Back to Picacho Peak

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In the middle of March last year, we stopped near the town of Eloy Arizona about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. Picacho Peak State Park is located there. We weren't able to get into the state park then because there was a civil war reenactment going on and the campgrounds were booked. We had stayed at a private campgrounds less than a mile away so it was very convenient to visit the park. This year we knew we were spending the whole month of March in Tucson and needed to work our way in that direction so we were able to reserve a spot in the park about a month in advance. We were drawn back to the area so check out the hiking in the park more thoroughly. Last year I was feeling a bit under the weather during our stay here so we couldn't do all we wanted to. This year we plan on rectifying that situation.

As we finished up our RV weighing session at North Ranch in Congress, we were talking with George and asking him about the best route from there to Eloy through Phoenix. His response was "I wouldn't drive through Phoenix even on a Saturday!" His suggestion was to head down to I-10 but head west a dozen miles and take Arizona 85 south to Gilda Bend and I-8. This route is about 25 miles longer but will avoid all the traffic and delays through Phoenix. We stopped in Gila Bend across the road from Holt's Travel Center to have lunch since we had some time to kill prior to checking in at Picacho Peak.  I headed over to check the place out since it isn't just your typical truck stop. They have numerous large metal dinosaur sculptures scattered about the property. There is a small RV park behind the station that looks like it could work for us during some future trip.

Bird Finds Precarious Resting Spot

We made it to the campgrounds and found the sites are quite large. They have both pull thru and back in sites. Our back in site was paved and long enough to easily park the Jeep in front of the rig while also being wide enough to park on the side of the motorhome. The sites are electric only but have 50 and 30 amp connections. We are only here for five nights so will have no issue with the fresh water or waste tanks. They do have nice restrooms with showers that work pretty well.

We head out early (for us!) our first morning to do the hike we wanted to do last year. The peak at Picacho Peak is a very pronounced mountain that stands out from the surrounding landscape. In fact it is easily visible for 30 or more miles while driving along I-10. There are two different trails that head up to the actual peak at 3374 feet - the Hunter trail and the Sunset Vista trail. Both options come together part way up the hike and continue the last half mile or so to the actual peak. We picked the slightly longer Sunset Vista option with a 6.2 mile total and just over 1600 foot elevation.

We drive the couple miles from our campsite to the trailhead. We realize we don't need to make this hike, which is rated as hard, any harder than needed by hiking from the campgrounds. The Sunset Vista trail starts out as a simple desert hike on the backside (west) of the mountain. As we go along, we don't gain much elevation. Even after about two miles, we have only done a few gradual ups and downs as we go through washes. We realize this means the bulk of the elevation is yet to come. We pass a solo hiker coming back and ask when the real climb starts and he guesses in a tenth mile or so. He was right. We hit the steeper terrain with lots of switchbacks that really gets the blood flowing. As the terrain gets even steeper, we hit sections where half inch steel cables are anchored into the rock walls. We knew that was coming so we stop to put on our gloves and lash our hiking poles to our packs. Initially the cables gave us a bit of reassurance allowing us to hold on when the footing was difficult.

Approaching the Steep Section of Hike

Trail Sign Points the Way

Of course that feeling didn't last long. As we come around a bend and are greeted with a steep climb up the face of the rock. There are maybe half a dozen steel posts anchored on either side of the climb with a cable running through them on both sides. In writing this, I ask Chris how tall and steep the climb was. In her mind it was 200 feet and at 90 degrees! I guessed 15 feet and about 75 degrees. There were a two couples already making their way back down, so we sat and watched them come down to see their technique. After reviewing my photos, I suspect the actual distance is closer to 35 feet at 75 degrees. Of course, that reality isn't what Chris needed to overcome. In her mind she had to conquer 200 feet. Her fear of heights definitely didn't help. When I was younger, heights didn't bother me. Now I would classify my feeling not as a fear of heights, but a great respect for them. Once the climb was open, Chris started up and I followed closely behind. I realized that if she slipped, I may only be able to slow her down a bit before I broke free as well! It took a few minutes but we found enough toeholds to use along with the cables to make it to the top.

Waiting on Two Others Coming Down

Chris Starts Up!

Looking Back Down

We both caught our breath and then continued up the trail. We shortly hit the intersection with the Hunter trail and continued up the narrow trail along the face of the rock. It wasn't long before there was another challenging climb with cables. This one was more angled across the face of the rock instead up up and down. Chris looked at it and realized she wasn't going to make it up. Actual she probably could have made it up but not back down. At least she had the sense to realize her limits. I, on the other hand either don't recognize my limits or would look at the many other hikers we came upon and thought "if they can do it, so can I". She agreed to find a safe spot to sit and wait for me to complete the hike giving me 90 minutes to return.

