Weaver's Needle Cross Cut Hike

Ahhhh, the Superstitions, home to many great destinations; Flat Iron, Lower Labarge Box Canyon, Geronimo Head, Superstition Peak, Robber's Roost, etc... Now that the temps have finally moderated, it's a worthwhile drive from Oro Valley to revisit a favorite, Weaver's Needle Crosscut.

It's a steepish climb from the Peralta trailhead via the Bluff Springs Trail. Awesome views quickly clear the horizon as I climb 500+' in 0.6 miles. At that point, I gain....

....awesome views into the interior of the Supes.  The lack of a monsoon, coupled with ongoing drought has.....

....left the landscape looking rather dry and brown.  But at least this view has vegetation because as I descend into a canyon, evidence of.....

.....this summer's fire, abound.  A ranger told me there have been several bighorn sheep sightings as they have lost much of their ground cover.  He was hiking near a ravine that still had thick vegetation and heard the growl of a large cat.  Probably a mountain lion feeding on something, issuing a warning.

Eventually, I drop into this canyon floor where often, water is found trickling through it.  Not today of course but I was surprised to find a small pocket of water and imagined it is visited frequently during the night by all the critters.  Soon after exiting this lovely spot, I.....

....encounter more stark examples of the burn.  The trail rises to a ridge then falls again and looking.....

....back, quite the moonscape appearance.  At least the trails are in good shape and easy to follow, so far.  

I reach the Terrapin Trail and hang a left here, departing from the Bluff Springs Trail.  I see a man with a backpack and dog fairly close off trail but they are upwind on a very windy day so I decide not to shout something.  I encountered no one else on the entirety of my hike, until later, when reaching Fremont Saddle.

I knew the Crosscut Trail began about 3.1 miles into my hike so made sure not to miss the left branching and pretty obvious, unsigned trail.  I climb to a ridge and descend into Needle Canyon.  During this hike, I paid a lot more attention to the slopes above me just in case I could spot a four legged animal.  I saw none but did see.....

....the above rock formation.  To me it appeared to be a standing lion.  Later, I was told in fact it is known as the "Standing Lion" rock formation.  The walk through Needle Canyon was a bit eerie.  On past visits, it is a beautiful area but today, just so stark and strange.

I am headed toward the saddle in the distance, to the left of an emerging, Weaver's Needle.  This being my 4th time doing this hike, I relied on memory to see me through but I should have done some research because I ended up.....

.....one rock formation too far to the south and had no view of the Needle, once I was adjacent to it.  I poked around in here and it appeared I could circle around on the right but decided to keep going.  I descended into a boulder strewn ravine where....

....it was a refreshing sight to find an unburned area.  I encountered a "Y" intersection that I had not previously noticed on past visits.  I began to descend the right arm but the trail became faint and I decided the left arm was the usual route. It was as I regained the intersection and began a very fun descent through the boulders.

A good view of East Boulder Canyon with an obvious point of demarcation between a burned and unburned section of a ravine.  I was kind of relieved to see this because it made access to the Peralta Trail (seen upper part of the image) a whole bunch easier.  Looking back....

....I had navigated through the above.  The route is not always obvious so a couple of times I had to stop and evaluate the route options.

Reaching the Peralta Trail, I hung a left and began the gradual ascent toward Fremont Saddle.  The views to the northwest are awesome but even more so.....

....from the saddle, the view of Weaver's Needle.  It appears the "lone pine tree" to the right of the Needle survived the fire.  That is good news as it is kind of iconic and a great destination.

From the saddle I still have a little over 2 miles to go.  Reaching the parking lot, I finish with 8.1 miles and 2100' of climbing.  The moderate temps have opened up many hiking options so trying to decide what to choose next.