Friday Hike – Weaver’s Needle Loop from Peralta Trailhead

Friday’s hike on March 13 started from the Peralta Trailhead.  Bill, Bob, Janet, and I did a thirteen mile route around Weaver’s Needle. (Marilyn joined us for the first part of the hike.) Starting at the Peralta Trailhead, we hiked the Bluff Springs Trail, Terrapin Trail, Dutchman Trail, and returned on the Peralta Trail.  Weaver’s Needle was in view for much of the hike.

Bill, Janet, and Marilyn hike up the Bluff Springs Trail:

This is not Weaver’s Needle – we saw this rock formation early in the hike.

I only managed to get one photo of this snake.  It turned around and slithered off the trail before I had a chance to get more interesting shots. Michael and Sue, in their comments to this post, identified this snake as a Sonoran Gopher Snake.

This is a view from a spur off of the Bluff Springs Trail.

This is (obviously) the intersection of the Terrapin Trail and the Bluff Springs Trail. Route finding was fairly straightforward the entire way except for one spot a bit further on where the Terrapin Trail branched off to go to the base of the needle.

This might be Phlox Tenuifolia, also known as Santa Catalina Mountain Phlox, Vine Phlox, and Desert Phlox:

I think the white flowers are Fleabane:

This is Weaver’s Needle.  We saw it before this point too, but the view was not as impressive as this or later photos:

Bob, hiking on the Terrapin Trail with Weaver’s Needle in the background:

I think this might be Battleship Mountain:

This relatively small rock formation blocked our view of Weaver’s Needle for a time.

This is still Weaver’s Needle.  It looks very different from this side.

Bob, Janet, and Bill:

Goodding’s Verbena:

This was the view of Peralta Canyon as we (mostly) descended back to the trailhead.