The Mountains of Arizona
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Peak 5094 • Peak 5017 • Peak 5092 I chose a couple peaks north of Patagonia as the focus for today. I was in the area two weeks ago climbing Santa Rita Peak, my first time in the southern Santa Rita Mountains. I liked the area a lot, with its long ridges and grassy slopes. These two peaks have relatively easy access as a good road (Forest Road 79) runs by both of them. This road leads to the Temporal Trailhead, a let-in point for the Arizona Trail. In dry coditoons, this is a good road suitable for most vehicles. I also had a map printed for a third peak, one south of the town of Patagonia in the Patagonia range. I had intended to hike this peak a few weeks ago, but the weather that day was particularly warm and I bailed. The weather today was much cooler. It started sunny in Bisbee with just a smattering of clouds as I drove westbound. The temperature was in the mid 30s and stayed that way for the whole drive. The big sky island peaks were cloudless at first, but just in the space of an hour, a cloud bank had built up and enveloped the highest peaks of the Santa Rita Mountains.
Date: November 17, 2024
• Elevation: 5,094 feet (Lidar)
• Prominence: 353 feet
• Distance: 2.5 miles
• Time: 2 hours
• Gain: 635 feet
• Conditions: Cold, sunny with some clouds building
Arizona
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Main
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PB
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LoJ
I arrived into Patagonia about 7:15 a.m., and at 1st Street near the high school, went north. The road passes a few houses and loses its pavement. The map calls this Gringo Road. A couple miles later, it enters the Coronado National Forest, now marked as Forest Road 79.
The road is smooth and maintained, but at times has some steep grades and drop-offs, so going slow is wise. However, there were no rocks or bad ruts. At worst, I would slow to 5 m.p.h. to ease over a small depression in the road. I was at the trailhead about 7:30, the only one here.
I got suited up and went light. Peak 5094 rises a mile to the north and I did not expect it to take very long. It was still very chilly, still in the high 30s. It was sunny above me, but Mount Wrightson was encased in clouds.
I walked the road north, the peak appearing after a few minutes. It is a conical-shaped peak with a noticeable rock knoll at its summit. This could be interesting.
The walk to the peak's base took about twenty minutes, and frankly, I could have driven much of it. As I approached the peak, I studied its lines. No one way looked best.
The road curls up and west of the peak, and from here, the slope up looked about as good as I was going to get. It was open and covered in grass and various plants, but was just a long ramp up to the top rocks.
I started up the slope, which was easy at first, even finding a few paths to follow. Down low, I had to bypass a few mesquite trees or duck through their branches. There was a lot of lechuguilla hidden in the grass and yes, I got my ankles stabbed a few times. There were also ocotillo, which sometimes gew close together. Other than weaving to find lanes through the stickers and thorns, I had no trouble with the lower slopes.
Higher up, the big plants ease up, leaving just a lot of dense grass. The grade steepened too, now noticeably steeper to where rocks would roll out from under me virtually every step. I had about fifty feet of this until I was at the base of the rocks. I just moved slowly and deliberately, zig-zagging to ease the gradient a little.
Once on the rocks, I angled left and started up. The rock was granite, a lot of it just boulders and talus of various size lying in a pile. I tried to keep to the bigger ones, the ones attached to the ground. The scrambling wasn't difficult, just Class-2, but a few times, one step would cause a bunch of the rocks to slide down.
A few minutes of this and I was on top. The top is a tiny flat platform about 6 feet to a side. I found a register in a cairn and signed in, the first in over a year. The papers were relatively new. Gerry and Jennifer Roach were here a couple years ago and Andy Martin last year. Jennifer and I were tentmates on our 2002 Granite Peak climb in Montana. I had a snack and snapped a couple photos, but it was cold up here and the clouds were starting to spread out more.
I stayed perhaps a couple minutes up top, then turned around and started down. Going down took time as I moved slowly and ensured each step would hold me. A couple times I slid a foot or two and a rock would roll, but I stayed upright the whole way down. I was soon back to the road and then twenty minutes later, back to my car.
I was slightly surprised I had been gone almost two hours. The length, 2.5 miles, wasn't too long, but I guess I was moving slower than I even sensed, which is not a bad thing. The climb was not difficult, but the grade and the loose rocks meant each step needed to be secure before the next one, and that takes time.
The peak has no printed elevation on it and the tiniest little 5,080-foot contour. The 1-meter Lidar returns a summit elevation value of 5,094 feet, and a prominence of 353 feet.
Elevation: 5,012 feet (Lidar)
• Prominence: 384 feet
• Distance: 1.8 miles
• Time: 75 minutes
• Gain: 650 feet
• Conditions: Cloudier and colder
PB
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LoJ
The next peak was just a couple miles south, a ridge-shaped peak lying west of FR-79. The drive there took just ten minutes and I parked in a pullout with a fire ring.
I dropped into the parallel creekbed, called Gringo Gulch, then up the other side, the slopes here being very grassy and with loose rocks, but nothing larger (rock or plant) that couldn't be avoided.
