Date: December 23, 2025 • Elevation: 5,584 feet ✳ • Prominence: 576 feet ✳ • Distance: 3.4 miles • Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes • Gain: 864 feet • Conditions: Sunny with high clouds muting the light, calm and warm • Critters: Javelina

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ • Lidar

This peak is located in the southeastern Dragoon Mountains, rising northeast of the ghost town of Gleeson, about a fifteen-mile drive east of Tombstone. The peak has no official name, but many of the mine websites refer to the hill as Gleeson Ridge.

Gleeson Ridge is one of a line of peaks running north-south, with Turquoise Peak to the north, then the biggest of the grouping, Browns Peak, in the middle, then Gleeson Ridge on the south end. All three peaks have extensive mine works dating back to the late 19th-Century. Two towns, Gleeson and Courtland, came into existence at this time, but as the mines played out, both towns withered and were eventually abandoned. Courtland was located north and east of the line of peaks, abutting Turquoise Peak.

Native Americans mined turquoise here dating back centuries. Gleeson's original name was Turquoise before being renamed after a John Gleeson in the 1890s, who developed the Copper Belle Mine. Other metals such as silver, lead and zinc have also been mined here. Gleeson itself survived into the 1930s before being abandoned as copper demand fell during the Depression.

Although a ghost town, Gleeson is still a named place on the map and people do live out here in scattered ranchette properties. There is no longer an actual town center. The jail still stands and has been refurbished. My wife and I visited it back in 2010. One other building is mostly collapsed, but I would not know what it originally was. That's about it for anything still above ground from the old original Gleeson. Courtland has even fewer standing buildings.

I wanted to explore the peaks here, having ignored them on other drives through the area. Most of the land is private, but there are some State Trust land and BLM portions, but in a very confusing mish-mash. The west side of the peak is heavily posted against trespassing, so there would be no way to access it from that side.

The east side looked a little more promising. Although "mostly" private, it appeared (on my quick visits) that it's not as heavily fenced or posted, and that some de-facto access is allowed. For this peak, my intended route would be about half on State Trust land, and half private, and I would make judgement calls if necessary.

I was up before dawn and on the road at 6:30 a.m. from Bisbee, following the roads through Double Adobe toward Elfrida. I made an error and turned west onto Davis Road. In the dark, I did not realize my error until I saw some peaks I shouldn't have been seeing. I returned to the proper highway, through Elfrida, then found Gleeson Road, which I followed west bound toward the hills I expected to be seeing.

The sun was up but it was very low, and there was a sheet of high clouds that muted the sun, the front of a storm hitting the west coast. It was cold, but as soon as the sun rose, temperatures went from the low 40s to the high 50s. High temperature in the area was expected to be near 70°.

I got onto northbound Ghost Town Road, which runs up the east side of the peaks, passes through Courtland, and ends at Pearce, another ghost town up the way. I had two road options toward Gleeson Ridge. The southern one was narrow, so I drove to the northern one (2 miles north of Gleeson Road). This one was rutted, but I got in and was able to back into a clearing, out of sight from the main road. I saw no prohibitive signs or fencing. The only sign I saw was one for "no dumping".

I locked the car at 8:20 a.m., and started walking along this track, which cuts north of Maud Hill, going in a little under a mile. I missed a turn onto a lesser track and kept going in on the main track, before realizing I need to cut south now. Fortunately, the terrain was mellow, plants spaced out to where walking through them was easy. In about five minutes, I was on this lesser track.

This track angles southwest toward the base of the hill, a mine about a third of the way up. Above the mine is cliffs, so there would be no practical way to access the top following this track all the way up. I followed the track anyway, gaining about 150 feet elevation quickly.

On the walk up, I was studying the slopes. They were steep with numerous exposed rocks forming small cliffs, sloping open rock, and random heaps. One slope looked promising so I aimed for it. I had to cross into and out of a couple arroyos to get there. The terrain slowly steepened along the way.

I got to the lowest of the exposed rock. Up to here, it was steep but manageable. The rock is limestone, which when in rubble form, is loose and slides easily. On the exposed open rock, footing was better. I found myself high-stepping often to get up these small heaps and tiers, and angling left and right for better options.

This was working out just fine, at first. But the grade never lessened, and it seemed to get a degree steeper as I gained elevation. Just a tiny increase in the grade made the rubble slopes extremely loose and treacherous. I was starting to think this wasn't a good idea.

I considered bailing, but the top ridge seemed so close, maybe a hundred more feet. If the slope stayed this steep and no steeper, I could pull this off ... I hoped. I got up to a cliff that angled up and to my left. The rubble below it was dreadfully loose, and the runout below could have been very bad should I slip and fall.

I was committed to this now. Going down was no longer an option. I moved extremely carefully. A few short segments were no-fall zones. Had I fallen, that may have been it for me. Finally, I was above all this and on the top ridge. My heart was racing and I did not enjoy that segment one bit.

On the ridge now, it was as tame as could be. Flat with the gentlest of gradients. I walked along it, going up and over some easy exposed limestone karst, to the top. And there I was, on top of the peak. I hadn't hiked far, less than two miles, with about 860 feet of gain. It had taken me one hour and twenty minutes.

The top was a mound of rubble with a cairn hidden within a big creosote bush. Amy P. was here earlier in the month and also mentioned the steep eastern slopes. There were just two other signatures. I snapped images of the surrounding peaks and countryside, then started right down, spending about a minute up top.

Going down, I chose to follow the ridge farther south and take it to its lowest point. This I did and it worked well. While still high on the ridge, I heard grunting and saw some javelina getting up to scamper away down at the lowpoint below. Looking west, I could see some modern equipment down below which suggests some mining might still take place here.

At the low point, I descended downhill and angled a little left, getting onto a small flat knob. I had dropped about two hundred feet and passed the nastiest of the slopes I had taken up. That felt good. I descended some more, angling left and eventually getting myself back on the lower slopes I had taken up. But this was fine with me because these slopes, while loose, steep and messy, were safe.

I just took these slopes slowly, using friction on the exposed rock and easing down the small tiers until I was finally off the rock and just on regular steep rubbly slope, but well away from anything treacherous. I battled a couple arroyos and soon found the track, which I took out to the main track and out to my car. The outbound hike took just an hour.

I had considered climbing Maud Hill, but was in no mood after what I had dealt with. I just wanted back to my car where I could change and relax. This peak gave me more of a workout than I planned for, and for a little bit up there, I was in some very treacherous terrain.

Now that I'm an expert, I suggest to catch the ridge at its lowest point, then take it to the top. This will mitigate the worst of the slopes. It will still be messy and parts will need care and attention, but it should work just fine. I actually had achieved the ridge at the southern tip of its highest ridge. That extra climbing I did was absolutely unnecessary.

From here, I drove into Tombstone and got a cold drink and some snacks, then drove back home, arriving before noon. I showered then napped for a couple hours. This had taken a lot out of me. However, it was enjoyable, and I have some ideas how to approach the other peaks, which have some tracks that get high which may help avoid some of the bad slopes. I never did see any fences or prohibitive signs. Tire tracks in the road suggest people come here, I suspect to shoot.