Picacho Peak State Park - Day 1

Bill and I have just returned from a great weekend camping in Picacho Peak State Park.  Picacho is the Spanish word for peak, so in essence, we camped at Peak Peak State Park.  : )   

Picacho Peak is located just off I-10, about 40 miles west of Tucson, and we have driven by it many times, going to and from Benson.  We took advantage of this beautiful, perfect weather, loaded up the tenting gear and headed out Sunday after church.

Based on the park's website, there were plenty of campsites available so we didn't bother making a reservation.  When we arrived at the entry gate, the attendant asked if we wanted to be near the bathroom and showers, since we were camping in a tent.  Well, I like being "near" the bathroom but not right on top of it.  The site she gave us provided a wonderful view...of the bath house.  Normally, Bill and I take the site we are given and make the best of it.  But when tent camping, we spend all of our time outside, and I really didn't want to be looking at the bathroom all weekend.

We drove the loops and headed back to the gate and requested site A13.  Fortunately, the site was available for two nights. 

 

Granted, we were about as far away from the bathroom as we could get, but at least we had nice view of Little Black Mountain and the saguaro cactus dotting the landscape.

 

 

 

One of the main attractions of this park is the hiking, especially hiking to the top of Picacho Peak.  We had read about the hike, about the cables used and the recommendation of wearing gloves.  Here is Bill looking at the peak with his binoculars, just trying to figure out how we will get up there.  Picacho Peak is the peak on the left.  It may not look like it in this picture, but that peak is much higher than the peak to the right of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before dinner, we drove down to the "Sunset Loop" and waited for the sunset.  We had hoped to get one of those amazing Arizona sunsets, and we were not disappointed.

Afterwards, we went back to the campsite where Bill grilled some bratwursts for supper, before we settled in with a campfire and a good night's sleep.  Picacho Peak awaits!