January 25, 2023 Prehike for Black Mesa - First Water Trailhead

 

John and I (Nancy) prehiked the Black Mesa Trail. We noticed that the trail in was very rough and cars without clearance may not be able to make it to the trailhead. Most of the cars that were in the parking lot had good clearance. 

There are two bathrooms and plenty of parking. 

We started on the Lost Dutchman Trail #104 and soon came to a stream of water which was easy to cross. At the junction of Lost Dutchman and Second Water, we went straight to Second Water Trail. This tail takes you to Black Mesa and Hackberry Springs Trail. 

The trail is fairly rocky. We walked along a ridge trail along a mountain for short while, then walked down into a few rocky washes. We hiked up out of this area where there are beautiful landscapes and rocky structures. This brought us to a flat area. We met up with a group of young backpackers who had camped overnight in this flat area. 

As we hiked further on this flat area, we met up with a group riding horses. They were headed to Black Mesa as well. At the sign we turned right to Black Mesa. The rocky trail heads mostly up to a viewpoint on the other side. Here we can see Weaver's Needle and the Mountains between. At the top it is 3 miles and a good place for lunch for the medium group. There is a group of black rocks, great for sitting on. If we walk a little farther after lunch, we come across an old campfire pit. This has a better view of the Mountains. 3.2 miles. From here the medium group could head back for an out-and-back hike. 

The long group could continue and walk down into the valley. They get more of a view of the mountains, but the trail is not pretty. There are burned trees along the way. We had lunch at a nice viewpoint. We turned back for an out-and-back hike, but the view going through the valley was bleak as we could not see any scenery ahead of us. Once we got back to the top of the mountain, where the medium group could have lunch, the scenery ahead of us improved as we could look back onto the mountains below and toward Hackberry springs rocks. 

We turned left at the Black Mesa sign to go back to the Dutchman trail and back to the trailhead. 

 We started out on Lost Dutchman Trail 104. At the sign, junction of Lost Dutchman and Second Water, we went straight onto Second Water. 

This is the place where we could go to Hackberry trail, straight ahead then off to the left. 

Turning up Black Mesa

HDR of Weaver's needle. 

 

John went on top of the rocks to see if he could see more of a view

This is where the short hike could stop for lunch. 3 miles in. 

                                                

Things I saw laying around the lunch area HDR.

                                              

As we walked further we were able to get a better view of the landscape.

We hiked down into a valley, burned trees. Then up to see a bit more of the bluff in front of us. 

Where we had lunch - about 4 miles in 

On our way back - I turned around to get this picture. The hike is a little bleak walking out of the valley because there was no scenery in front of us.  

I turned around to get this shot

                                       

On our way back. 

January 18, 2023 - Peralta Regional Park Trails

 Website map for Peralta Regional Park Trails

Link to Google Sheets for Schedule and links to Google Maps, etc. for each hike.

This is a new park filled with short trails. We added many trails together in order to get a 6 mile and a seven-mile hike. 
Jerry, John and Nancy started in the Main parking area which is the first left after coming into the gate. There is a washroom here. 

The black line is the parking area and where we hiked. Starting in the parking lot and hiking through the trail connector up to Oro Vista Trail. After walking a short distance, we keep to the right to go up Wanderer Trail. Wanderer trail takes up to a nice vista, then after going down for a short distance, we turned right onto Oro Vista, We hiked until we came to another trail connector which took us to Saguaro Loop. We turned left onto Saguaro Loop hiked the far side until it turned into Desperado Trail (there is no sign that told us we were on Desperado). We passed three right turns that lead into campsites, then took a left onto North Star Trail. We went out an back on North Star then turned left onto Desperado Trail and followed it around the park boundary. We passed four right hand turns onto campsites before coming to site number five. We crossed at this campsite and across the road trail and short trail connector to Serenity trail. Serenity trail took us to the Interpretive Trail. Then we went back on Serenity Trail to the parking area. 

All Trails link to Peralta Regional Park Trails  If you follow the bottom elevation line with your mouse, you can see where we are on the trail and the direction we hiked. 

This is a beautiful hike in the Superstition mountains with views of areas we have previously hiked. The trails are well defined with small rock surface. A map of the area is needed in order to know what trail we are on. All Trails does not identify trails because the park is so new. There are saguaro, palo verde, barrel cactus, brittlebush and ocotillo. Because of the recent rains there are a few creeks we can cross. There in an interpretive hike near the parking area that is worthwhile to the various signs about history and wildlife in the area. 

Picture of the "Wedding Cake" taken from the parking lot

Parking lot with restroom facilites.

We walked up the road from the parking lot to the Trail Connector to Oro Vista. 

We walked up Oro Vista for a short while to Wanderer, a steep trail that runs up the middle of the Oro Vista loop. This picture is the top of Wanderer, just before we turn back onto Oro Vista. 

This is the beginning of the Connector trail that will lead us to Saguaro Trail .

The beginning of Saguaro Trail we turn left on this trail to hike up to the tip then we turn down the far side. 

On the far side of Saguaro

Far side of Saguaro

An arch on the far side of Saguaro

Saguaro Trail turns into Desperado trail, but it doesn't have a sign. 

This trail leads into a campsite, Lazy Daisy Connector, we don't take it.

This is the Lazy Daisy Connector going to a campsite. 

This is a backpack stand in a backpack camping site

off of Desperado Trail.  

Same backpack site #7. 

Because of the recent rains there is lots of water in the streams

A stream at North Star

This is the trail to North Star, it's easy to miss. Going to North Star is straight, but keeping on Desperato is a turn to the right.

Jerry and John going up North Star Trail

We had lunch 1/2 way up North Star trail. We got a late start in the hike.

The view from close to the top of North Star

A view from North Star 

End of the Trail. Scenic point. There are two Crested saguaro here. The arms are crested. 

View from the top. Green Ocotillo and a glimpse of the Crested saguaro. Not a good picture. 

From North Star turn left to Desparato. Pretty scenery on this trail. 

Desporato Trail 

A restroom on Desporato trail

The trail has four campsite trails off to the right that we don't go down. 

This part of the trail had a wash that could be confused with the trail. 

We came to a corner that had site number 5. This is marked on the map from the park. This is where we crossed the road in a tiny connector trail to Serenity Trail. 

Connector trail leading to Serenity Trail

Serenity Trail leads to the Interpretive Trail. 

                                              

From the Interpretive Trail we headed back down Serenity Trail to the parking area.