Picacho Peak State Park is a park in the Arizona State Parks system, located between Casa Grande and Tucson near Interstate 10 in Pinal County, Arizona. Its centerpiece spire, Picacho Peak, is visible from downtown Tucson, a distance of 45 miles. The summit rises to 3374' (1028 m) above mean sea level. Though appearing 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 "peak" in Spanish.
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 trailheads. Portions of the trails are precarious, and hikers are aided by cables and catwalks. 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 desert valley.
The park is near the site of the Battle of Picacho Pass, the only American Civil War battle to take place in Arizona. A Union cavalry patrol from California skirmished with Confederate scouts from Texas, and three men were killed. This marks the westernmost battle of the American Civil War. Every year during early March, there are reenactments of the battle and other demonstrations of Civil War military history.
Picacho is a Spanish word meaning peak, and there are many features with the word in its name across the U.S. Southwest. There is another Picacho Peak near Seligman, Arizona, one outside Las Cruces, New Mexico, and one in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area. The mining settlement of Picacho, California (now a ghost town) was named after another picacho.
External links
Coordinates: 32°39′18″N 111°25′12″W / 32.655°N 111.42°W
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
