Picacho Peak State Park: Hunter Trail

After my hike up Piestewa Peak last night, I got out of Phoenix and headed south towards Tucson. I made it as far as Eloy, AZ and even got some dinner at Culver's. This morning I awoke early and made the short drive down to Picacho Peak State Park. I arrived just after the park opened and headed over to the trailhead for the Hunter Trail.

After arranging my pack I hit the trail. The walk was pleasant with lots of great views.

The trail seemed tame enough as I slowly ascended the distinctive Picacho Peak among plentiful saguaro cacti.

The hike remained pretty tame until I reached a saddle between the main Picacho Peak and a small sub-peak. From the saddle there was an extremely steep descent along the west side of the mountain. It was so steep in fact, that there was a cable handrail to hold onto as I made my way down. This would be a sign of things to come.

After descending down to an elevation roughly that of the trailhead, the trail began to ascend again. There were some extremely steep sections and lots of cables to hold onto. In fact, I would call this ascent less a hike and more of a scramble. The cables added to the fun of the hike and after a short time I ascended through a forest of saguaro,

up a last cable section

and onto the summit.

There were great views of the surrounding desert and the interstate connecting Phoenix with Tucson. A little ground squirrel friend joined me up there.

Perhaps he or she was used to getting scraps of food from hikers.

After a short time on the summit I began my descent.

While I pretty much had the place to myself on the ascent, there were lots of others now making their ways up the mountain. I figured things could get interesting at the cables on a busy day like today (it is President's day after all) and I was glad to be getting down when I was. After the saddle, the hiking got fast and easy

and I was back to my car in no time at all ready to head to Tucson and Saguaro National Park.