The Mountains of Arizona
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Peak 6943 • Peak 6309 These two peaks rise adjacent to Coronado Forest Road 61, also known as Duquesne Road, in the far-southern Patagonia Mountains, just a few miles north of the Mexican border. The biggest and most attractive feature here is Mount Washington, the highest point in the Patagonia Mountains. I was here in 2017 with the fellas climbing Mount Washington. That has been the only time I have been to this specific part of the range. Neither peak has a name. The southern one is higher, marked by a pair of tiny 7,000-foot contours on the map, although Lidar only gives it 6,943 feet of elevation. The northern peak comes in at 6,309 feet (the map says 6,304 feet). Duquesne Road is a major forest "highway" with one end at state route AZ-82 about six miles northeast of Nogales, and the other end where it meets with Harshaw-Lochiel Road, FR-49. At this latter junction are the ruins of some massive mining works that begat the towns of Duquesne and Washington Camp in the 1880s-1890s. A lot of that land is private and there still seems to be a few residents there, and some small-scale mining. These two peaks lie safely within Forest property. I was returning from ASU/Tempe back to home in Bisbee but this week had been a tiring one, for good reasons. But I was tired. I was up at 2:30 yesterday morning, so by the time I was on the road from the big city, I knew I wasn't going to make it back to Bisbee. I decided I'd find somewhere to car-camp, and hike a peak or two if possible. These two came to mind. I left ASU about 8 p.m., was in Tucson about 9:30 p.m., then onto the highway toward Sonoita (AZ-83). I did not get as far as Sonoita. I pulled into Gardner Canyon Road and drove in about a mile or two, camping in a neat copse of giant cottonwoods, with a couple small spaces tucked in hard against the large trees. It was about 11 p.m.. My dinner was a sandwich from a Circle-K. I was very tired anyway, so I got out a blanket and did my best to sleep in my front seat, leaned all the way back as far as it would go. I did sleep, out of sheer exhaustion. The night was cool but not cold, about 45°. The moon was in its waning gibbous stage, rising about 2 a.m.. I was up by 4 anyway. I sat for awhile and had something to eat. I wanted to time my driving so that I'd be in Patagonia just as the sun was rising. It left my camping spot about 4:45 a.m. and proceeded back to the highway into Sonoita, then toward Patagonia.
Date: April 10, 2026
• Elevation: 6,943 feet ✳
• Prominence: 322 feet
• Distance: 1.6 miles
• Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
• Gain: 995 feet
• Conditions: Cool, high clouds and some sun
Arizona
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LoJ
It was barely dawn when I entered the outskirts of Patagonia. I took the bypass road (Cross Creek Road) to Harshaw Road and started south. I got in behind a big "tour" bus that went very slowly, mainly to ease through the various creek fords along the road. These busses go to the Hermosa Mine which is fully active these days, and I assume these busses ferry the workers in and out. Anyway, the darn bus would poke along at 5 miles per hour, so yes, it took a little while to drive this part.
Past the mine, I stayed on the road a few more miles until I was at the FR-61/49 junction on the outskirts of Washington Camp. I made a hard right onto FR-61 and followed it went about two miles until it topped out at an apex near a cattle grate. Peak 6943 rose to the south, 6309 to the north. It was about 6 a.m. when I rolled in and parked. It had taken over an hour from the main highway to here, covering about 20 miles.
The day was cool but not cold, temperature about 55° for now. The sky was shrouded over by a thin layer of clouds that muted the light. There was no chance of rain. To the west were some blue skies so I hoped things would drift to the east soon and let the sun shine some more. It was 6:10 a.m. when I started walking.
I chose Peak 6943 first, being the higher peak. In 2017, the guys and I had busted pretty much straight up the slope toward the peak, although we had no plans to actually tag it. I was expecting the same now, but just a few feet west of the cattle grate was a trail. So I went in and followed it as far as it would go.
To my surprise, the trail went all the way up to the ridge, about a 700-foot gain in about a half mile. It was a good trail, easy to follow the entire way. It was steep in places and a little loose at times, but I was extremely happy to have a trail to follow. This easily saved me about a half hour of time. There were a few scattered clothing items, nothing looking recent, along the trail. This close to the border, I am not surprised the crossers would follow these trails. Why they ditch their clothing, I don't know.
On the ridge, I angled left and started up the forested slopes toward the top. I came upon a fenceline which would help serve as something to follow. It was thick forest but I could usually find a lane to follow. Toward the top, the rocks and large boulders appear.
