We
made breakfast and packed a lunch on Sunday
morning so we could hike the Sunset Vista trail, which goes along the west
and south side of the peaks before joining the Hunter Trail, which goes to the
top of Picacho Peak. We had no intention of making it to the Peak because it
requires some skill and the ability to use cable hand holds attached to the
rock face along the way. The first two miles of the Sunset Vista are listed as
moderate, with lots of ups and downs through the washes that are dry at this
time and a rise in elevation of about 800 feet. The last mile or so is switch
backs climbing steeply with some cables before the junction. It was sunny and
about 60° as we set out and only rose to the mid-60°s with a slight breeze,
which was just about perfect. The first two miles took us to where the trail
starts to rise steeply. We stopped there to enjoy our lunch and then I
encouraged Marv to go ahead as far as he wanted; I was happy to sit in the sun
and wait for him. He planned to hike 20 minutes more and figured it would take him
about 10 minutes to return. Soon after he left, a couple from Canada came along
and she thought my plan was brilliant and told “Dave” to go ahead and she’d
wait for him. We chatted about our camping experiences. They left Calgary,
Alberta on Dec. 26 and planned to stay until Feb. 28, but she was having second
thoughts because of the cool, rainy weather. They are staying in a Teardrop
Camper and have nowhere to be when it is cold in the evening. I spotted Marv 2
times along his climb and took a picture when he was way up there. When he
returned, he had actually gone 25 minutes but had come to cables and decided to
turn back, and his descent was slower than expected because of the steepness (it
turned out that he was just yards short of the Hunter Trail). He went about .8
of a mile further than I but it was pretty rugged. I was glad I skipped it. Our
return trip was also not much faster than our climb had been because of all the
ups and downs. We got back and relaxed a bit as the sun lowered and the
temperature dropped. Then we returned to the Sunset Vista parking lot for the
sunset before grilling pork chops and warming broccoli and vegetarian baked
beans for dinner. Although tired, we both got a nice hot shower before bed,
which felt great.
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| Is this some kind of vetch? I never found out. |
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The bees love the Mexican poppies. They also were very active in the
yellow bloomed brittle bush, whose perfume filled the air throughout our travels. |
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| Teddy Bear cholla in the sunlight. |
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| Marv saw this little lizard when he went on without me. |
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The arrow shows approximately where Marv turned around on his climb.
This was taken from our picnic spot, where I waited for him. |
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Although we had seen Ocotillo blooms, this was the first we had
seen with the green leaves it gets with copious rainfall. |
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| One of the many plants I couldn't get identified, Any hints would be welcome! |
We look pretty happy, don't we?
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| The hills turn golden as the sun sets. This is looking northeast..... |
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| ....and this is looking southwest. |
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