The Apache Peaks are located north of Globe in central Gila County, hemmed in the "V" formed by highways AZ-188 to the west and US-60 to the east and south. Although prominent, the Apache Peaks seem to attact little attention, likely due to the surrounding private and state lands that make access somewhat confusing, even though the peaks themselves are on Tonto National Forest land. The most common route comes in from the west and requires one to sign in at a gate. Judging by those who do sign, most come for the hunting and some for the ATV/Jeep roads; very few seem to come for the hiking. There aren't many trails, although some jeep roads go fairly far into the range. These peaks may not see more than a dozen visitors a year to its summit, and that's being generous.

The name of the peaks and range is kind of confusing as well. From below, the range has a fairly typical profile of a few rounded summits coming up above a long summit plateau. Two or three of these points stand out and perhaps evoked the plural form of the name. Some sources cite the range as the Blackjack Mountains, but I am not sure if this name extends to the Apache Peaks (although I use it here in that context). The highest point of the Apache Peaks is a point on a raised hill that itself sits atop the long summit plateau. Another nearby summit rises to within 30 vertical feet of the highpoint. From a distance it is apparent the summit plateau is surrounded by a pallisade of cliffs, although they looked to be broken in many areas. I scouted these peaks in December but the weather was cloudy and stormy so I couldn't see much of the higher peaks, although I did drive some of the roads. A study of the maps showed some possible approach ridges with moderate grades. The trick, obviously, would be getting past the cliffs and onto the plateau. From there the summit should be straightforward. For this climb I was teaming up with John Hamann from New Mexico, who drove out the day before. We met up at the Wal-Mart in Globe and got moving a shade after 9 a.m. toward the peaks. A storm from two days before had dropped a fair bit of snow, and we could see it on the surrounding high peaks - Apache Peaks, of course, and also Pinal Peak directly overlooking Globe itself. We were curious what effect the snow might have on the hike.

From the Wal-Mart we went a tiny ways east on US-60 to the AZ-188 highway turn-off. I zeroed the odometer here. North on AZ-188, we went about 4.4 miles to Wheatfields Road, then about 2 miles or so to Hicks Road past a steakhouse, then right (and straight north) on Hicks for another couple of miles past a big ranch complex to the first gate we saw on our right with a sign-in sheet for those wishing to cross the private property to access the forest lands beyond. I know to here it was 8.0 miles exactly by my truck's odometer. We signed in, went through the gate, and followed a good but sandy road for 2 miles to a junction with Forest Road 220. On FR-220, we went another 2.8 miles further east to a corral and gate on our right. Past that gate, we drove up another 0.4 miles to a point where I began to feel uncomfortable about the road conditions, so I parked on a sand-bar out of the way of the main road. It was about 10 a.m. when we stopped. The roads mostly follow sandy river bottoms, although the first 4.8 miles are fairly solid for 2-wheel drive trucks, maybe. I wouldn't chance a passenger vehicle, though. Furthermore, in rainy weather, these roads probably swell into full-on creeks. That was one of the reasons we parked where we did: the snowmelt had created a steady stream of rivulets in the road, enough to make some sections very goopy. Not wanting to chance getting stuck, I parked where I did, first best chance I had. We were at 4,200 feet elevation. After suiting up, we started the hike up the remainder of the road. John had our start time at 10:11 a.m.

The walk up the road went quickly. In a half-mile we came to another gate that is probably the last best parking space for most stock 4-wheel drive vehicles. Sections of this road were heavily eroded, so I didn't feel too bad parking where we did. There is a pull-out and ad-hoc campspace beside this last gate. Past the gate we continued up the road in toward the range. We could see the snow-covered higher summits ahead of us, although the actual highpoint was usually hidden from view for most of the hike in. The road gains steeply in sections then levels out for awhile, finally coming to a sharp bend at a small junction marked by a sign (one direction going to Richmond Basin). From the last gate to here was about a mile and a half, and our total gain to this road junction was about 1,000 vertical feet. This road is for small wheel-base jeeps only, and ATVs. It's narrow and exposed, with parts cambered outward; no way would I have felt comfortable with my truck up here. We were high enough to be passing by some clumps of snow and stepping over little streams of run-off that crossed the road here and there. The ground near the junction was very muddy.

After a break for snacks, we debated ideas to get up onto the summit plateau. A lone trip report from a past climber suggested a direct assault up the immediate hills to the east, where we could make out a break in the cliffs. However, the snow up there was pretty thick and we figured it may be enough to make that approach too treacherous. Instead, we followed a long ridge that went more north than east, that if successful, would place us on the plateau about a mile north of the highpoint, from whence it would be an easy walk. We chose the longer route for this reason. We had to walk up some drainages at first but at some point we ascended out from these drainages and up onto the broad sloping ridge. Our route was entirely visible above us. The brush was thick but usually had game paths and other natural openings to allow for mostly unhindered passage. The ground was a soft bed of shale-like rock and rubbly stone; this (to me) proved to be more of a hindrance than the brush. We hiked by sight up the slope, usually aiming for various ridge-points or small rock bands where we'd take a break and assess the next portion. The higher we got the more snow we had to contend with, but it was melting quickly and was only a few inches deep. We had to be careful not to step onto the snow and plunge the foot into a rock crevasse or somesuch that could lead to a twisted or busted ankle. And for an Arizona twist to the issue, the snow often covered up little agave-like plants, and on one occasion I stepped onto one and the damn spine went right into the side of my foot, right through my boot. That didn't feel so great.

