Image Gallery: Hiking: Weaver's Needle
On December 3 (if I remember correctly), I went hiking with my friend from work and his son. We took Peralta Trail to Fremont Saddle and got a gorgeous view of Weaver's Needle. It was a wonderful hike and relatively easy. It took us about three hours to complete the 4.5 mile trek. It's supposedly the most popular trail in the Superstition Mountains and ascends about 1650 feet from the base to Fremont Saddle.
Scott and his son are fast hikers, but I still managed to get some pictures in while hiking. These are among the better pictures. Before Scott told me about Peralta Trail, I'd never heard of Weaver's Needle. The idea of seeing it was exciting to me because I didn't know what to expect. The trip was a lot of fun and offered a wonderful view of something I didn't even know existed in Arizona!
It is still thought by many that Weaver's Needle is a volcanic plug or a cinder cone, but, apparently, that's not the case. According to Tom Kollenborn:
There is one major characteristic that eliminates Weaver's Needle from being classified as a volcanic plug. This is vertical displacement, cause by faulting, along the western facade of the needle that reveals several alternating layers of ash and basalt. If Weaver's Needle were a volcanic plug there would be no alternating layers of ash and basalt. Weaver's Needle is composed of alternating layers of ash and basalt. Both basalt and ash are extrusive igneous rocks, meaning they cooled while exposed to the atmosphere. Basalt results from lava, which flows from a volcano or fissure, after it cools and solidifies. Ash is a pyroclastic which is ejected from a crater, fissure or cone during an active period of volcanic eruption.
If the "Needle" were a plug there would be no indication of layering, particularly that of ash. The faulting associated with Weaver's Needle clearly defines the ash layers which provides geological evidence the "Needle" is an erosional remnant. This erosional remnant was once a part of a large ash and basalt plateau formed millions of years before the "Needle".
2006-01-17 21:22:00