Sign at Intersection of Trails

I made it thru that next section and several more scary ones. I found it a bit better not having to worry about Chris and only needing to manage my ascent. There were probably a dozen sections where cables have been added. There was even one part where the face of the rock was so steep, they added what amounted to a ten foot bridge to provide for a place for your feet. I eventually made it past the hard parts and got to a bit of a plateau. I was pleased to find I was able to text Chris with my update, since it was going to more than 90 minutes before I got back. Some of the delay was simply with all the traffic of hikers, I found myself needing to wait at just about each climb. Even though the delays were not my own doing, I suspect they were beneficial in forcing me the time to recoup along the way.

Watching Somebody Head Down After I Came Up

Section with Bridge for Footing

 There are two geocaches up near the peak. One was on the first plateau which gave me the chance to rest before going up to the actual peak. I had left my hiking pole with Chris, but would have really liked it for the last climb. It is steep and rocky. The climb up was okay but I knew it would be challenging on the way down. With both caches found and many pictures taken, I was now rested enough to head back down. We have often found the downhill portion of a hike is the more challenging from a footing standpoint. I actually found going down thru all the cable sections to not be too bad. I finally got back to Chris and we ate the lunch we had brought along before we continued down. It didn't take long to get to the steep section that Chris had reluctantly gone up. Let's just say it took some time to come down since it is nearly impossible to see where the next toehold is when climbing down. I suspect our arms will be a bit more tired than after a normal hike. After we got past the steep switchbacks with all the loose gravel, we had a decent walk to the car. In all, I had a 7 mile hike with just about 2100 feet of total elevation change. This was a memorable hike but not for anybody with a fear of heights.

View over Interstate 10

Our Campground from Last Year

Here's a Tough Spot 

Backwards Over the Edge!

Others Behind Me

Long Way to Desert Floor

Looking Back After Climb with Moon Rising

Our Actual Track from the Hike at Picacho Peak

The next day we switched gears and headed to Marana for a mountain bike ride. The reviews for Tortolita Preserve made it sound like a beginner trail. The 9 mile loop went around the perimeter of the preserve. From the aerial view, I was expecting a rather bland desert ride but figured we'd give it a try since it wasn't that far away. There were lots of signs at the trailhead but after reading them, it was clear biking was okay. They want cyclists to go counterclockwise and hikers to go clockwise. I guess that should improve our odds of not running into somebody else. As we started on the single track trail, we discovered that the preserve was much nicer than we expected. Yes it is still desert landscape but there are a wide variety of plants - mesquite, palo verde, and a wide variety of cacti. The first 3 or 4 miles were quite pleasant. The surface was sandy but so much so to make biking difficult. The only real issues were the cholla or barrel cacti that were often on the inside corner of turns. The desire to lean into a turn is greatly reduced when the possible outcome is to get stuck by a cactus.

Along the Trail at Tortolita Preserve

The middle third of the trail was not as nice. The trail was covered with lots of fist sized rocks plus there were numerous washes that we needed to navigate. Many of them were steep and rocky enough that we needed to walk the bikes. At this point Chris wasn't having fun. Fortunately the last third or so was more like the trail was at the start so it ended on a positive tone. It ended up being a reasonably fun bike ride but was tiring in the hot sun.

Development Next to Preserve

HUGE Saguaro

Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch is just a mile or so down the access road from the state park. We had seen it last year when we camped even closer to the place but had decided it looked kind of lame and hadn't gone. What is the place? Well it's sort of a petting/feeding zoo with about 10 types of animals. It seemed to be more of a place to bring kids and still expected it to be lame, but since it's only $10 a piece to get in, we figured, what the heck. Often these types of oddball tourist attractions don't get a lot of visitors, so we were a bit surprised to see about ten cars in the parking lot. After paying our money, we are each given our feeding cups. One big cup contains food for donkeys, deer, goats, ostriches, and sheep. The second cup had: a couple tokens to be used for rabbit food and duck food, a seed coated stick for feeding to the parakeets and a small cup of a liquid for the lorikeets.

As we exit the building, an employee explains what we are supposed to do. The miniature donkeys in the nearby pen spot us and all jostle for position. The every few feet around the pen is an opening just big enough for one head to fit through. Since there are more of them than there are openings near us - currently the only feeders, they push and shove. Those not getting a spot put their heads up high and open their mouths wide hoping we will pity them and toss some pellets in. Each type of animal has a different "technique" required to feed them. For the donkeys, the pellets go in the palm of your hand and they lick it out very gently.

Looking for Food

Toss It My Way!

This Donkey was Named Smiley

Next Group of Feeders Arrive

The fallow deer are also gentle eaters bat tend to be a bit more aggressive with one another. The reason being, their pen has long horizontal opening, so they move along as you move. We had a heck of a time getting to feed the several smaller and younger deer without the rest of the herd pushing their way in. The Boer goats had two distinct feeding areas both being quite interesting. Five of them were up on a big scissor jack platform that would be used on a construction site. To get the food up to them, simply place some food in a small cup mounted on an angled conveyor belt, then simply crank the handle to transport the food up where it drops in a shoot they can get to. The rest of the goats are at ground level and have a wall with 10 openings big enough for their head to stick out. Actually the holes might be a bit too big since one guy had his head and one hoof hanging out and another hole had two heads sticking out of it. The technique for feeding them is different. Hold a single pellet between thumb and index finger. As your hand approaches their mouth, their tongue quickly darts in and out making an odd sucking noise. In theory, we could hold the pellet in our mouth and get a goat kiss! We passed on that idea.

