Sometimes you just feel like getting a little bit adventurous with your hikes and crave something a little more adrenaline inducing than a standard hike. When I came across Picacho Peak, I knew this fit the bill for something I would be interested in along those lines.
Picacho Peak is a fun and challenging hike but it is worth knowing what you’re getting yourself into before you head up this rock. In this article, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about Picacho Peak via Hunter Trail.
Picacho Peak via Hunter Trail Overview
Picacho Peak via Hunter Trail is a hard 3.4-mile out and back trail with an elevation gain of 1,982 feet. It calls for a fair amount of scrambling and maneuvering with cables along steep ledges and gains elevation pretty quickly. It’s a bit challenging and could be problematic for people with a true fear of heights or those with knee issues, but its short distance and protected ledges make it a pretty manageable and highly rewarding hike.
- Distance: 3.4 miles
- Elevation Gain: 1,982 feet
- Route Type: Out and back
- Pets: Yes (on leash) up to saddle
- Difficulty: Hard
- Time needed: 2 to 3.5 hours
Getting to the park and trailhead
The Hunter Trailhead is located within Picacho Peak State Park, about one hour and 15 minutes northwest of Tucson and just over an hour southeast of Phoenix.
Simply head out on I-10 and you’ll see the peak towering near the highway, as pictured below on the left. From Tucson, we took exit 219 and just followed the signs to the park.
Picacho peak will be towering above you so it’s very easy to get to.
The park entrance fee is $7 but we used our annual Arizona state park pass to get in. As for park hours, gates are closed from 10:00pm to 5:00am but the trails close at sunset.
Once you arrive at the trail head, you’ll see a number of parking spots (probably close to 20). There were signs for no street parking but that could be a temporary measure due to the need for social distancing right now.
The Hunter Trail trailhead will be directly adjacent to the parking lot but there is another trailhead right next to it for the Calloway Trail so make sure that you don’t accidentally head off on that trail which is much shorter and more moderate.
We arrived just before 6am and I highly advise you get an early start to the site during the summer. Because we were so early, we had shade almost the entire time on this hike which made things so much easier. Doing this hike in the middle of the day in the summer heat could be a very bad decision for some people.
Also, when we were making our way down we noticed the parking lot almost completely filled up and many hikers were coming up. This was on a Thursday morning. It seemed like a decent amount of hikers were not intending on summiting but still I think this hike can get pretty busy on weekends.
(We initially had the summit to ourselves but if we had waited an extra 30 minutes to get started we would have shared it with a couple of other groups.)
Trail conditions
Throughout the hike, the trail is in good condition. You will likely care most about the condition of the cables and posts found on the ledges throughout the higher elevations, since those are essentially your lifelines.
These things felt pretty darn sturdy to me and I would suggest giving them your trust. If you’re like me, and have trust issues this could be difficult.
It took me quite a while to fully trust the cables which I believe interfered with my ability to efficiently maneuver through much of the hike — I wish I had fully relied on the cables earlier.
The trail is relatively easy to follow but there are a handful of points where the trail sort of disappears into a rocky area and you will need to scramble to see where the trail picks up.
Also, in a handful of cases you will have multiple routes to choose from (though some of these may be blocked off by rocks so pay attention). So I would say there is a small amount of route finding that needs to be done but nothing too complex.
Route description
The trail starts gaining elevation relatively quickly.
In about half a mile, you will gain 600 feet and some people have remarked that the first portion of the hike is the most difficult.
I would not consider the first portion to be the most difficult but it was more of a challenge going uphill than I initially thought it would be. There’s a bit more scrambling on this hike than I thought there would be so it does require more effort.
But in the beginning you’ll mostly be dealing with some large steps.
Some people use trekking poles for this portion of the route and I brought mine but never used them.
Personally, I think it’s better to go without them so you don’t have to worry about going back-and-forth between poles and cables but that’s just my preference.
About .3 miles into the hike, you’ll have your first encounter with some cables. Early on, the cables may not be 100% necessary but they could assist you in getting up some of the steeper portions.
I guess this would also be a good time to mention that gloves are helpful for this hike. They will come in handy when dealing with the cables and also when grabbing some of the rocks when scrambling.
As you make your way up the mountain, some fantastic views will open up.
