It is impossible to miss Picacho Peak from Interstate 10. The hike from the backside up to the top and back down the frontside is 6.9-miles. The ascent up the peak is 2,240 feet of which steel cables are required in five sections to complete the ascent. Some cable sections are vertical, and one is nearly 30 feet of vertical. The winds picked up on the ascent - anywhere from 25 to 30 MPH. I am sure Spiderman did all his training here. Needless to say, every time I climb this extreme hike it gets my heart going - my maximum heart rate was 168 bpm.
The two-mile hike to get you to the head of the ascent is a beautiful hike even if you don't go vertical.
That peak over this hill is where I am headed
God's beauty can be found even a desert...
Lizard working on his tan
I always hike with pliers in case you get one of these in your shin or calf or shoe or...
A fallen sentinel of the desert (saguaro)
The view of this desert floor will be very different from the top of the peak.
After the start of the ascent one of many blind turns
Midway up the desert floor already looks very different
the path already taken - looking back
A vertical section. BTW in case your wondering who has right of way (ascending or descending) it's the person who has slipped and is falling 😊
More vertical
Three quarters of the way up in the saddle of the peaks,you can see the trails outlined
The end of the hike is at the end of the road behind the campground
From the top it feels like I am in airlinerLooking west at the Silverbell Mountains
Looking at the Tortolita's and Marana
Hugging the cliff on the hike down.The double cables these hikers are hanging onto is what makes this hike so exciting.
After the start of the ascent one of many blind turns
Three quarters of the way up in the saddle of the peaks,