Chris Makes Friends

Guess Who is Just Off Camera?

Goat Penthouse and Feeding Conveyor

The Gang is Ready for Food

Two Heads are Better Than One

Stretch For It

The next pen housed a couple dozen ostriches. These are by far the meanest critters there. To hand feed them, the pellet goes in flat palm and they bring their long neck over the fence and take it from your hand. I did this one and nearly lost a thumb in the process. From then on, the ostriches were feed by either the tube system or a flat pan at their eye level.

Attentive Ostriches

Don't Get Too Close Chris!

Waiting at Feed Tray

The next stop are the sheep. There are many of them but they are all white, so they all look the same making it difficult to determine which one was next. The good thing with these sheep are they seemed to be quite polite. When one was fed, it would get out of the way for the others and then come back for more. Impressive manners. Next in line were dwarf goats. Their pen has both an upper and lower level with head holes. As a word of warning, keep your eyes looking up when feeding a lower level goat.

Feeding the Sheep

Come This Way

Watching from Above

Chris Makes a Goat Happy

Now that we used up all our feed, we now use the tokens to get rabbit food. There is a very large pen with numerous bunnies hopping around looking for their next meal. There are short little fences inside the pen and Chris discovers she can get them to jump over the fences as she walks along the perimeter wall. The duck pen was the smallest with maybe only a dozen ducks in a small pool. Just because there were few of them, that didn't mean they were easy to feed. They tend to splash quite a bit so getting wet is a good possibility. Feeding them was challenging as well. Place the duck feed in your palm, then make a fist. Make a small opening with your index finger. As you present your hand, they will force their bill into the opening. It is quite an odd feeling to feed them.

Pushing and Shoving Rabbits

Chris Isolates One Rabbit

Ducks Fight for Position

Chris' Hand (on right) Reluctantly Moves In

A screened in pen holds a bunch of parakeets. This is where the seed coated sticks are used. Firmly hold the stick and insert it into the pen. Several of the birds will fly over to peck the seeds off the stick. They even like to perch on the stick while eating which is why you need to hold the stick tightly.

Parakeets Work Quickly on Stick

Parakeets Up Close

Our last feeding opportunity were the lorikeets. They are housed in a large room with several workers watching the entrances to avoid a bird escape as well as give the feeding instructions which are a bit involved. The food for these colorful birds is nectar in a small plastic cup like you might get tartar sauce in. We are instructed to hold the cup in our hands using thumb and index finger but leave the lid on. Cover the container with your other hand and enter the bird house. Initially they don't seem to even notice us until Chris removes here other hand revealing the cup. Quickly a bird lands on her hand, uses its beak to remove the lid, lick the lid and then hold it while you take it from them. Them it starts to slurp up the nectar out of the cup. After a bit it is finished and the bird licks the complete inside of the container much like a dog would. The birds become accustomed to us and start landing on our shoulders, heads or arms. They can make a rather sharp, loud screeching sound which is nearly deafening when done right next to your ear while on your shoulder. Next I position my cup in my hand and quickly have a couple birds going for the food.

Chris Attract Two Lorikeets

Pose for the Camera

MOOR!

Perched on My Arm

Waiting for More

On our way out, there is a big, above ground pool in the building with quite a few stingrays swimming about. We hadn't opted for the extra stingray food option, but the worker explains how to simply place your hand in the water to let them come up and use their mouths sort of like a mini vacuum cleaner. The feeling is a bit odd but pleasant. Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch was a very memorable one stop. Not simply a case of setting your expectations low and you won't be disappointed. It was much more entertaining than either of us expected. Well worth the stop. I could even see a return visit on some future trip this way.

A Stingray Comes In to Investigate a Hand

For our last full day, we headed to Casa Grande just a bit west of our campground. The purpose of the trip is to see Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. We arrived just before lunch and were surprised to see a nearly full parking lot. We inadvertently timed our arrival to get in on a docent led tour. The woman giving the tour is a snow bird from Minnesota. She explains how many centuries ago, native Indian people settle in this area and started to build a fairly elaborate settlement. They created miles and miles of canals to supply water from the nearby rivers to their crop fields. Like many other of these sort of historical sites we have visited here in Arizona, hundreds of years ago, the people that lived here moved on for reasons unknown. Not many of the actual buildings from the settlement have survived. Before achieving protected status, much of the remnants were destroyed or defaced by the visitors. Today, the main big house (Casa Grande) is covered by a large structure with roof to protect it from the monsoon rains that often come during the summer months. After the tour, we check out the rest of the interpretive signs along the walkways before heading into the visitor's center to watch the move and see the other displays. An interesting stop worth at least a couple hours of time.

Our Docent Explains the History of Casa Grande

Protective Roof

Crumbling Walls

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