Trail Adventures

I think when I last left here, I was in the Phoenix area, preparing to hike the rough Peralta Trail.  And I thought that was bad….HA!  Just wait.

The hike up and back the Peralta Trail was challenging, with some sections of erosion, and a lot of “rock hopping,”  or struggling to get up big rocks  on the trail, some as high as my waist.  My thighs are rather large, but man, they can lift. They had to lift my big butt up those rocks, and all the way up that steep and long trail. Coming back down was  a bit of a challenge in some areas, but I did it. Not bad for a fat girl who’s afraid of heights.

The Peralta Trail was very busy on that Saturday morning. Normally I wouldn’t like that, hiking with all those strangers, waiting in a slightly wider spot to let them pass. (When it’s me going uphill, it’s not too bad; I get a very few seconds to catch my breath. The trail etiquette is: the person going uphill has the right-of-way.  Sometimes it has to just be the person who has the room to get over.).

Anyway, it’s fun to look at the people, eavesdrop a bit, and secretly giggle at either their attire or their person.  My favorite was a little girl, probably about 4, who had on a leopard print mini-skirt, brown tights, and brown and pink matching shoes. Her mom just shook her head and told me she insisted on wearing that. They start young. I enjoyed seeing the robust woman who was starting up the trail with a 44 ounce Big Gulp , as well as the group of teenage girls who were dressed, quite inappropriately, in trendy sweaters, tight jeans, and ballerina flats, trailing a plume of perfume behind them.   There were many more “sights,” but that gives you an idea.

When I had lived thru that hike, we went to a fun DIVE of a saloon for dinner to celebrate. There’s a long hitching rail out back of the “patio,” and the last time we drove by there on a Sunday afternoon, there were 25 plus horses tied to the rail, while the cowboys and cowgirls were on the patio eating and wetting their whistles.  There’s even a wooden box outside for you to check your guns, please, before entering.  Almost everyone in AZ “packs iron.”

After the Superstitions, we’re headed north to hike in Sedona.  Red rock country, here we come!