Date: January 3, 2026 • Elevation: 5,224 feet ✳ • Prominence: 479 feet • Distance: 7.9 miles • Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes • Gain: 1,200 feet • Conditions: Cold but mostly clear and warming later

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ

This peak rises in the Coronado National Forest between the towns of Sonoita and Patagonia. It is not visible from the highway as a ridge of hills blocks the view. I was here in August intending to climb this peak, but got spooked by a large rattlesnake, a Mojave Green.

On that attempt, it was still warm, but with a dawn start, I felt I could get to the peak and out before the heat really picked up. I found the trailhead just fine and got a mile in on the trails and roads, making a couple mistakes along the way, costing me time.

I was following a track that the map showed would lead right to the base of the peak, but I hedged and felt I might have a better chance if I followed the Arizona Trail, which somewhat parallels the track I was on. So I backed out, and then got myself onto the Arizona Trail.

The trail itself was in fine shape, but it was there that I nearly stepped on a big snake. He was laid out on the slope above the trail, not coiled and in no particular hurry. He just moved quietly and slowly aside. It was a massive thing and it scared me, particularly since I didn't even notice it until I had walked by it.

The delays along with the snake encounter had put me behind schedule. It was warming fast and the trail took so long to make inward progress, I decided to bail. I was still almost two miles from the peak, and I'd be going cross country up the actual peak, where there were probably more big snakes waiting for me.

I returned to my car, even seeing the snake again. He hadn't moved far since I last saw him. This is the biggest snake I have seen in Arizona. Normal diamondback rattlers are smaller. This guy was almost three feet long, thick in the middle and colored bright green. I salvaged the day with a hike up Peak 5414 in the Mustang Mountains.

I came back today to retry this peak, confident any snakes would be in their holes, and also knowing better what route to follow. The trail was not a viable route, whereas the track was. I left Bisbee a little after 6 a.m., and rolled into the Casa Blanca trailhead parking about 7:30 a.m.. The day was mostly clear and very chilly, in the low 40s.

I was dressed and ready to go in moments. I followed the connector trail from the parking lot to the actual Arizona Trail, and went left (southeast). It comes to the highway, where it splits and dips into an arroyo that goes underneath the highway. I took the left branch, went under the highway, then followed the trail as it merged in with a vehicle track briefly. This track bends right, then the Arizona Trail goes sharp left at a gate in a fence. I stayed straight.

The track goes south and then bends east, then another bend northeast. I got this far in August. Today, I stayed on it and followed it uphill to a gate at the National Forest boundary. I stayed on the track for almost three miles total, the peak becoming visible about the two-mile mark when I crested a soft ridge. It has a trapezoidal shape from this vantage.

The track drops about a hundred feet, then begins a slow but easy gain to the north flank of the peak. My plan had been to follow it to the east side where the track achieves its highest point, then bust up the easy slopw from there. However, I liked how the slopes looked from where I stood and decided to approach the summit from here. It would be steeper but it didn't look too bad.

I was looking at about 400 feet of gain in a quarter mile. The lower slopes were rocky with some woody brush that was easily avoided. As the slope increased, the brush lightened, although the trees became more abundant. I was able to weave through everything avoiding any brush or branch thickets. Halfway up, I came to a flat perch. The top was now in view.

This upper half was steeper, but I found some game paths that helped. The slope lessened and I was on the home stretch. The very top was covered in ocotillo, and I had to step over one fence along the way. I found the summit cairn in an opening. It had taken me about an hour and 45 minutes, covering just under 4 miles.

The day was becoming very mild and lovely. It was mostly blue with some cloudiness (we'd had a storm two days ago). However, it was humid, and despite the cool weather, I was sweating a lot. I snapped a few images, then took a break near the cairn.

The register was inside the cairn. The pages within it had rotted and become brittle. Just pulling them out, they'd disintegrate in my hands. There was no way to read the signatures. Lists of John shows just a few visitors here since the 1990s. Amy was here last year and signed in on a piece of card stock. I added my name. But I don't expect anything will be readable if the next visitor is in 20 years.

For the hike down, I followed the same line I had taken coming up, then once on the road, just put one foot in front of the other until I was back to my car, about 90 minutes later. It was a pleasant day and I enjoyed the solitude and the hiking. I came upon a couple trail runners when I was getting back to the Arizona Trail.

The round trip had taken a little over three hours and was longer than I thought. In retrospect, trying to do this in August was probably not a good idea. Even if I had not seen any snake that day, it was a long hike and I might have been cutting it close had I not bailed. Today was much more pleasant and I am happy I did it today and not when it's 40 degrees warmer.

The whole area is very pretty and it is likely I will return here on a later date and rehike the trails and tracks. There is another peak about another mile in I am interested in. But not in August and not when massive mongo man-eating rattlers are out and about.