Hike to Geronimo’s Cave up Peralta Canyon Trail, Cave Trail and down back onto Dutchman’s Trail. It was a beautiful day for a hike. We arrived at the Peralta Trailhead at about 9:45. We hiked as one group again this week. The trail crossed several washes at the beginning, then we started to climb and enjoyed the scenery of volcanic rock and hoodoos. Our fellow hikers noted a few arches when looking up at the right angle. The crop of rocks we were heading toward included Fremont Saddle. There is a spectacular view of Weaver's Needle at the top of the climb where we stopped for lunch.
The hike continued around the back of the mountain up Cave Trail toward Geronimo's Cave. The trail is not marked well because it is not well traveled; we followed the GPS and cairns in order to detect the trail. We climbed up a steep portion of slick-rock to the cave where we could see the charcoal from fires previously lit. We felt like we were on top of the world. A few members of the group scouted out the trail and we followed the GPS and cairns down the slick-rock. We crossed over to the east side of the ridge that overlooks Barks Canyon. Then we hiked back north again and made several switchbacks to the lower ridge. This is still Cave Trail at this point. This was tricky maneuvering and it was very important to have good hiking boots to have traction. As we made our way down the trail there was a very important “T” in the trail where Bluff Springs Trail and Dutchman’s trail connect. Here is where we turned right onto Dutchman’s Trail that led to the parking lot. Because of the elevation and navigation of the slick-rock, it took us longer. The group worked together on this hike to look for cairns and to help each other on the slick-rock. Overall it was a great adventure!
These websites have interesting descriptions of the hike.
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| Weaver's Need |
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| Geronimo's Cave |
Driving Directions: Go north on Hwy 79 out of Florence. Go left (west) on Hwy 60 at the Florence Junction. About 8 miles from the junction, at milepost 204.1, is the first traffic light. Turn right at this light and proceed through the residential area and past the school, then on the gravel road to the trail-head at the end, about 7 miles.
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