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Superstitions & Peter's Canyon

3/5/2018

1 Comment

 
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The Superstition Wilderness is a 90 minute or 2+ hour drive from Oro Valley, depending on if my destination is the south side or the northwest side.  Each visit has been well worth the drive time except for today.  I park at the Tortilla Flat trail head, about 3 miles from the point the Apache Trail turns to dirt.  I begin hoofing it following a very rough "road". 
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The road enters a long abandoned ranch.  Note the ranch gate still stands at the top of the ridge. I had signed up to join a group of 11 but was 30-40 minutes late so was hiking alone but maintaining a good pace so I hoped to catch them at some point.
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Passing through the ranch gate, I could see what likely was the entrance to Peter's Canyon and so it was.
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I found an old cowboy dam where water was once stored.  Saw a foundation or two but no standing structure other than a grain storage bin.  Near here and after hiking 3.1 miles, I found....
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....the start of the official Peter's Trail.  Entering the canyon, the walls soon narrowed and ......
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....saw a few of these stark white trees.  Beautiful in the setting as the sun lit them.  The trail was fairly easy.....
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....to follow with multiple dry stream crossings.  At around mile 4.2 I.....
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....caught the back end of the group.
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Eventually we began to climb toward a saddle.
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OK, nice views but that was it.  Not overly exciting, no arch or cave and after taking a break for lunch, the group would return the way it had come.  I did find out that in a couple of miles, the route entered a 2-3 mile stretch that involved Class 3 canyoneering skills so that would be a worthwhile visit.
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It appeared that the group was going to settle in for a too long lingering lunch so I bugged out and chugged the 5.4 miles back to the trail head.  In the distance, the Apache Trail comes into view and so was close to the car where I finished the 10.8 mile hike with a modest 1500' elevation gain.  Still, a good first hike.
1 Comment
Phillip Livingston
3/9/2018 05:39:50 pm

Nice photos and narrative. It would help to be able to drive that road. That way more hiking destinations could be reached without overnight camping

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    Mark is a long-time cyclist, hiker, golfer and plays some table tennis...ok, it's ping pong.

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