We had got to about here in 2017, but then angled away as we were aiming for Veterans Peak. None of us were that interested to tag this peak. I had often wondered if we actually had been to the highpoint of this peak. In my notes and narrative on the Mount Washington hike, I am kind of vague on that. I honestly don't remember.
At the highest point on the ridge, there seemed to be higher land about an eighth of a mile to the southeast. I followed a trail (a cleared path) briefly, then entered into the trees and rocks and slowly walked the gauntlet. I came to one set of rocks at a highpoint, and could see higher land not far away.
I dropped about thirty feet then up a rocky slope to top out on the summit. One large rounded boulder about ten feet high seemed to be the highest point. Some rocks piled up against it allowed me to clamber upward and tag the top. Another clump of rocks about thirty feet away may have been as high so I tagged them too. I still sense that the rounded boulder is the highpoint. I could not find a register, but I did find some clothing and food cans and wrappers.
Hiking out, I tagged any other high rocks, and slowly made my way back to the ridge and fenceline, then followed that down to the trail. Once on the trail, I made very good time walking it down to my car. I arrived back at 7:30 a.m., an 80-minute round-trip hike.
I re-read my narrative on the Mount Washington hike and I mention finding a good trail on our exit, but then leaving it again to make our own way back to the car. It is possible this trail wasn't here in 2017, or it was but only in parts or not that well-defined. I find it hard to believe we'd miss a whole trail. I was tickled to find it today because it made this hike so much more pleasant.
I can affirm that we did not "summit" this peak in 2017. We weren't even close. We got to the higher rocks on the ridge before angling away toward Veterans and Washington.
Elevation: 6,309 feet ✳
• Prominence: 384 feet
• Distance: 0.9 mile
• Time: 50 minutes
• Gain: 380 feet
• Conditions: Warming but still nice
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LoJ
By comparison, Peak 6309 would be much shorter with less distance and gain. This peak is the other ranked peak in the band of hills that contains U X Peak which I climbed a few weeks ago. But getting to this peak from that direction seemed like too much of a hassle.
I crossed the road and entered into what looked like a small gravel "borrow" pit. There was no trail, and I was in shin-high grass almost immediately. I walked steeply uphill, angling left (west) to aim for a small hill above me.
The hiking was easy but the brush was heavy here, with more mountain oak and smaller trees with abundant branches. The grass could be thick and it was just barely warm enough for a snake to be sunning itself.
At the hilltop, I turned and dropped about thirty feet, where things opened up a little better. There were hints of a path in places. Otherwise, I just busted through the grass and rocks. It wasn't difficult at all.
The final segment gets a little steep, but it was easy and I was soon on top, about a 25-minute hike covering under a half mile. A fence runs across the top. I snapped a few photos, the sun now having come out from behind the clouds. Views were excellent! I spent just a few minutes here. I could not find a register here, either.
I hiked down the same way, and was back to my car by 8:40, a round trip of a little under an hour. This was a fine bonus peak to tag and it had better view than I would have expected. A Border Patrol guy drove by just as I was returning to my car.
I changed into fresh clothes and debated my next move. I did not want to go out the way I had come in, so I decided to follow FR-61, Duquesne Road, all the way down to where it meets AZ-82 near Nogales. This was a fun road to drive. I had to go slow at first, it being steep with no guardrails in places. Once back on AZ-82, I just pointed the car east and started driving.
In about an hour I was in Sierra Vista. The drive was highlighted by two convoys heading west, each one a truck hauling some thing massive (probably mine related). There would be two police cars in front with its lights on, then the "overside load" driver, then the actual truck, then more chaperones behind it. We'd have to stop and pull way to the side, the things they were hauling easily as wide as the whole highway.
I stopped for some quick errands in Sierra Vista, then headed home, taking the low route via AZ-92 down by Palominas and paralleling the border. It's always less crowded this way.
I got a couple miles out of town and I heard what sounded like a gun-shot, like a .22. Then I heard the flup-flup-flup sound and knew I had blown a tire. I pulled to the side and into someone's driveway to check it out. It was the front-right tire and it was completely flat. I guess I'm changing a tire now.
I parked so I was clear of traffic. I got my stuff out and jacked up the car and took off the bad tire. I hit something big. I could press on the tire and hear air escape. It was in the tread and not the sidewalls, which was good.
I replaced it with my full-size spare. After years of using the damn doughnut tire Subaru gives, I spent the money on an extra wheel and tire, and today, it came in very handy. I still keep the doughnut in case I have two flats in one outing.
The tire change took about fifteen minutes. It was very windy by now and I was filthy. But at least I got it changed. I drove home into Bisbee and stopped at the Firestone in town. They were able to patch it, which was a relief.
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