When I was really young, you didn't get buy a day-pass at Disneyland. Instead, you bought a book of tickets. “A” tickets were for those little kid rides. “E” tickets were for things like the Matterhorn, which of course, was AWESOME!

Picacho Peak was an “E-ticket” kind of hike. The day before, I had arrived at Picacho State Park and had intended to hike it that afternoon. I was past the junction with the Sunset Trail, heading into the final push to the summit when I heard cries for help down below. As it turns out, a pair of older hikers had found the trail too much to bite off, and were attempting to hike out via the Sunset Trail. Unfortunately, they overshot the trail on the way down, and got stuck on a steep scree field with cactus threatening to “break” their descent. I headed down to help them, and ended up hiking out via the Sunset Trail with them. Turns out, they were on a blind date. Oh the stories they'll share…

My original plan was to hike Picacho Peak on Tuesday anyway, so headed out about 8:30am. The weather was perfect, and the views tremendous.

I already knew that the trail had lots of cables to help you ascend and descent the steep summit, and that gloves were recommended. I had heard some describe it as similar to Angels Landing. Frankly, I think it was tougher, steeper and gnarlier than that. The top has a pretty big flat area, with 360-degree views that extend for miles.

I'll remember this one, and look forward to hiking it again!

Total time: 3 hours, 7 minutes.

PRO TIP: The visitor center has leather work gloves for $2! Perfect for the cables. I passed mine on to another hiker who was just heading up as I returned to the trailhead.