The Mountains of Arizona
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Peak 4462 • Peak 4294 These two peaks rise above and alongside Tonto Forest Road 83, on the way to Pinyon Mountain, which I climbed in November 2024. This is in the northern Superstition Mountains, near Roosevelt Dam and the Tonto National Monument. On my 2024 hike, I did not climb either of these peaks, so I saved them for a return trip such as today. The weather state-wide has been mild, in the high 80s in the deserts, meaning about the mid-70s at the mid elevations. This was my last week of teaching for the semester at ASU, meaning the last of my "open Wednesday" hikes I've been doing for two years now. After classes last night, I hit the road toward Globe, with a grocery stop, then took AZ-188 north and west about fifteen miles, parking along the old highway alignment near Salt River Mountain. I have camped here a few times now. It's one of my go-to spots. I pulled in about 9:30 p.m.. It was a mild night, in the 70s for now, with lows expected to be in the 50s. The waxing gibbous moon was up, two days away from being a full moon. It was full enough, lighting up the countryside for most of the night, setting around 4 a.m.. I slept decently, and arose just before dawn. I sat around a little bit to let the sun rise, took down my camp, then got rolling about 5 a.m.. I went north on the highway another ten or fifteen miles to the FR-83 turn-off. The sun was barely poking above the eastern mountains, some clouds obscuring it for the time being.
Date: April 29, 2026
• Elevation: 4,462 feet ✳
• Prominence: 646 feet
• Distance: 4 miles
• Time: 2 hours 45 minutes whole hike
• Gain: 1,180 feet
• Conditions: Cool and clear
Arizona
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Main
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PB
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LoJ
Forest Road 83 is a good road. It heads toward the Black Brush Ranch headquarters (as shown on the map). It is also a popular way in toward the road net in the higher range, as well as a way in to the Arizona Trail.
I went in a couple miles, then just before the ranch gate, took a left up an embankment and followed the road a little more, coming to a gate. On my Pinyon Mountain hike, I parked here. This is where FR-1457 branches to the south.
On my Pinyon Mountain hike, I recalled the road past the gate being a good road, so this time, I drove in past the gate and in another mile thereabouts, parking past the first trough shown on the map, elevation 3,280 feet. I parked here mainly because it was wide and there was a nice spot to park off the road.
I got my stuff together and started walking at 5:40 a.m.. The sun was up and the clouds were just high and wispy. It was cool for now. I walked in another quarter-mile, to where FR-83 leaves the sandy channel and starts steeply up the hillside. Hereafter, a more substantial 4-wheel drive would be necessary.
The uphill hiking was easy. In about fifteen minutes I had gained about 600 feet to a saddle, elevation 3,810 feet, separating the two peaks, Peak 4294 to the left (south), Peak 4462 to the right (north).
Near a water tank, I followed a spur track not shown on the map but visible on the satellite images. This track went mostly north about another half mile to the higher saddle north of Peak 4462, ending at yet another trough. This was roughly 3,920 feet elevation.
Peak 4462 rose to the south of me. I picked a line and started uphill. The terrain was open but grassy, about knee-high, with abundant cactus patches and brush thickets to avoid. Up ahead was a large rock outcrop forming cliffs. The summit appeared to be to the right of this feature.
The gradient increased, eventually becoming very steep. The top 150 feet was the steepest, bypassing the rock outcrop. The grass and brush helped keep the footing solid. I was soon on the high ridge, near a rocky bump.
I went up this bump, the at its apex, could see the highpoint ridge ahead. I dropped about twenty feet, then up to the ridge. I met it halfway, surprsied to see that I was at the highpoint. From below, it appeared to be at the west end of the short ridge.
The summit is grassy with a bush growing right on its highest point. I found the register within a cairn. The signatures were faded. It was one of Mark Nicholls', and I was the first to sign in since 2011. It had taken me about an hour to get here.
The views were tremendous, with the big Superstition and Mazatzal peaks rising to the west and north, and Lake Roosevelt laying low to the east. It was sunny and very pleasant, in the low 60s. I stopped for a short break but didn't stay long, just a couple minutes.
Going down, I bypassed that first bump by going right and following a ledge around it. I took the steep slope slowly, then once lower down, moved a little quicker through the rocks and brush until I was back to the track. I walked it out to the 3,810-foot saddle, now...
Elevation: 4,294 feet ✳
• Prominence: 319 feet
• Distance: 1.2 miles
• Gain: 544 feet
• Conditions: Sunny and pleasantly warm
PB
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LoJ
...beginning my hike up Peak 4294. Just past the saddle, a lesser track heads toward the peak a few hundred yards. I followed it to its end. A fence runs across here.
Getting through this fence was not easy. It looked like two fences, two sets of barbed wire strands lashed to the same posts. I couldn't step over or go under and the lowest strands were nearly flush to the ground. I found an opening that allowed me to carefully ease through, getting on all fours and doing a limbo. I'm glad no one was there to see it.
Up ahead was the main ridge. Getting to it was easy. Once on it, it got steep fast, which wasn't a bad thing. But it was open and gravelly. In spots, I simply couldn't step up. I'd slide right back to where I started. The run-outs were a concern. A slip and slide was possible.
I eased into the brush and grunted up the steepest parts, since the brush held it all together a little more cohesively. It meant more scratches for me, but it worked.
Now past the steepest part, the terrain levelled nicely. I aimed for a bump, then once at it, turned right and walked an easy slope down and up to the highpoint. It was open with a solitary bush at its very tippy top. For geography nerds, the Gila-Maricopa county line runs a diagonal between the two peaks. This peak is barely inside Maricopa County.
There was some rocks here that looked like an old cairn, but there was no register. Only one other person (Mark N.) has registered an ascent of this peak, back in 2002. This was a borderline ranked peak until Lidar showed it to be a legitimate ranked summit, which may explain why so many people skipped it.
The views were good, with sunny skies and low humidity. I got fine views of Pinyon Mountain, Lake Roosevelt, and of Peak 4462. But like on Peak 4462, I did not stick around. I started down immediately.
I wanted no part of that nasty gravel slope, so I went down an adjacent ridge which worked out very well. I went down then dropped into a drainage and up onto another open ridge, eyeballing my way down the slope toward the road.
I came upon that fence again. There was no good place to pass through it. After some searching, I found a spot where I had about 8 inches of ground clearance, then got on my back and shimmied underneath.
Soon, I was back on the road. I had to regain about 60 feet to the 3,810-foot saddle. Then I just walked down the road back to my car, arriving about 40 minutes later. Being able to drive in as far as I did saved me a couple miles and probably 45 minutes of extra hiking. It was not yet 9 a.m..
I drove back to the highway, then got in with some other cars at a one-lane restriction, waiting for our turn to follow the pilot car. I stopped in Globe for a spell but didn't do anything. I had no other peaks in mind.
The construction of the Queen Creek bridge down by Superior has been shutting down US-60 for a couple years now on Wednesdays, but I decided to chance it anyway, and found it to be open all the way through. I was back in the big city about noon, then spent a couple hours just killing time until I could check into my hotel.
I enjoyed the hike and actually saw a viable route to another ranked peak back in here. There are a few others back in here yet untrodden by me, so I will return but likely not for awhile.
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