Date: September 8, 2025 • Elevation: 8,779 feet ✳ • Prominence: 333 feet ✳ • Distance: 9.9 miles • Time: 5 hours • Gain: 2,733 feet • Conditions: Pleasant, some clouds, warm at the end • Partners: Matthias Stender, Towelie

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ • Lidar

Buckskin Peak is a bump on the high crest of the Chiricahua Mountains, rising southwest of Monte Vista Peak. It can be accessed via a trail from the north up Morse Canyon and going around Monte Vista Peak, or it can be accessed from the south from Rucker Canyon.

The northern route features a better trail but is a lot longer, and requires nearly a thousand feet of drop to the saddle below the peak, which means it would need to be regained on the way out. The southern route is more direct, but the road in and some of the trail have been washed out.

The saddle below the peak is called Buckskin Saddle, but the peak has no official name. However, it has been informally called Buckskin Peak for years. The USGS map-makers seem to have made an error: in the earlier maps, the "Buckskin Saddle" reference is placed over the saddle, but in the newer Forest Service maps, this marker has been transferred to the summit.

The "Buckskin Saddle" reference has moved from the saddle to the summit on recent maps.

The peak's elevation is listed as 8,746 on the maps, but the 1-meter Lidar actually came in at 8,779 feet, a 33-foot difference. Its prominence went from 306 feet to 333 feet, which means it also exceeds the 100-meter prominence threshold.

Matthias and I have been interested in this peak for awhile, but I suggested to wait until the weather has cooled and become more stable. The Chiricahuas get thunderstorms nearly every day in Summer. Recently, the whole state has been going through a wet period with active monsoon storms. But this weekend, things looked promising. We set Monday, September 8th, to climb the peak. We'd come in from the south.

I met Matthias on the side of Rucker Road, about a half mile east of US-191, where the Border Patrol Checkpoint is located. Matthias rolled in a little before 7 a.m., and we convoyed in toward the trailhead, still 26 miles away. I let him get about a mile ahead because the dust he was creating was very heavy.

In about an hour, we had driven all the way in and up Coronado Forest Road 74E, which bypasses the old Fort Rucker and is today a few camping areas and a Forest Service administrative center. We got as far as the Cypress Park campground. The road fords a creek here, and the side road, FR-628 which leads toward the actual peak, was a few yards ahead. However, there was better parking near the campground, so we parked early and would ford the creek with our bare feets.

The day was clear and a little warm, but not bad. We were in shade for the time being. We got our stuff together and started walking at 8:20 a.m.. We walked a few yards to the creek, which crosses thr road over a concrete culvert. I walked there in my beater sandals and stashed them in the brush nearby, and we both walked across the creek, about 10 feet wide and a foot deep. Footing was pretty good. These concrete culverts can be dreadfully slick with moss but it wasn't the case here.

On the other side, I brought out my towel I normally keep in the car and we dried off our feet and got our shoes on. I stashed the towel back into my pack for when we returned. The junction with FR-628 was about a one minute walk up ahead.

This track looks rough at first, which is why we parked back where we did. We crossed a wire-stick gate near a corral, and continued up this road. The road, surprisingly, was not too bad. It was just a couple ruts with grass in the center, but it wasn't washed out or covered in two-foot-tall boulders. My Subaru might have got in a half mile. Matthias' 4-Runner might have got in all the way to the road's end. It would require 4-wheel drive and good clearance.

The road walk went quickly, gaining about 500 feet over a mile and a half. The road suddenly just ends in a scape of trees and boulders. This was the old trailhead but it was washed out years ago and obliterated, and I suspect will never be rebuilt.

The next quarter mile required a lot of attention. There was no obvious trail or route to follow so we just continued on our bearing. We found a few cairns and followed them, hiking for awhile within the creekbed and its rocks. After a few bends, we saw a cairn near two large trees, this cairn toward the right edge (looking up) of the creekbed. This was the hint to leave the creekbed here.

At first it didn't seem like we were on anything, but we pushed through some brush for about a hundred feet and sure enough, the trail became more evident. This is Trail 221 and would lead us all the way up to the high saddle. The trail makes a hard right here — and we didn't immediately catch it at first. We stayed on the trail as it gained out of the creekbad and onto a slope above.

The trail cut left and continued north up a gentle slope with big ponderosa. The trail became less distinct here, but we sensed to stay "center left" and quickly, the trail became evident again. We were now above the creek by about fifty feet. The trail at times could be very narrow with steep drops.

The good news is that the trail hereafter was usually easy to follow. It heads up the canyon, then makes a few switchbacks, then heads more up canyon, then more switchbacks. The rock formations within the canyon were impressive. There were big tuff cliffs and spires on the slopes on the opposite side of the canyon.

The hiking was easy and the slope never too steep. We steadily gained elevation, but rarely had any long-distance views in the trees. We could sense we were getting higher. It was cooler up here, and the forest was very thick. We arrived onto the saddle about two hours after starting the hike. We took a short break here.

The peak is close by to the west. We pushed through some adolescent firs, then back into the "open", still heavily forested but with mostly-open ground to walk upon. We marched upward and were soon on top the peak, two hours and forty minutes after starting, including all breaks. Not unexpectedly, the summit was in the trees with limited views in any direction.

It was cool up here but pleasant. The clouds had assembled again but it did not appear to be collecting into anything menacing. We found the register and signed in, the first since 2020, although other people have logged ascents since then online. There wasn't much to see. We could see the lookout tower atop Monte Vista Peak but only through breaks in the trees. We stayed atop the peak for about twenty minutes. It had been a good, hearty hike.

We started down. The downhill hike went extremely well because the trail was so nice, most of the time. It was pitched at a moderate grade and we could make good time on it. We got about half way down and took a break, then kept on hiking downward, the egress hike taking just under two hours, breaks included. It was noticeably warmer down low.

We once again took off the boots to cross the creek. Back at the cars, we changed. Matthias had some other peaks in mind, but I was done for the day. After changing, we shook hands and thanked one another. I was happy to get this peak done and happy to have Matthias join me. He had suggested it, and I had actually thought about doing it anyway this weekend, so his timing was good.

It was a little after 1 p.m. now, and it was a workday for me. I figured I should get moving. I left before Matthias and drove all the way out to the highway and on home to Bisbee with no stops. I arrived home about 3 p.m. and logged on, fully expecting two dozen frantic emails from students as this was a test day for my online class. But nothing. Just a couple emails, nothing big.

The weather did get wet later in the day. We had some rain in Bisbee and it stayed warm, into the low 90s. This is about when the weather dries out and the temperatures drop, but it hasn't happened quite yet. The monsoon patterns can be fickle, but sometimes, it gets entrenched and stays wet and unsettled for two or three weeks in a row.