Weaver's Needle Crosscut Group Hike

Wow, clouds?  Our group of nine, ascend the Bluff Springs trail.  At mile one, I show the group a faint trail coming in from the left, the Cave Trail.  So named because there are several caves along its 1.5 mile length.  I should have never mentioned that as throughout the hike, while not on the Cave Trail, I was asked, "Where are the caves?" or "Is this where the caves are?" ha, ha.

The usual brilliant blue sky is covered for part of today although the clouds add some drama to the scenery.  

After 1.5 miles of hiking, we descend Bark's Canyon where the fire damage is extensive.  At least the vegetation at the bottom of the canyon remains.  Weaver's Needle in the distance.

Water is flowing at the bottom of Bark's Canyon.  We ascend to a ridge, drop down into....

....another canyon having a broad rock base with another stream.  Really beautiful place.  I look for a boulder on which miner A.R. Peralta had inscribed his name and....

....find it.  I opened a water bottle and poured it over the surface to enhance the viewing pleasure of the group.  Only then did I think, "I just poured half a bottle of my water over that boulder.  That's really stupid."  Especially with water flowing through the stream bed a step away. Fortunately, I still had plenty at the end of the hike.

The skeletal remains of burned plants but the roots survive and already, green shoots have emerged.  We ascend out of this canyon and take a break at a ridge.

During the break, most of us explore a nearby formation.

David takes a break as the Needle continues to, if not dominate, at least almost always present itself in the distance.

I know to look for a left breaking trail at mile 3.1.  I'm at 3.5 miles and a tad anxious that I may have missed the trail.  About the time I decide I did miss it and will need to announce the embarrassing news to the group, at 3.6.....

...whew!  There it is.  I had parked a distance from the trail head so that added enough to the hike to skew the trail find an extra .5 miles.  Now on the unsigned, Weaver's Needle Crosscut Trail, we soon see....

....the standing lion formation, upper right.  The walk through Needle Canyon is typically....

....beautiful and it still is but so different.  With all the brush burned, our attention is turned to the surrounding rock spires and other neat features, much of which would normally be obscured.

We reach the saddle below Weaver's Needle.  There is an option to take a cairned route to get a closer look at the Needle as from our vantage point, it is completely hidden, but I opt not to go.  Our hike is taking quite a bit longer than I anticipated and that would have added a good 30-40 minutes.  The wind is rather strong so I suggest we descend to a warmer and more sheltered location.  The descending route through the boulders is no longer cairned and I am glad I have been through here a few times.  The notch toward which I am walking, above is not at all obvious as part of the route.  On the other side....

....a giant boulder balances with an awesome background.

The descent is rather sketchy but a fun, bouldering experience.  Reaching the Peralta Trail, we regroup and make a left.

The clouds have begun to shift out of our vicinity and the sun feels great.  Reaching Fremont Saddle, we have the option of descending the very busy and boring Peralta Trail or descend via the exciting Cave Trail.  

The caves, some shallower then others, are plentiful.  Here again, because of time constraints, I had to bypass one section higher up that had some nice cave examples.  A couple of our members chose to visit and glad they had the opportunity while I escorted the others through some challenging route finding that included...

....descending several steep drainages, visiting the Devil's Bathtub (see last week's report for details) and of course.....

....down climbing the wall.  I guessed the grade was 40% and later checked and it was 41.5%...that's steep and a couple of us had some issues but Marc was always there to assist.  Hey!  I could have but I was taking pics and offering verbal encouragement, "You're not going to make it!"  The experience was complicated by wind gusts reaching 30+mph. After 1.5 miles, we reach the Bluff Springs trail again and....

....descend to our cars.  I finished with 9.5 miles and 2400' of climbing.  I badly missed my estimated overall time (4 hours) by a bunch (6) hours.  I need to build in more time on future, adventure type hikes like this one.