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| Hiking | 3.61 Miles |
1,809 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.61 Miles | 4 Hrs 48 Mns | | 0.96 mph |
| 1,809 ft AEG | 1 Hour 3 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Since we didn't get to have our New Year's Eve camping get together at Lost Dutchman Park, Trish came up with the Plan B and made reservations for a couple nites utilizing four camping sites at Picacho Peak State Park.
It was a windy afternoon trying to set up my bigger tent and since it's been awhile, I ended up having to take the fly off and put it back on the right way  . We had pot luck dinner and a nice fire the first nite and then I spent a good part of the night freezing in the 30 degree temps. I didn't realize it was going to get that cold or I would have slept in Tonto 3. You can hear the sounds of the very busy freeway but it almost lulls you to sleep.
The next morning I wasn't sure what everyone was going to do and then Ambika announced she wanted to do Picacho Peak. I told her we needed to get started sooner than later as it would be a little warm in the late afternoon. As it was, we didn't get started until 10:30AM, a 1/2 hour later than I wanted.
We took a spin around the parking area and ended up parking along the road. I think it's so clever the way they have set this us to handle all the cars. And then we were off. We did see some poppies but they were micro-size and hard to see let alone photograph them via the tall grass and other unknown dried flora. I guess the one good thing is, at least, we wouldn't be distracted by the flora taking pictures.
This trail is quite unforgiving on the up parts and there is limited "non-vertical" trail as Ambika called it. We slowly made our way up and were grateful for the shade as we would be for the hike; especially on the way back down this section. There was a constant stream of people of all sizes, shapes and ages. Sometimes I would be astonished at how well these people climbed this mountain; especially when I seem to struggle more than I should.
We took a short sit-down break at the bottom of the first wall before continuing east and then switching back to head toward the western saddle. We saw a most interesting flora which took me nearly an hour to identify. Google lens and Plant Snap were useless in this case so I referred to another site and finally nailed it. We saw a lot of healthy and large Rock Daisies too.
At the saddle we put on our gloves for the trek down to lose a lot of the elevation we had just gained. The throngs of people coming and going continued as we headed down. Ambika is rather short but she amazed me throughout this hike as she went after it and managed some very large steps and drops; especially when they were almost as big as she was.
And now you get great views to the south as you traverse this side of the Peak. I think somewhere past the Sunset Vista junction Eric and George caught us. We would see them again when we crossed over the plank area before the rest of the real trail heads up to the top. A little later we ran into a group that were originally from Montana and Idaho including two older gentleman, two kids and mom. We all had to wait for a slower group to come down that double cabled straight up section. We finally got to the trail that takes you to the top. First time for Ambika, and second time for me ten years later.
We took some pics and had another person take our photo and as usual, I am the giant  . We saw another family come up including an older gentleman that was still smiling. I offered him my rock as it wasn't as far down to the ground. Two other younger girls started to hike down but they were pretty new at this so we passed by them. We never did see them again; I thot for sure they would pass us by. On the straight up section that most people back down, we opted to forward down; not sure why people choose to go backward.
We continued to enjoy the scenery as we mastered the cables; always challenging. And then it was time to go up again and it was starting to get a tad warm but we did have a little bit of shade to go in and out of. We stopped one time to catch our breath before reaching the saddle. And as they say, it's all down from here AND it's in the shade  . We took a few minutes break, me on one rock and Ambika further down on another rock. Her rock was really large and she could actually lay down on it. I told her we needed to keep moving though as I was hungry and she was too.
And like always, it seems to take forever to get down because you have to be mindful of where you're walking since it can be slippery. There were a couple sets of people that we told them the facts about what they were doing and I suspect they would just be going to the saddle. Looks can be deceiving but I think, in this case, we were advising correctly and if they made it to the top, Bravo.
I couldn't get back to the campsite fast enough to get my beer and have a snack. It took longer than I thot to get down so we more or less missed lunch and would be waiting for dinner. We had a pot luck dinner and let me tell you, these arizonahikers.com can still cook awesome stuff including Beef bourguignon by Trish (the nite before she made Rhode Island Clam chowder). Let's see, we also had fresh baked vegetable focaccia, stir fry, pasoli, vegan lasagna soup and a vegan curry dish.
I thot for sure I would have trouble rolling out of the sleeping bag the next day but I was good to go. And yes, it was cold again so I did the double sleeping bag routine that Ambika suggested. It was a great weekend and hopefully we can have a repeat up on the Rim this summer.
Check out my video from 2011 (it's all movies) [ youtube video ] when I hiked this with my cousin Jaelyn. It's still not bad being from what might be considered inferior equipment and not great post-processing on my part.
Watch had to go into low battery when we reached the top so these are the numbers for the climb up:
1.59 miles in 2:33 (low point 2029, high point 3514). Avg bpm 133/ max 162 bpm with 15% at Zone 4 Anaerobic, 43% at Zone 3 Aerobic, 29% at Zone 2 Weight Control, 12% at Zone 1 Low Intensity burning 1029 calories. Total ascent 1.08, descent .14 miles. Temp at start was 59 and sunny with 13% humidity. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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