Picacho Peak is a challenging 3 mile hike. This prominent landmark is between Phoenix & Tucson. Two recommendations for this hike. Try to hike this October – April to avoid the heat and wear gloves (biking or weightlifting type).
I regularly hike with the most amazing group of women. These ladies are fun fit and adventurous. We usually hike during the week a couple of times then try to hit a longer hike on a Saturday or Sunday. Most of our hikes are on the difficult side. Your average person would consider them on their bucket lists for AZ. Some hikes are long which makes them difficult or you need to scramble on the shorter distances. Always our hikes tend to be on the quick side. This posse has really one speed and its not slow! We welcome folks to join us but the newbies tend to be on the slow side and many of us take turns hanging with the person at the back which is not exactly fun because many of us selfishly consider this a workout. We want to get our heart rate up and feel the sweat drip. Some of the gals have competed in marathons, triathlons, and other cycling races. Quite a few of these ladies are gym rats. Basically my type of people. This hike did not have all the ladies in the group just a a few. Denise, Cassy, Dawn, Me, & Emma as pictured above. I am not sure why my mouth is open. Ha!
This hike was the last of the season for me which is bitter sweet. I will miss my group therapy but excited to be get back to the Great Lakes. The season is almost done for them as well because the heat is coming. If they do a few hikes this summer it will more than likely be weekend get-a-ways which will be more difficult to arrange and it takes time away from your family and pets. But I am looking forward to getting back to our normal schedule sometime in October.
Back to the Picacho Peak hike…This 3 mille out and back hike I would consider tougher than Camelback Mountain which is a hike in the Phoenix area. We met up at 6:15 am at a local Fry’s and carpooled to the Picacho State Park. We arrived and starting hiking at about 7:45 am. It was already starting to get hot. We agreed it probably would have been better to meet up an hour earlier during the month of May. Luckily the entire hike was not exposed. You hike around the peak on the climb. So in sections you get a break from the sun.
There are three main sections that you use cables to assist when you climb. This was new for me. I was channeling my former gymnast in me to get through some of those parts. It was at times like I was back on the balance beam or bars. There were times I had to get out of my own head and just take one more step or focus on the next foot or hand hold. Then when a challenging section was over your felt like you accomplished something. Then you think how the heck am I going to do that on the decent. We made it to the top in about an hour time.
We had a snack and got someone from another group to take our picture. They said they were from a secret company near Phoenix. Ok that’s not weird?
We started our decent after about a 10 minute break at the top. Some folks that started the hike right behind us were just starting to make it to the top and commented about how fast we are. We were like yep we are just trying to keep up with Cassy.
After a short decent the first cables were in sight and this is where there is a bridge. This was a relatively short section. The bridge probably takes three or four steps. We all made it through this section no problem. The next section of cables is straight down probably 20 steps and the cables are on both sides of the rock section. Cassy was first but there were some folks ahead that held her up because it’s single file. The lady in the group was having trouble and needed some space and time to get down. We waited for a few minutes before it was our turn. I was second to last to go down this section and I though it was going to be difficult but it ended up being not that big of a deal. The only issue I had was that my left foot got stuck for about 30 seconds. Which when you are in that situation seems a lot longer. I said out loud to Dawn who was taking photos “my foot is stuck”. She was ready to climb back up to help…I tried to jerk my foot but my foot was starting to slip out of my shoe. So I was thinking I better not do that. So I shoved my foot back in my shoe and just giggled my foot back and forth and side to side instead that did the trick. I was free and stopped holding up Emma and the traffic behind her.
The remaining cable section was like a stair master with cables. We were all thinking I’m going to feel that in my glutes later. Once you complete that section it is basically just a moderate hike to the car park. The only concern was the amount of sun in this section. We all had plenty of water to get through to the end. Overall this hike took 2 hours 27 minutes with a 1,789 foot elevation gain. The time included the break at the top I forgot to stop my watch up there.
My overall thought of this hike is that it is an awesome workout. There are better views on other hikes we have done. I probably will do this hike again.
Road Warriors 