Feb 21 - Picacho Peak State Park, Picacho, AZ

  Cool and very windy cloudy day.  Hung out in the morning.  I actually started working on tax return preparation.  We had lunch, and headed out.  We went to Picacho Peak State Park, about 40 minutes away.  This area is very, very flat.  With scrub bushes and saguaro cacti all over.  It is actually somewhat green, versus the dry desert sand of elsewhere in Arizona.  Sprouting up from the flat areas are these small mountain ranges, scattered hither and yon along the horizon.  Picacho Peak is one such range.  The park has trail heads leading up to the top, as well as along the front face of the range. 
   We hiked the Calloway Trail.  This was about 2 miles, round trip.  However, it was a very steep climb up.  They did have nice stone steps along the way.  Once at the top of the trail, about 2,274 feet, there was a nice bench and overlook of the valley floor below.   We sat and enjoyed the view for awhile.  I was pleased to see flowering plants along the trail.  Beautiful yellow poppies, various purple and little white ones.  So, there must be water in the area.  And, in fact, the entire side of the mountain range was green, instead of the slate black of a lot of other mountains around here. 
Very nice hike.

Picacho Peak State Park photos: