This little peak is just a pimple of a hill, located on the west side of Waterman Peak near the massive Silver Bell Mine. I was interested in it for one reason: it looked easy. I had just finished a ten-mile hike in the nearby Pan Quemado Hills and had just enough energy for another quick hike. I wanted no cliffs and no epics.
I finished my earlier hike at noon and just piled into my car, driving back out to Avra Valley Road. I went west toward the mine a few miles. Just as the road bends right toward the mine, Silver Bell Road branches off to the left. I eased onto this road, which is graded dirt.
The road was in fair condition. Most of it was wide and smooth, but there were heavy ruts in every lowpoint, forcing me to go over them at 0.5 miles per hour. The road wanders through the old Silver Bell townsites, but nothing remains of the old towns.
I was on the road for a couple miles. About a mile in, this little peak appears all by itself. I was pleased to see it was just a mound, with no cliffs or other challenges. I wanted nothing like that now. I only added this peak onto the agenda when I realized I had time, and it was close by. I would never drive all this way just for this one peak.
I turned left onto a side road that leads toward the peak, but was stopped by a gate. I turned around and parked in a clearing just big enough for one car alongside the road. I was about a mile from the peak. It was warm, too, about 82° according to my car's thing that tells temperature. The other thing that tells time had it at 12:30ish. I had only driven five or six miles from my last hike to here.
I walked back along the road then hopped a berm, now on an older track, which I followed. At a branch, I went right and followed it toward the peak. This track then looped back, so I left it and went cross-country.
The terrain was friendly, with spread-out brush and cactus, and rocky terrain with plenty of lanes. I had to drop into and out of one fifteen-foot deep arroyo, then another smaller one at the base of the peak.
After that, I was now on the slope. It was just a ramp of mid-sized volcanic boulders, big enough to step on but small enough to roll if I wasn't careful. I went slowly, tired by now. I gained about 300 feet and was soon on the peaks ridge, at its east end.
I walked along the ridge to its highest point, the one-way hike taking about thirty minutes. I found a register in a cairn. I was just the third to sign in, after Andy Martin and Bob Packard, and the first since Bob in 2019. Views were good, especially of the surrounding peaks and parts of the mine. This is an area not easy to get to as there are almost no decent roads back here. The Tohono O'odham Nation boundary is less than a mile to the south. It was prettier than I was expecting.
I hiked down the same general way, spotting what looked like a small trinchera at the top. I also saw what looked like low walls but was not sure if it was just a trick of the eye. Walls and trincheras have been found on other nearby peaks, so it could have been authentic.
I hiked down the slope toward a road, and once on it, walked it out to the main road. This was the road that I had been on before the gate stopped me. I walked around the gate, got back on the main road, and was back to my car quickly, the round trip taking just over an hour.
This was not much of a peak but it had better views than I expected and I am glad I added it to my plans. I now had a three-peak afternoon. It was getting close to 2 p.m. and I figured I should head home now.
I drove Avra Valley Road back to the interstate. I noted the mileage: The Silver Bell Road turnoff was 21.5 miles in, and the gas line road I had been on for my earlier hikes was about 15 miles in. I didn't stop in Tucson. I waited until I was in Benson before I stopped for cold drinks. I was in Bisbee by 4 p.m..
This humble peak lies on a square of private land, bordered by the Tohono O'odham to the south, and BLM sections to the west and east. I suspect this is mine-owned land. I saw no other fences or postings, and there were some people out here. I could hear shooting nearby.
