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!

Thursday and Friday, November 29 and 30, 2018 (Picacho Peak State Park, AZ)

We had a very lazy day Thursday. It was mostly cloudy all day...such a change from what we had enjoyed the past week. Steve mainly worked on picture editing while I did some baking and a little crocheting. We did get 2 blogs posted, though...still wondering if we are ever going to get caught up LOL!

We did get outside for a little fresh air and exercises. We walked around the campground...our site, with Dave and Leslie behind us...

Looking towards the I-10 hwy...

Picacho Peak sure looks different from this angle...

We sat outside for happy hour...enjoying the propane campfire...

One of Arizona's fabulous sunsets tonight...

The rain and wind woke us up in the wee hours Friday morning. Steve heard the fridge beeping...usually meaning we're out of propane. But we had electrical hookup...oh, oh! The fridge had turned off with a high limit warning. Oh great! What next? He turned it off and will deal with it in the morning.

Needless to say, neither one of us had a very good sleep last night. Once up, Steve tried to get the fridge going again...this has happened a few times in the past and he has always been able to fix it, but not this time. There's a safety high limit module that turns off if the temperature gets too high, to prevent a fire, but it has turned off a few times before when it got wet from a wind blown rainfall or accidental splashing from washing the rig. It can normally be reset by placing a strong magnet on the back of the module behind the LED light...it may take up to 60 seconds to reset. 

So he spent considerable time not only on the phone trying to find a mobile RV tech to come out, but researching online trying to troubleshoot the problem. The nearest mobile tech was too busy to come out so recommended another guy in the area. But first he had Steve cut into the insulation to check for evidence of a refrigerant leak. Steve made a small cut and didn't see any yellow powder in the yellow insulation. He called the other tech and was told that he would be there in half an hour….but in the meantime, he put the module back together and tried it again…and it worked! He decided to go ahead and have the fellow come out to inspect it for a leak...all seemed okay, that will be a $110 call-out charge, please.

In the meantime, Dave and Leslie had issues of their own. They had received a text from one of the fellows taking care of their house in Bonnyville….the pump stopped working in their septic tank. So he was dealing long distance with that fix. Leslie also realized that in order to maintain her x-ray licence,  she had to print a form off, sign it and email it back They came over to use our printer but we hadn't used it enough and the ink had dried out...sheesh! After many attempts to make it work, we finally gave up. Dave called the park office to see if they could print off a one page form….no go…they suggested they try the library in Eloy.

So off to Eloy, we went...besides, it was a good opportunity to go to the Thirsty Donkey Tap House in Casa Grande for lunch. After hitting the library and taking care of Leslie's license renewal, we went to the Thirsty Donkey...and had a great lunch and a brew. No one partook in sampling the 40 self-serve beers on tap, though...their regular beer special was good enough for today.

On our way out of Casa Grande, Dave suggested we go to Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort and see if they will let us drive through and take a look. They had no problem with that, so in we went. We knew fellow RV friends, Dave and Diane, were staying here but didn't know their site number. But as we were driving around, we just happened upon it....that looks like their motorhome, and there's a 'for sale' sign on it...must be them! And it was. So we popped in for a quick visit...thanks for being so hospitable, Dave and Diane! It was great seeing you since you're not planning on coming to Q this winter.

We were home just before 5:30. I prepared a spaghetti squash for baking and then we went over to Dave and Leslie's for happy hour. Leslie had made her spaghetti sauce yesterday and likes to let it sit for a day to bring out the flavour, so tonight was a spaghetti dinner. She cooked pasta and garlic toast and I ran home to get the spaghetti squash...and we enjoyed another delicious dinner!

By the time we were finished dinner it was going 8:00...time to go home and chill in front of the TV until bedtime!

Today was obviously a "no picture" day...not one picture was taken! Oops!