After about an hour we were well high up on the slope, where it got quite steep as it approached the crux: the cliff pallisade. The hiking and climbing for this stretch was fairly sloppy, variously battling some thick brush, trying to avoid obstacles and more often than not having to grab onto tree branches and whatever to keep the balance. Finally we came upon the cliff rocks, which up close revealed numerous easy scramble options to overcome. The rock here is utterly rotten and loose; none of it could be trusted to bear weight, so getting up these bits went slow (for me). Fortunately there were little 'stair-steps' in places. Unfortunately, there seemed to always be some cactus or spiny plant sitting in the most useful hand or foot hold. In any case, we got up past these bits and in time had arrived onto the plateau, elevation 6,400 feet approximately. The crux was past us now. We could see our highpoint, which John's GPS had as 0.7 miles south of us.

After another short break we started south across the flattish plateau, wroking through a small sparse forest of juniper toward the obvious massif directly ahead of us. We made our own path through the wet slushy snow and occasional mud bogs. In time the gradient increased and steepened as we entered into thicker forest cover. The snow was quite deep here and fairly solid, being shielded as it was by all the trees and the north-facing shaded slopes. We "post-holed" only up to about mid-shin at the worst, and overall the snow was pretty solid and actually helped us in this case, allowing us to literally step over rocky and brushy bits hidden under the snow cover. John had struck out ahead of me and was blazing a path up the slopes, while I ambled behind and tried to step into his postholes as often as possible. The steep portions last just for a short while as we quickly gained the upper part of this massif, aiming for a large set of square pillars. The route as we followed it works into a small cleft on the east side of these pillars, then up and through the cleft and some tree limbs, up onto some higher ground. From here to the summit was another 200 or so mostly horizontal feet south, gaining maybe 40 vertical feet. It was rocky and brushy - enough to force John (judging by his bootprints) to make some twisting and circuitous routes past some obstacles. Me, I just followed the bootprints. John, of course, had beaten me to the top by maybe 5 minutes. I came up right about 1:30 p.m., for about a 3.5-hour one way ascent. It felt good to make this summit! The snow had proven to not be a bad hindrance and even an aid on the upper slopes, I believe. At the top we stopped again for a break. The day was very nice, with clear skies above us and just some clouds out on the far horizons. Directly to our south was the other main Apache Peak, this one at 6,910 feet, 30 feet lower than our position. Between us and it was an interesting set of pillars and cliffs. We were curious how difficult it might be to get to that summit, but for obvious reasons did not bother to find out. After the usual photos, we started back down.

Getting down off the high massif went fast and easy, aided by long-stepping into the solid snow until we were down onto the plateau. Walking back to our cliff entry point, we were frankly amazed how much snow had melted in just the 45 minutes since we'd passed it coming up - whole sections were gone! Melted into water, muddy mush. We could see our old footprints - now widened into big holes. The temperature was in the 60s, but it was dry and there was a steady breeze blowing - in other words, perfect snow-melting conditions. We arrived back at our cliff entry-exit point and started our way down the slopes. Going down the cliffy bits went well, aided by the advantage of seeing better routes than going up (at least in my case). From these high cliffs down to the road we just went at our own paces, again marvelling at how much snow had melted in the meanwhile - whole fields of the white stuff gone, turned into mud (which presented its own challenges, of course). The soft mushy, muddy ground made for some interesting stepping, and one plenty of occasions I stepped onto a rock only to have it slide out from under me. I fell twice on my butt, once on my hand, did some wild balancing acts to avoid other spills, nearly threw my back out in one case, and gave myself a slight charley horse in another case. All in all, good fun for a sunday afternoon. Within the hour we were back onto the road, which was a welcome sight and promised less brush, mud and slipping for the remaining two mile walk back to the truck.

The last two miles took us maybe an hour. Some ATV and jeeps were rumbling up and down the roads. Back at my truck we changed into dry clothes (my boots and pants were caked in mud). We were back at 4:25 p.m. for a 6 hour, 15 minute day. The drive out went well, and we took some opportunities for late-afternoon photographs of the peak. Then it was back into Globe where I dropped John off at his car, and back to Chandler for me, another 60 miles away. I was pretty sore and exhausted after this hike, but glad to have made the top. The snow proved to be both a hindrance and a help, and surely made for some pretty scenery. This was another one of those peaks whose success was uncertain even in good conditions, less so with the snow. I would say that in good dry conditions, this is a fairly easy hike. The brush was never too heavy, the gradients never too steep, and the cliffs passable with some careful observation. So with all that, it was pretty sweet to be successful on this peak, an unexpectedly pretty hike with some unique vantage points.