Calloway Trail Hike

“To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come"

On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Dave exercised his acting muscles by performing in the park amphitheater. After wowing the audience with his amazing rendition of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, we headed over to the Calloway Trail for a hike to a scenic overlook.

Let's go Dave! The trail is this way:

Along the trail we spotted lots of new growth on a bunch of prickly pear cacti, something we haven't seen before.  We're still looking for saguaro blossoms or buds, but a local we ran into on the trail told us that they haven't budded or blossomed yet this year.

We stopped several times along the way to watch intrepid mountaineers work their way up to the top of Picacho Peak. It still hard to believe we were actually up there on Monday. Doesn't seem possible from down below.

At the trailhead, Dave points the way.

As we climbed higher and higher, we were soon faced with a fork in the road. Do we go right and follow the hiker, or do we turn left and follow the arrow. Who knew hiking could be so hard?

We soon reached the scenic overlook and were rewarded with more expansive views to the east.

We never get tired of the amazing views. Yes, that's our campground way down there to the left of the lumpy hump we hiked yesterday. That lumpy hump looked a lot taller when we were trying to climb up it.

Our scenic overlook was in the saddle between Picacho Peak and this "little" outcrop. While it looked tempting to climb to the top, we have had enough summits this week.

We took some time to explore some of the really cool rock formations. Most of these rocks are volcanic lava that slid down as Picacho Peak tilted up and the valley floor dropped down.

After taking in the views from the top of Calloway Trail, we meandered back to camp. First we took the Nature Trail and read all the information placards. Then we scampered over to the Children's Cave Trail. While the info plaques were geared more for little kids, the hike up to the cave was still cool.  Here, Kathy discovers the cave entrance at the top of the climb:

Kathy sent Dave in first just in case there were creepy crawlies or bats.  All he could find were some suspicious droppings.  Swallows or bats?  We don't know.

After lunching in one of the picnic ramadas, we returned to our rig. We have the rest of the afternoon to bibble and get ready to more tomorrow. We enjoyed our hikes in Picacho Peak State Park and would recommend this park for those who like a challenging hike.