The Peloncillo Mountains run along the Arizona and New Mexico border, extending into northern Mexico, and encompass a number of subranges, of which the Black Hills are the northernmost. Located along the Greenlee and Graham county boundary, the Black Hills sit generally north of US-191, due south of Clifton and east of Safford. Surrounded by higher mountains and bigger ranges, the Black Hills don't get the notice they deserve, but the small range does have nearly 2,400 feet of prominence at its summit, Guthrie Peak, and it is very likely the prominence leader for Greenlee County (Maple Peak comes close and is 'statistically' a viable contender, but its chances of superceding Guthrie are slim). The summit of Guthrie Peak reaches just 6,571 feet, nearly 3,000 feet lower than the Greenlee County highpoint. However, Guthrie Peak and the Black Hills stand alone enough to accrue the prominence, while the highpoint is just a raised bump on the White Mountains highlands. Our intentions for hiking this peak were many - admittedly including these esoteric aspects as well as looking for an easy day hike and an excuse to camp out for a weekend. We drove by the peak in September returning from our New Mexico trip over Labor Day, and made a note to come back and hike it when the weather cooled.

From below Guthrie Peak and most of the Black Hills are lightly vegetated and lacking in thick forest. The summit is a jumble of huge communications towers and we surmised a road probably goes to the top. We were looking for a peak that was easy with preferably a road to the top. Beth's ankles and knees had been bothering her and she hadn't hiked for a couple months at this point. Guthrie Peak seemed like a good peak in which to get back into the flow for Beth, and also offered us a failsafe in case she became hobbled up high - I could drive up if need be to get her down. Our plan was to drive out to Safford on Friday after work, camp at the Essence of Tranquility hot springs south of town, and hike the peak on Saturday. The weather for late October was spectacular, and we wanted to get out while the getting was good. We arrived in Safford about 5 p.m. and set up camp, then had a nice Mexican dinner at Casa Manana at the corner of US-191 and US-70. We've eaten here before and we even came back the next night. The food is good, authentic and reasonably priced. It's crowded most nights so the locals obviously have a shine on this place, too.

We left the campground at 7 the next morning and made the 20-mile drive east of town and up US-191 into the Black Hills. Our route would travel the Black Hills Backcountry Byway, which in the old days (apparently) was the old road between Safford and Clifton. Today it's a well-tended dirt road that runs about 20 miles through the heart of the range. Slopes are steep, curves are blind and narrow, but it's mostly graded pretty well and a passenger vehicle would be fine, in dry conditions and going carefully. We took it slow, too. The area was peppered with hunters and a few local ranchers. We eventually found ourselves at a large radio tower at elevation 5,380 feet near the turnoff to the summit, which can be reached by a rougher road requiring 4-wheel drive. We opted to park here and walk the road instead. After some time getting ready we got moving, walking up the road at a slow, easy pace. A big white-colored bull cow was grazing along this road and watched us as we walked past him. The road rose steadily for about a mile, coming to the range crest about 800 feet up, marked by some tanks and, unfortunately, a rotting and decomposing cow carcass just laying in the road. We took a break here for awhile. Along the way we met a couple hunters out on their ATVs. The hike up was highlighted by coming across a big tarantula out making his rounds!

After our break we walked the remaining mile or so to the top. The road contours along the south side of the ridge and bypasses two smaller summits. Just before the actual highpoint the road dips and meets a much better road, smooth and graveled, coming up from the southeast. We walked this final bit and came upon the summit. Numerous huge towers populate the top, and on this day there was a group of workers up there working on one tower; two of them were rigged about 80 feet up one of them. We talked with them a bit and they seemed amused we'd hiked the poeak 'willingly'. Out of curiosity I asked about the better road and the guy said it does come up from US-191 but it is gated. We found the benchmark set amid the towers and took our photos, then a nice break to admire the views. It had taken us two hours.

The hike down went smoothly, going carefully on the rubbly rocks and Beth making sure she wouldn't aggravate her ankles. We took a couple breaks and arrived back at the truck in about 90 minutes, for a total time of 4 hours including breaks. Down below was a corral with a lot of cattle penned in and various cowboys working them and others getting them on to some transport trailers. The cattle mooed up a ruckus and could be heard from where we were, way above and a good quarter-mile away! Our drive out went well and we were back in Safford by 4ish, relaxing back at our campground and a couple dips in the hot springs to soothe our muscles. We rewarded ourselves with another meal at Casa Manana that evening. This was an overall very straightforward and easy hike but a good one to get back into the swing of things as well as for Beth to gauge her ankles and knees after so much time off. The next day we drove home and made a side visit to bag a confluence, the one at North 33, West 110.