Date: February 15, 2026 • Elevation: 6,493 feet ✳ • Prominence: 707 feet • Distance: 5 miles • Time: 3 hours • Gain: 930 feet • Conditions: Cold and overcast at first, sunnier and warmer later

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ • USGS BM Datasheet

Guajalote Peak rises in southern Santa Cruz County, about five miles north of the Mexican border. The closest big peak is Mount Washington, which rises south a couple miles. I was in the area a couple weeks ago when I climbed American Peak, which rises about four miles to the northeast. The word guajolote is Spanish for turkey.

When I was here a couple weeks ago, I got a good feel for the roads in the area, and saw a sign for Guajalote Flat. I decided to follow up on this, study the maps, and see if it was feasible to approach the peak from this direction. Even if I had to park back on the main road, it would not be an impossible walk, maybe 3 miles each way.

I was up early and on the road a little before dawn. It's about an eighty-mile drive to get here. The roads were in fine shape. I got onto Harshaw Road (FR 49) and followed that south toward Lochiel. I then eased onto Guajalote Flat Road (FR 4695) and hoped I could get in a little bit.

The road is good, and a little steep. I drove in almost a mile, parking in a clearing before the road got much steeper. The road tread itself was very good, no big rocks or bad ruts. Steepness would be the only challenge. The Border Patrol runs this road, which probably explains why it is kept up.

It was cool and overcast when I rolled in about 8 a.m.. I could see blue skies in the distance, so it seemed this big cloud bank above me would hopefully move aside. For now, it muted the sun and kept things chilly, although not too bad, in the low 40s for now.

I walked the road another mile or so, gaining a little over 300 feet to where the road reached its apex north of Hill 6107. At points along the road, I could see Guajalote Peak in the mid-distance, about a mile and a half away.

The road drops then curls around a lower hill. When the road aimed south and started to drop some more, I knew to leave it and start in on the off-trail segment. I was about a mile away from the peak on a straight line.

The terrain was knee-high grass, but lenient grades for now. The trees were moderate, just enough to make it hard to see long distances. Now and then I'd reach a rise or a clearing, where I could see things better and get a sense of what I wanted to do.

I was intending to follow the peak's northeast ridge up. Down low, there were many ups and downs, many small ridges, so it was hard to know for sure if what I was doing was correct. I just kept walking that way and would re-orient myself whenever I got a big-picture view. I tied some ribbons to branches in places where I felt I could get off route if I wasn't careful.

The grade started to steepen, and at times I sensed I was following a path, which may have been correct. This would be the most sensible way to the top, for hikers, hunters and the occasional border crosser.

About midway up, the high ridge comes into view and suddenly everything was obvious. I gained steeply up one slope of grass and rocks. The rocks sometimes alowed me to hop from one to the next for dozens of feet at a time.

Once on the high ridge, I angled left and walked up to the "top", which turned out to be the easternmost bump of the summit ridge. I could see the rest of the summit ridge, but mostly shrouded by the trees.

I walked to the middle summit ridge bump, then down and up to the westernmost summit bump, the presumptive highpoint. It had taken me about ninety minutes to get here, in about two and a half miles.

The top was minorly rocky, with a couple sticking up above the ground a couple feet. I tagged any that looked highest. I quickly found the two benchmark reference marks, but could not find the actual benchmark. I even took apart the cairn where the two arrows pointed, thinking the cairn is covering it up, but no luck. I simply could not find it. It was probably pried away 80 years ago.

The register was buried within the cairn and I signed in. This register was crammed with papers making it a mess. I removed about a dozen blank sheets, leaving behind about three or four, which should last thirty years. This peak sees a small but steady stream of visitors, maybe two or three people/teams a year.

In the ten minutes I was at the summit, the clouds finally moved aside and I had sunnier skies, so I took more images. It was calm and pleasant, temperatures in the 50s. Views were very good. To the south was Veterans Peak, which hides Mount Washington. To the north were some big peaks and the Santa Ritas way in back. To the east was American Peak and the Huachucas way way in the distance. To the west, the land drops dramatically, Nogales in the distance but mostly hidden.

On the hike out, I went up and over the middle summit, then up to the eastern summit to officially tag it. Lidar shows that the three summits are very close in height: 6,493 feet for the western summit, 6,492 feet for the middle one, and 6,491 feet for the eastern one. It's not possible to sight visually between them because of the trees.

Hiking down, I followed my same route, untying my ribbons as I found them. About midway down, now in heavier tree cover, I saw a bedroll under a tree about a hundred feet away. It looked new and like there was someone in it. I chose not to go inspect.

The hike out went fast. I could see the hills I had hiked in, so I aimed for them. I made good time. The only downside was the abundance of bristleweed (setaria). Their seed pods (?) stick to clothing like velcro and getting them off is all-but-impossible. I think that's what these plants are called. My socks were covered in them. Soaking them in soapy water seems to help.

I was back to my car a little after 11 a.m.. A Border Patrol guy was sitting in his truck in a clearing as I walked by. When I was back to my car, he was driving down. He just gave me a quick hand wave. I did too.

The hike had gone very well and much easier from a logistical aspect. The road in was decent, and maybe, if I had been motivated, could have coaxed the Subaru up it. Normal 4-wheel drive with high clearance would be sufficient. You may not need the 4-wheel drive but some of the road is steep, so having that stability would help.

I exited back to Patagonia, then from there on home via Sierra Vista. I never did see any guajolotes.