and beautiful, so we just follwed Orion's sword down to GTG's car. That cold beer was great, and worth every penny of the five bucks each he charged us.

We then drove to Elviras to meet the rest of the gang who was already there. After a great dinner and a few more cervezas, GTG drove us back to First Water to pick up our car. Although the trail to Garden Valley appeared tempting, we saved it for another day as it was getting late. -Randy

[kurthzone]

Randy I also posted this trip log in the Events heading under this trip.

This was, simply stated, an awesome hike. The weather was perfect, the company was excellent, the panoramas were awe inspiring, the planning was well done and I'm thinking I would like to do it again. I very much enjoyed meeting and hiking with all of you that I hadn't hiked with before. The group at the Boulder Canyon trailhead was: GTG, CK1, Pat, Tommy B, AzHiker96, Grouphiker, Kurthzone.

GTG, thanks for putting this one together for us. Please post some of your pics and I will post some of mine.

The beginning was not auspicious. Grouphiker decided to impress us with cactus wrestling right at the Boulder Canyon Trailhead. The pricklypear won. This was a very tough fall, as evidenced by the many abraisions, numerous cactus barbs and a knot on the head. ck1, Pat and azhiker96 were first on the scene to wash away some dirt and remove a prickly infested jacket and gloves. GTG whipped out some tweezers and ck1 bgan removing the pesky needles. We all were thinking to ourselves about the seriousness of injuries, but much to the amazement of all, Grouphiker said she wanted to do the hike. She was a little slow at first but began to pick up as we moved along. By the time we had met with the others somewhere near First Water and had lunch and Ibuprofen, she was at the front of the pack and did fine for the remainder of the trek. I'll bet she has a headache today though.

As we moved toward Fremont Saddle, we met up with fellow Arizona hikers CatValet and Catvalet2, Sandy J and Hopalong. We ate lunch, socialized and GTG took a couple group pictures of us and then one of our feet; something to look forward to I'm sure. Off on the trail again we went.

As we hiked, GTG told me a story of Ranger Lou and Orange Peel Pass. Do you all know where this is in the Supes? Anyway, this story got started when I pickep up an orange peel that Grouphiker had inadvertently dropped. Have you ever noticed that as you move further and further away from a trailhead that the plastic bottles and gum wrappers become proportionately less visible? Sure enough, as we got almost to Fremont Saddle, off to the side of the trail was an entire orange worth of peel.

In spite of this, when I got to Fremont Saddle and looked off to the southeast and then back to the terrain we had traversed, I had a sense of accomplishment that can only be understood by those who are truly appreciative of what we have been given in life; starting with the senses and followed by what they perceive. The descent to the Peralta Trailhead was one of reflection of a wonderful day and anticipation of Elviras in AJ.

Back to Canyon Lake for vehicles and then on to Elviras; enjoyed excellent Mex and interesting Geronimo history told by CatValet. Was that guys name Willie Free or Freed or what? I would like to read more on the subject.

This was a great day in my life. Thanks to all of you who were a part of it.

BTW, if anyone wants to know the correct way to adjust a Camelbak bladder with a trekking pole please let me know. I have mastered the technique.
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;o)>

[GTG]

This was my third time to make this trip from Canyon Lake to Peralta. We added a bit of diversity this time by following La Barge Creek to the cut off over to Indian Paint Mine. However we missed our east side trail and ended up west of the mine. This worked out well for us, but ck1 and Pat had to back track to get back to the Boulder Canyon trail. Another nice change was meeting another group of great friends at the junction of Boulder Canyon and Dutchman trails for a few more group pghotos and lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to find Sande J and Hopalong waiting with CatValet and Valet. The trip on up to Freemont saddle was a joy and sad at the same time. There has been some excellent trail maintenance accomplished along the Peralta Trail around Pinyon Camp, however the large pines at the camp have all subcomed to our terrible drought. I was through the area in December of 2001 and wondered how long they could hold on. Now I know. Most of the larger pines have died and someone has started planting cactus in and around some of the more open areas of the camp. We ended up coming down Peralta in the dark. I had forgotten how bright the stars are out there. All in all it was a great day of hiking with great friends.
Thanks to all who played a role,
GTG
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Good things come to those who walk.

[Tom Treks]

Even after the couple of mishaps we encountered (how did that Elmer's glue work out Grouphiker?), and the late start from Canyon Lake, everything seemed to just fall into place. I was amazed that we were able to meet up with everyone at the junction as planned. It was very neat having all of the "Avatars" I have been following the past 7 months come to life. I was surprised to see SandeJ pop out of nowhere on our trail 5 mins before we converged our lunch location with the addition of Hopalong at the meeting point.

AZHiker96 impressed me at the end coming down Peralta to the TH when he decided to run the rest of the way down. I usually run it back myself when doing an out and back, but not after 13+ miles. Those beers sure did taste good GTG.

I still find it hard to believe that we made the whole trek in daylight. It sure seemed we were behind schedule most of the way with a few unscheduled stops.

SandeJ - We made it back to the trail-head about 5:30 or so. Just as the sun was about to disappear to the West.

Awesome time. It was nice to have someone who has done the hike before along with us. GTG gave us some tidbits of info and history along the way. Elvira's was a great idea CatValet. Nice spot for a wind-down.

Thanks again to all who made it happen.

[ck1]

Grouphiker....candle wax works as well....I usually have some with me, but did not have any on Saturday...sorry...hope all is well....
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-Colin

"The Journey is the Destination"

[Daddee]

Man - I am so bummin' that I couldn't make the hike. I went to the zoo with my family instead (the first time for the little boy to see the lions and tiger [there's only one of those] and it was well worth it - he had a great time) - and even after a short day of very easy walking my knee was in some pain, so I'm sure that the marathon hike would have been the end of my knee as I know it.

FRUSTRATION ANGER DETERMINATION

I hate this.
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"Only small minds want always to be right."
- Louis XIV

"...haven't you lived long enough to know that two men may honestly differ about a question and both be right?"
- Abraham Lincoln

[kurthzone]

Some pics of the event:

http://www.extremezone.com/~kurth/canlakeperalta/index.html
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;o)>

[dennisbench]

Nics pics. Looks like you all had a great time.
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"In the first place you can't see anything from a car; you've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees...When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you'll see something, maybe."
-Ed Abbey

[evenstar]

Great pics, Thanks Stan
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John Richardson and Richie Rich, El Perro de Playero
http://members.tripod.com/~evenstar/index.html
http://www.arizonahikers.com
When the Man waked up he said, "What is Wild Dog doing here?" And the Woman said, "His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting."
--Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902