Picacho, I Choose You!

from wikipedia.org

 Picacho Peak is one of the more hard-to-miss landmarks in southern Arizona. It's a large upthrust of volcanic rock that sits just west of I-10, separate from the surrounding mountains and visible from downtown Tucson more than 40 miles away. The peak's summit is a narrow, jutting spire that sits about 3,300 feet above sea level. It's a dramatic, striking mountain which is instantly recognizable to most Arizonans.

Picacho has historically been a beacon or a landmark to travelers like the Mormon Batallion, or the "miner Forty-Niners" heading for California in search of gold. It was even the site of a Civil War battle in 1862, the westernmost skirmish of the entire war. Its more recent history has been no less colorful. The peak was the (fictional) hiding place of an human resistance cell in Stephenie Meyer's sci-fi novel The Host (yes, I did read it, why do you ask?). It now has its own state park blanketing its base (complete with visitor's center!). And just a bit further down the road is the quirky Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch, a fun roadside attraction that has entertained our family multiple times in the past.

To our family, Picacho Peak has been like a longtime neighbor who lives down on the far end of our street; he's close by, but we've never really gotten to know him. We've driven by Picacho literally dozens of times, as it sits alongside our route to Phoenix. Now that we drive from Sahuarita, Picacho is our unofficial "halfway" marker when we are heading to a temple trip in Mesa. But other than our few experiences at the ostrich ranch, we've only ever walked around the base of the mountain, and gone on a small kid's hike with the girls.

Over the last few years, as Nathan and I have exercised more regularly and lost more weight, we've started craving the opportunity to tackle the peak itself. We know several families that have gone up the peak (sometimes with their kids, sometimes without), and we waffled a bit on taking our girls on the hike with us. The Hunter Trail (which leads to the summit) is known as a grueling, difficult hike. But when Lorelai said she wanted a chance to go all the way up, Nathan decided it was time to give Picacho Peak a try...finally, after years of both of us saying "someday"! At first, he was going to do it alone with Lorelai; however, I managed to convince him to take the rest of us along as well.

"Someday," for us, turned out to be Veteran's Day 2015 (November 11). It fell in the middle of the school week, but there would be no sleeping in for us! We wanted to get an early start so as not to get overheated. As it turned out, it was a chilly day (by Arizona standards...the high only reached the mid-60s; perfect for an intense hike!). We packed along lots of water, Gatorade, and snacks. The hike is close to four miles round trip, and we wanted to bring extra sustenance.

 

The sign at the trail head for Hunter Trail explicitly says the hike is "not recommended for children under 10 years"...or for inexperienced hikers. We blithely ignored these warnings, took our seven- and five-year-olds with us, and headed out on our merry way. The sign also warned that the trail was "primitive"...and boy, was that sign right! I haven't hiked regularly in recent years, but I was surprised how difficult the Hunter Trail was to navigate. Loose rock, gravel, and dirt crumbled underfoot at nearly every step; bushes, grass and trees were regularly in the way; and the switchbacks were narrow and crooked. This was a consistently steep hike; it was murder on my weak knees both during the ascent and the descent.

 

This trail had many sections bordered by thick metal cables, strung alongside the path as hand-holds for hikers. They were absolutely necessary for certain sections of the hike; at times, we were descending several hundred feet down a steep rocky face, or else scrambling up a sharply angled rock wall with no apparent hand-holds. Everyone we talked to in preparation for this hike encouraged us to bring gloves, and I am glad we listened to them. Strong leather gloves would have been ideal, but Nathan found several pairs of gardening gloves that did the trick as well. Aurora's hands were almost too small for the gloves, but she wore them anyway without complaint. Without those gloves, we would have had many blisters afterwards!

Scariest part of the hike. This picture is angled a LITTLE bit, but it really is almost this steep! Yikes.

After more than an hour of steep climbing, we reached the "saddle" of Picacho Peak, which is more or less the halfway point of the hike. At this point, Nathan asked the girls if they wanted to continue up to the summit. Lorelai and Celeste were ready to try, but Aurora was afraid to the point of tears; I think she was worried we might never make it back!

