Mexican gold poppies can blanket the hillsides in spring after a wet winter. Good shoes, plenty of water, and sun protection will help make an enjoyable and successful climb on either of these trails. If you hike up one trail and down the other, the 2.2 miles between trailheads can be walked, or you can arrange a shuttle. A shorter, but still strenuous hike, also with expansive views, follows the Hunter Trail as far as the saddle, a two-mile roundtrip of 1.5 hours. Calloway Trail is an easier climb to a low pass between Bugler's and Picacho peaks, 1.5 miles roundtrip, requiring one hour.
Rangers offer trail maps.
During dry spells, the thorny canes appear lifeless. Vulture Mine, southwest of Wickenburg Ruins of the Vulture Mine and the adjacent ghost town of Vulture City stand remarkably well preserved. They present a rare opportunity to visit a historic mine that has been neither reconstructed nor destroyed. Mining took place at the site from the time of Henry Wickenburg's discovery in 1863 until wartime priorities in 1942 shut the mine down. Gold and silver still lie in underground veins and may be mined again.