Picacho Peak State Park

	Picacho Pass Skirmish Site--Overland Mail Co. Stage Station at Picacho Pass
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Battle of Picacho Pass Monument
Nearest city	Picacho, Arizona
Area	774 acres (313 ha)
Built	1858
NRHP reference No.	02001384
Added to NRHP	November 22, 2002

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Picacho Peak State Park is a state park surrounding Picacho Peak in Picacho, Arizona. The park is located between Casa Grande and Tucson near Interstate 10 in Pinal County. Its centerpiece spire is visible from downtown Tucson, a distance of 45 miles (72 km). The summit rises to 3,374 feet (1,028 m) above mean sea level. Though appearing to be the remnant of a volcanic neck, it is now believed to be a tilted and eroded piece of rock overlain by a lava flow. The place name is redundant: "picacho" means "big peak" in Spanish.

Description

The park is celebrated for wildflowers that appear mid-March to early April following good winter rain. Though set next to an interstate highway, the park's west face possesses an unspoiled Sonoran Desert setting. A small flat space on top of the spire can be reached via two trail heads. Portions of the trails are precarious, and hikers are aided by cables and catwalks, making the routes some of the few via ferrata in the United States. From the top, there is a view south to the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, northwest to Tabletop Mountain near Casa Grande, north to the many mountain ranges surrounding Phoenix, and west to where the north-running Santa Cruz River runs underground supporting farms in a quaint desert valley.

The park recommends that hikers wear boots and carry two liters of water per person. Gloves are commonly used to help grip the cables.^[2]

History

Pechacho or Picacho Station a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail existed here until the 1870s. The park is near the site of the Battle of Picacho Pass, one of several American Civil War era engagements to occur in Arizona Territory. A Union cavalry patrol from California skirmished with Confederate scouts from Texas, and three men were killed. This marks the second westernmost battle of the American Civil War.^[3] Every year during early March, there are reenactments of the battle and other demonstrations of Civil War military history.

Appearances in fiction

Picacho Peak features prominently in the novel The Host by Stephenie Meyer, serving as a guide to the main character in the first act of the story. Much of the action of the novel takes place in or near the state park.

Gallery

Spring wildflowers at Picacho Peak.
Re-enactment of the Battle of Picacho Peak in March 2007.
Battle of Picacho marker
Aerial view of Picacho Peak taken from a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress on April 20, 2013.
Picacho Peak from the ghost town of Sasco.