There are several trail markers along the way that will point you in the direction you need to go. Some are stuck on posts and others are on the rocky walls. Look for the white marks and just apply a little bit of common sense and you’ll be good.
After about 1 mile you will arrive at the saddle which is a perfect place to take a break. There’s a nice little bench to relax on and interpretive panels that will tell you a little bit about the area.
Once you arrive at the saddle, it’s time to begin heading down for a little bit as you wrap around the mountain and prepare to come back up the other side.
As soon as you drop down on the other side, the highway noise from the interstate will be muted and you’ll feel much more isolated. It’s a pretty cool contrast.
This is also where the cables really become a factor.
It’s pretty fun descending with the aid of the cables. The descent gets pretty steep and using the cables makes the down climb much easier, especially if you give them your trust.
Watch out for the wooden steps because stepping on the loose rocks on them can be very slippery. Also, look out for the ledges if you have a backpack and are tall because it can get really tight.
I chose to go down sideways but some people opt to go down backwards.
After you make your way down almost 400 feet, You’ll start to make a gradual incline again.
On this side of the mountain, there will be some pretty steep scrambles needed but again you will have the assistance of cables.
After a bit of scrambling, you will come to the trail junction of the Sunset Vista Trail which is a longer trail that connects to the summit. If you had someone to pick you up, you could make this a point to point hike and go down the Sunset Trail.
Then there will be more uphill scrambling and climbing to do. Again, the scramble is pretty steep and you are high up so if you have a serious fear of heights this could be one of the times where it is challenged. Just focus directly on were each foot and hand needs to go and you will be good.
This is where there is a tight walkway with a protective net which is pretty cool to get through.
I was digging the shadow of Picacho Peak as the sun was rising.
Once you finish this ascent, you will arrive at a beautiful view of the backside of the mountain. Here, there were many tall saguaros blooming in full force which was a great surprise.
You will wrap around this area and then have to do the steepest portion with the cables yet.
Here, you will have cables on both sides of you that you can grip to help work your way up. I found myself using a combination of the cables and little holes in the rocks to work my way up. It definitely required some upper body strength, though.
Once you make it past that vertical climb, there is a little bit more climbing with cables to do before you arrive at the summit.
This portion to me was the most sketchy. Even though I would still consider it to be pretty safe, there was something about the angles I was working with that made me feel like a mountain goat climbing along a sheer cliff.
But again if you take your time and use both the cables and the rocks to assist you, this is not a very difficult thing to get past.
There’s also a cool little plank that you step on here.
Once you get past that, you are on your way up to the summit, you just need to head uphill a little bit more and deal with a couple of small switch backs.
There were a couple of spots where the trail sort of disappears into a scramble and at least one or two occasions where I found myself mysteriously off the trail as a result. But it was not very difficult to get back on course with a little bit of scrambling.
Before I knew it, we were on top and had summited at Picacho Peak!
Enjoy the views up there of interstate 10 and all of the surrounding mountains, which include nearby Newman Peak and many mountain ranges in the distance including: the Santa Catalinas, Santa Ritas, Silverbell Mountains, Tucson Mountains, Superstition Mountains, Tortolitas Mountains, and Table Tops Mountains.
Below is a nice view of Wasson Peak and Mt. Wrightson in one shot.
The way back down requires a lot of attention as well.
Number one, when you are heading down a lot of times you will be looking down which can be a little bit more frightening when it comes to heights so just focus on where you need to put your feet and hands.
But you’ll also be using different body positions and muscle groups to head down then you did heading up.
One of the most notable times this is true is when going back down that vertical area with the double cables.
I decided to go down facing out since I didn’t like not being able to see where my feet were when facing towards the rock. This got pretty interesting so just go with whatever you feel is comfortable.
And again many of the scramble sections will feel much different going down so just take your time and rely on those cables to help position your body and slow you down when needed. In some cases, you may want to scoot on your backside to make things a little safer. Nothing wrong with that.
One final note, if you have any knee issues going down can be very tough on your knees. Consider wearing some sleeves or some type of additional support for your knees to help minimize impact.
Final word
Overall, this is really a very fun and adventurous hike. I do think it is properly rated as hard for most people because it has a lot of elevation gain and only about 1.7 miles and the scrambling does take a toll on your body which makes things more difficult.