The Mountains of Arizona
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Peak 2819 • Peak 2765 Cottonwood Canyon lies within the low hills and mountains south of US-60, east of AZ-79, northeast of Florence. I was here a week ago scouting the area, but it was too hot to do any actual hikes. However, this week, temperatures dropped by twenty degrees, meaning that these lower desert bumps could now be hiked without fear of heat stroke and snake bites. These mountains are ostensibly an extension of the Superstition Mountains, but they are essentially their own range. The main peaks here are Dromedary Peak and Mineral Mountain. Picketpost Mountain rises about five miles to the east. The area is more popular with off-roaders than hikers. I was in Tempe to teach my classes, which ended at 7:15 p.m.. I hustled off campus and to my car, and headed east, stopping at the Target in Tempe for food first. I arrived to the Cottonwood Canyon Road turnoff from AZ-79 around 9:00 p.m., and headed in. It was close to a new moon tonight, which meant near-total darkness. I drove in about a mile, then drove onto a lesser track into an open clearing devoid of brush. This would be my camp. The land here is State Trust. I set up my cot behind the car, and then sat up front to have a meal and do nothing. I checked some scores on my device. The Dodgers were playing the Yankees in Game 4 of the World Series, but this one was going New York's way and I did not pay much attention to the game after a certain point. I crawled under my blankets and sleeping bag around 10 p.m.. The sky was clear and very starry. There was some ambient light from Phoenix as well as some from closer in, but it was still quite dark and peaceful. I could barely hear the trucks on the highway. I spent some time staring up at the points of light. I could make out the main stars, multitudes of fainter stars, and the faint whitish band of the Milky Way. I saw a few shooting stars too. I slept pretty well, waking at 4:30 a.m.. I took down camp and sat up front to wake up and warm up a little more. I was mere miles from the two peaks on today's agenda, and with the weather cooling, was not obliged to be hiking at dawn. I had some flexibility on time. The only constraint was I needed to be back on campus about noon. I had two peaks on the agenda, Peak 2819 and Peak 2765, both about a mile from the main road once in the hills. When the sun was barely lighting things up and the big rock-hauler trucks were rumbling east on the road toward the big quarry, I knew it was time to get moving.
Date: October 30, 2024
• Elevation: 2,818 feet (Lidar)
• Prominence: 318 feet (Lidar)
• Distance: 2 miles
• Time: 1 hour
• Gain: 650 feet
• Conditions: Sunny and clear
Arizona
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LoJ
I drove another four or five miles, passing a fence onto BLM land. Peak 2819 rises about a mile south of the road, now marked as BLM-79 here. I wanted a lesser track that branches off the main road but could not locate it. I drove past where it should have been and saw the track on the hillside, so I drove back. Turns out the road has been fenced off here, not even a gate. I parked in a wide area beside the fence.
The sun was still low and most everything was in shadow except for the tops of the peaks. It was cool, in the low 50s, but pleasant and calm. I got a simple pack together and started my hike, first shimmying under the fence, then walking into an arroyo and finding the track. I followed the track about a half mile.
The track achieves a local apex before descending and then ending against the hillside at some old mine diggings. I could see my route from here. The actual summit was hidden, but a slightly-lower peak to the west was visible. All the slopes looked friendly and open, not choked in brush.
I walked into the grass and rocks and followed game paths, aiming for a lower hilltop on the ridge ahead of me. The grade steepened, but the ground was solid, the grass helping the dirt form tiers. Footing was secure the entire way and I never needed my hands.
Now on the ridge and in the sun, I looked up at the higher summit, the one hiding the real top for now. I had to drop about thirty feet, then walk up another nice, slightly-steep slope of grass, to gain this false summit. It had a rocky crown but I was able to walk it, no hands necessary. The actual summit was visible up ahead.
I dropped about 40 feet to a saddle, then gained about 50 feet to the highpoint, which was open with rocky clumps, a lot of grass and a few barrel cactus. Views were fantastic, but I had severe glare looking south or southeast. Mineral Mountain is the main peak to the south, with a dike-like cliff on its summit ridge. I have done no homework on that peak.
It had taken me a litte over a half hour to get here, just enough to make me sweat a little. I stuck around for a few minutes to look around and snap images. With the sun still low, shadows on the distant mountains really stood out.
I descended the same way. I noticed some metal things hanging off some poles just off the ridge. It maybe was an old mine shaft? I don't know and I did not hike down to inspect it. There were a couple cattle down that way, one guy way up high on the slope. It's only a matter of time before they solve the riddle of summiting a peak.
I was back to my car in about an hour. It was still early and conditions were still fantastic. My next peak was close by and I did not have to drive far.
Elevation: 2,766 feet (Lidar)
• Prominence: 336 feet (Lidar)
• Distance: 2.6 miles
• Time: 90 minutes
• Gain: 665 feet
• Conditions: Beautiful
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LoJ
Peak 2765 lies about a mile and a half northeast of where I was, but a gate blocks the easiest road access to the peak, there being a ranch residence here. Instead, I drove the main road I was on just a half mile and parked in a clearing. I was already packed and dressed so I was moving immediately.
I planned to bypass the residence by hiking up and over a ridge between the road I was on now, and the road/canyon that I wanted to be on. I started up the slopes and immediately found myself on a path or trail, possibly an old ATV track. In any case, it was open and went the direction I wanted.
The track ended but others picked up. There were abundant cattle paths, so that I was hiking along a path for about 90% of this segment. As a result, bypassing the property was easy and went much better than I was expecting.
I dropped into the canyon bottom (this being the actual Cottonwood Canyon), then found a messy spot to gain the bluffs on the other side. I was at the base of Peak 2765, but it was clear that climbing it directly from this side would be foolish.
I hiked up the slopes and the route then revealed itself. A ridge gains to a point up ahead, then goes right to another point, and then another right to the summit, essentially going all the way around back to get up the peak.
The terrain was mostly open and easy to manage. Slopes were moderate and the rocks behaved. Once at the first point, I angled right and aimed for the second point. Here, the terrain steepened and became rockier. I used hands for balance a few times.
At the second point, I descended about fifteen feet to a saddle, then up grassy slopes to the top. The summit was open and bare, with grass and low rock outcrops. I found a register and signed in. This peak gets very little visitation.
Views were good. The sun was higher now so I could get better images to the east and south. The day was warming into the 60s and with not a cloud in sight. I spent about five minutes enjoying a break and looking around.
I retraced my route going down, and somehow managed to repeat the same cow paths back to my car. This hike had taken a little longer, about 90 minutes, but it went better than I was expecting, too. The cowpaths helped. I was expecting a lot of thorny brush and grass.
It was about 10 a.m. now and I was pleased with the two-peak haul. I had not hiked very far, less than 5 miles total. I felt good, not too fatigued. I would have liked to stuck around longer but I needed to be moving. I had work-things to do at my day job and needed to be back on campus by noon.
Cottonwood Canyon and its secondary roads look like a lot of fun to explore, but it becomes clear fast that a stronger 4-wheel drive vehicle is necessary. The roads at the end were a little too rough for the Subaru. Mineral Mountain is the only other peak back in here that interests me, but I'll need to find a way to get close to it.
I checked both peaks' elevations and prominences on the 1-meter Lidar website. Interestingly, the summit figures were lower or higher by one foot compared to what's printed on the maps. The prominence figures could also be determined more accurately, too.
Since the map shows printed elevations for both peaks, I keep the "map name" here as their references. That is why the peak name and the elevation figures do not match.
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