Now on the slopes, I marched steeply upwards, gaining about 150 feet to top out on a ridge. Once at this ridge, I could see more of the mountain ahead of me. The summit was still about a half-mile west, and a big hill stood between me and it. What I was looking at was this hill.
I dropped about twenty feet and weaved through some mesquite, then back into the open grass, I started up the slope. A fence line comes in from the southeast (my left) and I approached it. Rather than try to cross it, I walked alongside it as long as it went up.
The fence comes to a corner and another fenceline, and surprisingly, there are two gates here. These were both ancient wire-stick gates and probably last opened whenever the last hiker was here. I opened one and crossed through, and continued uphill.
The terrain was steep but easy. The bigger challenge were the rocks, which slid and rolled every chance they got. The flora also thickened, now more agave, pencil cholla, mesquite thickets, ocotillo and manzanita. I could usually find ways through or past the plants but not always. Sometimes I had no choice but to power through them.
Once at the highpoint of this eastern hill, I could see the rest of the ridge and the summit up ahead. It looked friendly but with plenty of brush.
The hike along the ridge went well, but I was slowed by the heavy brush. The final slope to the top was easy as well, just the same theme with rolling rocks and pointy plants to avoid.
I found the summit cairn quickly. The new Lidar 1-meter maps show that there are two small contours of "equal" height, but the one I was on with the cairn always came back with readings one or two feet higher. Visually, I agree. The cairn was at the highest point. The same people had signed in here too: the Roaches, then Andy. Older scraps held some names too but were hard to read.
I did not stay long. By now, the clouds were collecting and cooling things down. In fact, it felt colder here than on Peak 5094. I just kept moving, retracing my route down all the way back to my car.
This was not a long hike, not even two miles round trip. I was gone one hour and ten minutes. It was a slow hike because footing was always at the mercy of the rocks.
The map lists a spot elevation of 5017 feet for the summit, whereas 1-meter Lidar gives a reading fo 5,012 feet. Ise the 5,012-foot figure for the stats but keep the "map name" fo Peak 5017.
Elevation: 5,092 feet (Lidar)
• Prominence: 428 feet
• Distance: 2.2 miles
• Time: 80 minutes
• Gain: 690 feet
• Conditions: Very cloudy now, light sprinkles
PB
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LoJ
I drove back into Patagonia, then caught Harshaw Road and followed that a few miles out of town, heading southeast. This peak rises due east of Red Mountain Lookout and less than a mile north of Peak 5085, which I hiked in early October.
On that October trip, I had maps for a few other peaks in the area, but the heat was too much. Even by 8 a.m. that day, it was into the 80s and probably heading for the 90s. Six weeks later, here I am again, now colder and cloudier.
This particular peak was not of interest to me other than it seemed to have easy road access and not require too long a hike, the summit being less than a mile east of Harshaw Rod (FR-58).
I drove up and down Harshaw Road looking for somewhere to park and access the peak, but no one place looked better than any other. It looked brushy everywhere. I ended up parking in a clearing near a cattle grate southwest of the peak. I was still within a mile of the peak on a direct line.
I walked in on an old track, then eased under a fence, now amid grass and mesquite, all of it thick and everywhere. I charged up a slope, gaining about 50 feet, to put me on a ridge. I hoped to have some broader view from up here, to see what to do.
On the ridge, it was more mesquite and grass. I walked up this ridge, following a water pipe just laying on the ground. I had to weave through the trees, but this water pipe served as a trail of sorts. I followed it for over a quarter mile.
Once high enough to see the lay of the land, I just followed whatever slope seemed smartest, not necessarily taking the most direct route to the top, which for now was still hidden from view. But I could see the top ridges, so I knew where to head.
I went from point to point, often battling mesquite, some low cactus, and grassy stalks about 4 feet tall and everywhere. They were dead and easy to push over, but they had little burrs on them which stuck to me. In summer, I imagine these things being green and pliable and miserable to walk through.
In due time, I was at the final slope, a long gentle ramp of grass that led to the top, which was a rounded hump covered in grass and a few trees. There were no cairns or registers or signs of previous visitors. Lists of John only records two previous visitors to this peak.
Views were pretty good, but with the cloud cover and cold breeze, I never stopped. I snapped a few photos, then headed back down. I intended to follow the same route down but didn't quite do that. I just followed what looked open. Down low, I had to cross a drainage to get onto a parallel ridge, where I refound that water line. I was back to my car, total time gone one hour and fifteen minutes.
It was quite cold now. The temperature seemed to drop about ten degrees and I was chilled. As I changed into less grubby clothes, a gentle rain started to fall. Just a sprinkle at first, but slowly gaining in strength.
Once back in Patagonia, I headed back home via AZ-82. I stopped at the Chevron in Whetstone for a soda, but otherwise just drove on home, about a 70 mile drove from Patagonia.
I was happy to get this third peak in, but that was about it. It's not that interesting and the brush was wearisome. I can see why it sees so few visitors.
This is another peak with no spot elevation on the map. The 1-meter Lidar returned a value of 5,092 feet, which I use here as its name and elevation.
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