Date: October 16, 2025 • Elevation: 3,053 feet • Prominence: 413 feet • Distance: 2 miles • Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes • Gain: 570 feet • Conditions: Clear, dry and beautiful

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ

The Durham Hills are a small collection of hills in Pinal County, about 30 miles south of Florence along highway AZ-79. There are just two ranked peaks in these hills, the highpoint, which I hiked almost 4 years ago, and this peak, located at the south end of the grouping.

Combined with the nearby Suizo Mountain and its two lower ranked peaks, there are five easily-attainable peaks here, the main challenge being they are far from everywhere and not on many people's radar. I've hiked the other four already, so this peak would clean up this area for me.

I left Bisbee at 5:20 a.m., heading to Tempe. I had time for a peak, and the temperatures are finally low enough in the deserts to permit hiking without fear of heat stroke. Expected highs in Tucson were to be in the high 70s. The state had three days of heavy rain this past weekend, the remnants of two tropical storms off the Baja California coast. Today was clear and lovely.

Traffic was tolerable through Tucson, and I exited the interstate at the Red Rock exit, following the frontage to Park Link Road, which leads to AZ-79, an 18-mile connector. This road appeared to have flooded during the rains, with whole sections covered over in dirt.

On AZ-79, I went north a few more miles to Olsen Wash, just north of milepost 104. The access road I want is immediately past the wash. So I get to it and it has a new "No Trespassing Private Land" sign on it. The gate itself was unlocked, and there was the older sign about sportsmen access and to please close the gate.

This is all State Trust land. This sign was not on the gate six months ago when I was last here. Someone just decided to put one up. I don't think this is legal. It certainly isn't honest. I went in anyway.

The road in was fine, but it showed some effects of the rains, with a lot of erosion ruts cutting laterally, and one saguaro toppled over onto the road. I was able to ease around it, and as long as I went slow, the ruts weren't much of a problem. I came to another gate one mile later. It was unlocked and unposted. I went on and continued westbound.

I drove in another two miles, or a little over three since the highway, coming near Mesa Tank. Some cows were there drinking, so I parked back a few hundred yards, in a clearing north of the road. The peak rose about a mile to the west. I was dressed and on the move at 8:20 a.m.. It was chilly but pleasant, temperature in the low 60s.

I walked on a direct northwest line toward the peak. This desert trekking was easy, the brush and trees spaced out nicely. It was the usual mix: palo verde, creosote and mesquite, and for the cactus, cholla, prickly-pear and saguaro. In about ten minutes I was at the base of the hill. I just picked a line and started up.

I started up a ridge that juts east of the main mass, then marched uphill over rocks until I was on the high ridge, a gain of about 350 feet. This put me just south of the southern of the two highpoint hills. I walked up to its top and looked over at the north peak, the presumed highest point. I couldn't tell which one was higher.

I then dropped about 50 feet to the saddle between the two hilltops, and up to the northern peak. I found a register in the rocks nearby. Looking back, it appeared this hilltop was a few feet higher than the southern one. I had tagged both, so I was covered.

Views were nice, with the sunny sky and the sun still low in the east. I could see the Durham Hills Highpoint, and hear the beeping and rumbling of the trucks at the quarry on the other side. I spent about five minutes here, snapping images and having a drink. The one-way hike had taken a little over a half hour.

For the descent, I followd the same route out, even re-ascending the southern hill again. The outbound hike took about 25 minutes, and a total of just over an hour for the whole hike. It wasn't a long hike, but it was perfect for me today. I still had some driving to do.

I drove back out, and back onto AZ-79, followed that north through Florence. I always enjoy this drive and the scenery, and the lack of trucks. I stopped for a cold drink in Florence, then just drove on to Tempe, where I cleaned up and mumbled something about triple integrals that night.

Since I have hiked all the ranked peaks in this little grouping, I won't be coming back, but it still is a burr under my saddle that someone posted that "No Trespassing" sign on the gate. I hope it gets dealt with properly. A simple wire snipper will also do the trick.

I had some duties on campus the next morning, then on my way back to Bisbee, I stopped for a peak in Tucson, Malpais Hill, way out by the Silver Bell Mine.

Lidar data at the 1-meter resolution has not been released for this area, so resolving which hill is higher is still an open question. My senses tell me it's the northern hill, but not by much, maybe three feet. The older 1/3-arcsecond data says it's the south hill, but I doubt that is correct. I tagged both so I won't worry about it.