First Ascent, March 2002: I hiked Picacho Peak back in 2002 as part of an Arizona Highpointers mini-get-together coordinated by Ken Akerman. I was on my way to Texas so I stopped in on the drive out of the Phoenix area to join in the fun and hike this imposing peak. It's a well-known landmark along Interstate-10 southeast of Casa Grande and Eloy, not long before Tucson. Its summit looks impossible to reach without advanced skills and gear, but sometime back in the past (1930s?), railings and planking was put in on the trickier spots since the summit at the time was being used for some purpose. Whatever purpose that was, it isn't there any more, but the railings are, thus making what would probably be a tough class-4 climb into a moderate and fun mid-class-3 hike. Make no mistake - parts are still steep and exposed; it's not like they put in stairs or anything.

I showed up about 8 a.m. and parked along the access road, along with all the other dozens of cars. This is a very popular hike. Plus, today, they were having a re-enactment of the lone Civil War battle to be fought in Arizona, right here below the peak way back then. I couldn't find any nexus for the Arizona Highpointers, so I started asking random clumps of people if they were highpointers. After a few hard stares, I found a group that was; they didn't know where anyone else was either, and none of them knew Ken or could recognize him, so I went to find him. I found him at his vehicle, and as people had started following me, we thus had a half-assed gathering of everyone. Ken announced that we'd all be hiking the long back loop route - an extra few miles is all. Forget that, I said. I was on a schedule, so I started up the usual Hunter Route, the trail that starts up the east face of the peak and is taken by probably 99.9% of the hikers. As others began following me, Ken presumably abandoned his plan because I saw him later on the Hunter route, too. I clumped in with a group of people, and everyone just sort of strung out, going at their own pace.

The trail makes a steep assault up the rocky east bajada, then swings left, switchbacks, then shortly reaches a prominent saddle, all this in maybe a half-mile, maybe a bit more, and gaining about 900 feet, according to the maps. A stiff push, but short and easy, with great views and massive stone cliffs to lean against. This was the turn-around point for a lot of people. From here, the railings and tricky bits ensue.

The trail loses quite a bit of elevation on the back (west) side; a handrail helps a lot as much of it's on bare rock with overhangs. At its low point, it turns a corner then starts up some faces, again with railings and strategic holds and hoists to help out. The trail enters a small hanging canyon of sorts, then up a steep cleft in a sloping rock. Then, more railings and some planking, and a few more switchbacks, and the top was mine. I enjoyed these bits, and admit that without these aids I probably would have not bothered with the route. From the top we had great views of the deserts and surrounding peaks, with the city of Tucson visible off to the southeast. There were a handful of people on top, some part of the highpointers convention. I stuck around for some photos, chatted with some people, then got moving. The downclimb went well, but the uphill push to the saddle was a grind. Back at the trailhead I visited some more but had to get moving - I drove another 460+ miles that afternoon, rolling into Van Horn, Texas, after nightfall.

Yes, Picacho Peak is redundant - Picacho is peak in Spanish. Technically, I hiked Peak Peak today. This is akin to the Table Mesa exit off I-17 north of Phoenix. Why we don't have a Rio River in town, I do not know, but I hear Texas has the Rio Grande River...

Second Ascent, January 2008: Eric Noel, a climber from Seattle, and I intended to hike up Newman Peak across the way, but we kept running into dead ends and then discovered, thanks to a hunter leaving the area, that it was the last weekend for dove hunting and that every yahoo with a gun was out there. With all that, and also facing some possibility of rain, we abandoned our goal of Newman and decided to salvage the day with a hike up the famous Picacho Peak. I did it in 2002; this would be Eric's first attempt at it, and he seemed interested. I recall it being a short but hefty little hike and was eager to have another go at it. It was close to 11 a.m. when we finally started the hike.

We followed the Hunter Trail up the steep east face to the saddle, and then the real fun began! I had brought gloves this time. The trail loses a lot of elevation (460 feet according to the map) on the backside, highlighted by a steep sloping section of rock with a large overhang. Steel cables offer hand rails to hold on to, but I still had to work up some courage to get down this section. I had forgotten how exposed some parts were - the rails and cabling don't remove the element of danger or exposure all the way. We bottomed out at a lowpoint where the Sunset Vista Trail meets up with the Hunter on its southwest face. Then it's right back up, a straight upwards push to the top.

As noted before, steel cabling and railings help in some areas, but even then there are some very exposed class-4 bits that need care to manage. Ironically, in some cases the steel cabling seems to get in the way. But I am not complaining. We entered into the hanging valley and then to the crux of the route, if you will, a vertical cleft that rises maybe 25 feet but at about a 60 degree angle. There are two parallel cables here that help but then they narrow up about halfway up so that big guys like me need to turn and wriggle past the tight passage. Not too convenient, I'd say! Once on top we had to wait for some people to descend one last narrow section before we could ascend. Once past that, it was just some simple switchbacks on trail to the top.

I think we made the top in about 90 minutes. There were maybe 20 people there, a lot belonging to a local hiking club. The views were real nice but the cloudiness made for bad lighting so I didn't take as many photos as I had planned. We opted to get started down a bit sooner than planned so as to beat the huge crowd up there. Going down wasn't too bad, really. Just the clefty vertical bit was a pain, otherwise everything went quickly, and we made good time to the lowpoint. The regain to get back to the saddle really kicked my butt for some reason. Then we got in behind a large group of slowpokes, and we eventually passed them. The rest of the descent went quickly, probably taking as about an hour total, not counting times where we were caught in clogs as people waited to ascend or descend the narrow bits.

In all it was an excellent hike and I am happy we did this when Newman had to be cancelled. The stats include the 460-foot drop and regain. It's a hefty little dayhike - I was bushed afterwards! We were back in the Phoenix area by 3ish, had a bite, then went on our ways. Eric was a cool companion and we had a good time on the peak, and I think he was pretty pleased to get this one when he hadn't planned for it.