 

 Nathan and the older girls headed off on the second (and more grueling) half of the trail, while Aurora and I sat on a bench at the Saddle and watched them go, Aurora weeping piteously all the while. After several minutes, I grew jealous of the rest of the family; I really wanted to make it to the summit, but I wasn't sure if I could make it with Aurora in tow. After my youngest had calmed down somewhat, I gently suggested to her that we could try the initial descent from the saddle (the aforementioned "hundreds of feet down a steep rocky face"; this descent takes you around the western face of the peak and leads to to the Sunset Vista Trail, which goes to the summit). I reasoned that we could try and "see" if her sisters and Daddy were all right. After a little convincing, Aurora agreed to go.

Picking my way down that steep trail with a five-year-old (while tightly gripping a metal cable the entire time) was one of my more heart-stopping experiences as a parent. I was worried enough for my own footing...I was doubly afraid of my sweet daughter falling and being severely injured! I stayed in front of her for all the descents, so as to catch her should the worst happen. But we went very slowly (luckily there was no one waiting behind us), and we eventually managed to pick our way down and make our way out of the shaded saddle area and into the midday sun. At that point, a change came over Aurora. She gained energy and enthusiasm, and she told me she'd like to keep going. I think successfully navigating that steep descent gave her her confidence back.

Aurora...my constant companion through our many dangers

While I was excited to be progressing on the trail, I had several more moments where I strongly regretted subjecting Aurora to it all. Aurora herself, however, seemed more and more excited as we went...she was determined to catch up to the rest of the family, and she trusted me to keep her safe. I prayed constantly to not let her down...even as we approached more and more steep, twisting paths that were impossible to traverse without pulling ourselves along by the attached cables. Luckily, there were a few experienced hikers on the trail who occasionally spotted us during the ascent; that helped me feel a little less nervous.

As it turned out, we were only about 15 minutes behind Nathan, Lorelai, and Celeste. The older girls had done everything asked of them on the trail, with lots of determination and very little complaining. Nathan and I were both so impressed at their courage, resilience, and toughness. Luckily, our cell phones still worked on Picacho, so we were able to keep track of each other's progress.

Finally, after all our hard work, we were reunited on the summit...and what an excited reunion it was! Everyone was so happy to see one another, and we were all very proud of ourselves for having accomplished such a feat.

 

The sky was a little hazy that day, so our visibility wasn't as far as it otherwise might have been. It was still an impressive sight. The midday sun made our pictures a little glaring, but we'll never forget the terrific way we felt upon reaching the summit.

 

Our descent of Picacho started with a bang...or, should I say, a whoosh? We'd barely started down the mountain when an Air Force fighter jet on a test run buzzed the top of the mountain. It was probably the closest I've ever been to a fighter jet in full motion; it was loud, sudden, and shocking. Our hearts were beating quickly for several minutes afterwards; and our girls, who were already tired and emotionally worn out, were so terrified that their eyes filled with tears and they could barely function for several minutes. Perhaps they were convinced World War III had started!

The descent frightened us more than the ascent in many ways. The sheer walls we climbed would be doubly hard going down, especially with three tired-out kids (the vast majority of the girls' complaining was done on the descent). At one point, Nathan was holding one of Aurora's hands; her other hand was holding a cable. Her feet slipped, and her body flew out over a big drop; luckily, she was able to regain her footing and complete her descent. It nearly gave Nathan and I a heart attack.

Tuckered-out kids; it was hard to get them back up again

 

Once we reached the saddle, though, things got a lot easier going down, if a bit more monotonous. The girls were exhausted, and my old-lady knees were screaming with each step I took. In spite of our aches and pains, we all made it back safely to the car, with nothing more than a few minor scrapes and bruises to show for all our hard work. After cleaning up a bit, we drove back into the Tucson area and devoured some pizza...we needed those carbs after all that hiking!

We were tired and dirty, but very proud of ourselves at the same time. It felt great to check Picacho Peak off our Arizona "bucket list." I am especially proud of my girls, who worked so hard and were so determined. I definitely wouldn't recommend this hike to most young kids, especially if the parents can't directly assist them. However, it was really neat to see that our girls were the youngest people (by many years!) of all those who braved the peak that day. No more will our family drive by that mountain and wonder what could be. Now, we can look at Picacho and say, "I conquered you!" Lorelai said she'd like to hike Picacho Peak again someday, but I for one would like to find another hike to try first. Perhaps something less death-defying! However, I could be persuaded to try it again...once my knees forgive me.