Date: October 26, 2025 • Elevation: 4,849 feet ✳ • Prominence: 468 feet ✳ • Distance: 2 miles • Time: 2 hours • Gain: 1,030 feet • Conditions: Sunny, blue skies, pleasant

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ • Lidar

This is an unnamed peak atop a ridge in the southern Little Rincon Mountains, barely inside the Coronado National Forest boundary. The Mackenzie Ranch lies below it. There are two other "Peak 4849"s in the area, one yay and the other one nyaw. Thus, to differentiate them, I dub this one the Mackenzie Ranch Peak. I like the name Mackenzie. My grandmother was born a Mackenzie back in 1908.

My original objective were a pair of peaks, San Juan Hill and its barely-ranked southern neighbor, which lie a couple miles to the north along the same ridge. I was on the road at dawn and in Benson about an hour later. I was on Interstate-10 briefly, exiting at Mescal Road, going north, which loses pavement and merges into FR-35 after a few miles.

I drove in about ten miles until I was abeam of San Juan Hill. I immediately didn't like it. It was very rocky and very brushy. One or the other, I might have gone for it, but both, forget it. I immediately noped out of these peaks. Instead, I turned around, drove back a couple miles, and took a look at this peak. It is brushy with a few rock outcrops, but much nicer ridges and lines. I wanted a challenge, not an epic.

I parked in a camping area north of the Mackenzie Ranch boundary, got myself ready and was on the move, the time now about 8 a.m.. It was sunny and calm, no clouds, temperature for now in the low 60s.

Crossing the road, I walked into the trees and up a ridge with powerlines running along it, then came to a fence. It was not posted but it was a sturdy fence with no obvious way over or through it. I was obliged to go low and slide underneath the lowest wire. I dropped into a draw, up another ridge, down the other side, passed another draw and finally placed myself on the ridge I wanted to be on. This ridge makes a long straight shot to the crest.

On the ridge, it was brushy, with a lot of thorn brush down low, but not too steep. The brush was generally knee high at worst, with lanes. Higher up, the thorny stuff lessened. The rocky parts were spread out with no scrambling necessary. It was just a matter of trudging upwards. Toward the top, I angled left and cut below smaller Peak 4713 to get to the high saddle below the summit.

The final climb to the top was steeper but with lanes through the brush, and I was soon on top, with is somewhat flat, a rock outcrop to the east side with the register within it, and another rock a few yards to the west side that seemed about as high. I tagged both, then took a break near the one with the register. The names within the register were the usual ones, about a dozen going back 20 years. Amy was here this earlier this year.

Views were very good, with the clear air and sunny sky. I got a great look a both Rincon and Mica Mountains, and the rockiness of North Star Peak to the northeast. I wandered around for about ten minutes. It had taken about an hour to get here, covering about a mile with a thousand feet of gain. I was glad to be here. This may have been a more interesting peak anyway than the San Juan ones.

The downhill hike went well, just retracing my route, sliding with the rocks. I was back to my car in a little under an hour, a two-hour total time gone. It was late morning and I had no other plans. I explored some of the roads in the area, but otherwise just headed out, back into Benson then on home to Bisbee.