Date: January 3, 2019 • Elevation: 1,833 feet (1,834 feet per LIDAR) • Prominence: 322 feet (per LIDAR) • Distance: 2 miles • Time: 1 hour • Gain: 390 feet • Conditions: Clear and cool

Arizona • Main • LoJ

I had a half day open and decided to hike a local peak in the area. I chose Peak 1833, which has no official name. This peak lies east of North Mountain and Shaw Butte, and directly behind the Pointe Hilton Resort at Tapatio Cliffs. It's contained within the Phoenix Mountains Preserve and was of interest to me for two reasons: one, it had a trail to the top, and two, it is a ranked peak, but just barely, with 303 feet of prominence.

For purposes of this webpage, I refer to this peak as Tapatio Point. It seems plausible that the name of the resort was taken from a local feature, but I cannot find any reference what "Tapatio" refers to. The peak does have some cliffs on its west face. Using the Google machine, no matter how I phrase my query, invariably gives me link after link to the resort itself. It is safe to assume, though, that the peak is not named for the hot sauce.

Anyway, I drove to the parking area at North Mountain, west of 7th Street and across from the resort. I started hiking at 1:15 p.m., the day clear but chilly, temperature about 50 degrees. I walked through a tunnel underneath 7th Street, then bypassed the resort grounds, following the trail eastward. The peak rises immediately above to the south. There's an old quarry tucked in below the main mountain and a smaller hill abutting the resort. According to the Hilton's webpage, this was the "Old Stone Quarry", but searches on that name got me nowhere. The old roads of the quarry are still visible.

I followed the trail until I was north, and slightly east, of the peak's main ridge. I then followed the trail south, going uphill to a saddle, then downhill, then following a lesser trail south again to another saddle immediately east of the summit. I did not have a map, but it was easy and logical to infer the correct route.

At this second saddle, the trail to the top starts. It is steep and a little sloppy in places, but it is short. Soon, I was at the top, a one-mile, one-way hike with a little under 400 feet of elevation gain. This last trail appears on the satellite images, but not on any maps. It may not be an officially-maintained trail, but there were no signs saying the area was closed. I saw bootprints, so I suspect people come up here regularly.

I spent about ten minutes up top, taking photos and enjoying the views. I had good views of Shaw Butte, North Mountain, Piestewa Peak, Lookout and Shadow Mountains, and of the suburbs all around. The day was very clear with little humidity, and I could see details on the peaks fifty miles away. It was pretty, but cold, too.

I hiked out the same route, and was back to my car in an hour total. This was my first hike of 2019 and I was happy to get one into the log. I had designs on a second peak about a mile to the east. I drove to a parking area near it, hiked a little ways, but decided to not bother, as I would be scrambling most of the way up. I was not interested in scrambling today.