Saturday, December 1, 2018 (Picacho Peak State Park, AZ)

Today was the day! Steve and Dave are going to hike Hunter Trail here in Picacho Peak State Park...while Leslie and I are going to hike the other side of the mountain, Sunset Vista Trail. Here are the descriptions off the website...

Hunter Trail: 2.0 miles; difficult; begins on the north side from Barrett Loop and goes to the top of the peak. The trail climbs a resistant path typical of the Sonoran desert. The route is steep and twisting, with steel cables (gloves are recommended) anchored into the rock in places where the surface is bare.
Sunset Vista Trail: 3.1 miles; moderate first 2 miles, becoming difficult; Travels on the south side from the westernmost parking area and goes to the top of the peak. The first 2 miles are moderate, then the route becomes difficult, steep and twisting, with steel cables (gloves are recommended) anchored into the rock in places where the surface is bare. This trail is not recommended during hot weather seasons.  (Leslie and I are going to hike roughly 2 miles before it gets to the "difficult" part)

We dropped the guys off at the trailhead around 10:30 and then we drove to the other end of the park to our trailhead.

I'm going to pass this over to Steve....

Remember this photo from a couple of days ago...well today's the day Dave and I are attempting to climb to that highest peak!

Don't know what we're in for but I guess we'll find out...

Right from the start it's a steep climb...

Of course we picked a bad day to go being a very busy Saturday in the park...

Time for a breather and take in the view...

All of a sudden we heard a plane just as it flew low over the mountain. We continued our climb and a few minutes later we turned just in time to watch him again as he flew low and inverted over the peak! Wow...that was cool...bet it's illegal though!

Way up on this cliff face is a...

bees nest... (Thinking of you Debbie :)

The trail continues this way...

Two thumbs up...we made it this far and we're still going strong!

We're leaving this younger crowd we passed awhile ago in the dust!

There's a tiny red speck slightly right of centre with people on the trail ahead now heading up to the right...

Parking lot lower left of the mountain below...

Our campsite in the distance just left of the small hill, I-10 hwy to the right...

A shallow cave on the left that would be good protection from the rain if you had to...

There's a private campground to the right of the mountain...

Almost at the Saddle between both peaks...

There's a bench to rest at the Saddle...
DID YOU KNOW?
Picacho Peak has been a navigational landmark throughout history. It helped direct early explorers such as Father Kino and Juan Bautista de Anza. In 1932, a 40 ft. light beacon was installed at the top of the peak for air traffic navigation. Hunter Trail on the south side of the peak was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps to facilitate servicing the beacon which was dismantled in 1965.
When Picacho Peak was dedicated as a state park in 1958, the second phase of Hunter Trail was built beginning on the north side crossing the saddle and connecting the first phase.
The elevation of the peak is 3,374 ft. You are in the Saddle which is approximately 2,950 ft . in elevation....

Panorama view from the Saddle looking at the lower peak...

The lower peak...

Remember this angled slot in the mountain for later on...

Dave's a lot taller than me and the cable is low so he had to go down on his butt...

Now there's just something wrong about having to go back down about 300' when we've climbed this high!

No going down on my butt...LOL!

Where ever you see cables in these photos it's a lot steeper than it appears!

Whew...wonder if there's any more like that?

Yep...more cable work so time for some water...

Don't be pushing too hard on that bolder Dave...I'm still behind you!

We've reached the intersection with the Sunset Trail that Dianne and Leslie are on in the valley floor. We don't think they'll climb to this part of the trail...

You don't want to slip and fall on many parts of this trail!

You can see the trail we came up below Dave near the cliff face...

Holy crap...that's the trail!!!

At a boy Dave...you got this!

Geez...now look at what we've got to climb!

Looking back at the trail below...

We had to wait for a couple of young ladies to come down first...

I made it, Dave's turn...

Hope that fence holds if we slip because it's straight down!

That was the end of the cable work for awhile..and we did it buddy!!!

I couldn't do a 360 degree view with so many people coming up and moving around...

What a view!

A quick bite to eat then it's time to head back down...

We found out later these two young ladies left a friend behind...

At the end of the trail in the distance you can see a person in blue. She's the young lady that was left behind by her friends as she was too terrified to continue. She asked if she could go down with us so we said okay.

We had to get her down some pretty steep stuff. Dave coaxed her from behind while I helped from below. Her legs were short and at times got tangled beneath her so I had to untangle her and hold on without slipping myself. We eventually got her as far as the Sunset Trail cutoff and told her not to proceed by herself and wait for her friends to return. Poor girl!

Okay what's this ahead?

Holy crap! Dave and I looked at one another and wondered if we should go back the way we came. The girls are waiting for us below on this trail so we were committed...or should have been... LOL!

Okay...I'll go first Dave. Luv ya man!!

Yikes that's a long ways down!

Piece of cake hey Dave? We're old hats at this stuff now...LOL!

That was crazy. Easy peasy now except my knees and legs are starting to feel it.

There's that angled slot I mentioned earlier on the left where the cable work starts. This is the backside of the mountain where the trails are the hardest...

Once below we met the girls...

Looking back...

Final look back...

We seemed to walk forever...where is the parking lot?!

Wow...that's still a long ways!

 
Wow...what a hike! For Dave and I that was "our" Mount Everest! If I had known before hand how difficult and dangerous that trail was I probably would have jammed out. With that being said, we did it, and I would probably do it again...maybe :) Thinking back to my parents and their physical condition at my age of 63 they would have only made it a few hundred yards at best. That was a blast Dave...glad we did it and nobody died or got hurt LOL!

Thanks for sharing some of your pictures, Dave!

Back to Dianne...
Leslie and I hiked the Sunset Vista Trail to the point where it was getting very steep with a lot of switch-backs. We found a good spot to rest...and look up...way up...wondering where the guys were. Since we would be a lot slower going back down, we decided to start our retreat...we could hear the guys voices in the distance...and they finally caught up to us. Wow, sounds like quite the hike they had!

The trail back seemed to go on and on...but we finally made it back to the truck...hot, tired and sore! Back home, we all gathered our towels, soap and shampoo and drove over to the shower building for much needed showers. The shower building is well maintained...clean and free showers!

All refreshed, it was now time to relax and reflect on the day. It was an amazing accomplishment for Dave and Steve...and Leslie and I, too, were proud of how far we made it. Not quite up to where the cables started...but high enough for us!