Wow! What a hike!!

I don't know what I was expecting, but this hike was TOUGH! Since I had never been on this hike and didn't have anyone who wanted to go with, I went on a guided hike with the park ranger. There were 6 hikers in the group, only 3 of us made it to the summit. While at the summit, another hiker and I decided that since it was much harder of a climb than we had thought, we wanted to make the most of it while we were there; so we decided once we were back down the cables and on the south side of the peak, to wrap up the crevice, back up another 300 feet and come down Hunter trail. According to my recording, I logged 5.20 miles and 2,177 feet elevation gain. I felt it!! Luckily, my new friend was camping in the park and had someone come pick us up at Hunter trailhead and drive us back to the Sunset trailhead for our vehicles.

The hike is beautiful. There were wildflowers blooming. The weather was gorgeous, clear and sunny. Once we were up to the level of the cables, the wind picked up. Wow! That's scary! We were up at the high points, overlooking sheer cliff drop-offs with wind whipping around. The vegetation and rock formations are unique.

It was interesting to go with a guide and find out a lot more about the geology in the area (fun fact- the Picacho mountains are right across the highway, the peak used to be with them, but migrated from fault lines over millions of years.) There is also history right in the space between the two Picacho's of the furthest west the civil war was fought. The Confederates had been trying to get to CA for the gold rush to help fund the war, but got pushed back at that point. Never knew that! The only downside of going with a guide is that you go at the pace of the slowest hiker, which is wise, but just not the pace I wanted to go.

Glad I can now say that I've hiked that, but my body is in no hurry to go back!