I have been wanting to do this hike since I moved to Arizona, fortunately yesterday worked just fine and I chose to go for Hunter trail.
Distance: 2.4 miles out and back
Elevation: 1,958 feet
Rated: Hard
Picacho peak is located in Picacho Peak State Park near Picacho, AZ. I recommend using AllTrails mobile app for directions. Once at the park, expect to pay a park entrance fee (They take both cash and credit cards)
- Per vehicle (1-4 Adults): $7.00
- Individual/bicycle: $3.00
We started from the trail head around 07:30 am, I was already exhausted from a long night of dancing at the Lebanese festival. Anyway, we started from Hunter trail, the map shows the route going up and then merging at the ridge line to take you to the peak (you can ask for a map at the entrance). I couldn’t make sense of it in the beginning as you can’t really see where you are headed to.
I partition this hike into two sections: before the bench and after the bench.
I was getting a little bored on the trail before the bench even though the view was incredible.
The second section was very exciting and this is where the real fun and adrenaline rush starts. In this part of the trail you will benefit from a good upper body workout due to the amount of climbing using cables. Make sure you have gloves with you and preferably full hand gloves ( I wore my finger less cycling gloves and I don’t think they helped as much as full gloves would)
The cables might be a little intimidating, but I imagine if you are physically active, hiked before and have enough strength then you will be able to make it successfully as long as you take it slowly one foot at a time.
On this trail, there were more cacti than I have ever seen in my life, to a point where I also turned to one.
Getting to the top was very rewarding and fulfilling. The view is amazing. We were able to spot colorful train carts and colorful fields.
Not only that, but we also made 2 hiking friends that we enjoyed talking to, we snapped few pictures together and exchanged phone numbers.
I very much enjoyed this hike and I definitely recommend it!!
