The Mountains of Arizona
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Peak 6936 • Peak 6893 Turkey Pen Canyon is located on the western base of the Chiricahua Mountains, roughly parallel to Turkey Creek, the main access point to various trails deep into the range. The Turkey Pen Trail runs through it and eventually connects to some of the higher trails. I was here in June to climb Peak 6806, which rises along a ridge separating Turkey Creek and the Turkey Pen Canyon. These two peaks rise north of Peak 6806, but I saved them for when conditions cooled down. A motivated hiker could easily do all three peaks in one outing. This past weekend seemed to be the monsoon's final hurrah, going out with a flourish. It had been a wet month, the humidity and storms never seeming to clear out. On my drive back to Bisbee on Thursday night, I hit two dust clouds on Interstate-10, then some rain east of Tucson. Friday was a very stormy day, with heavy rain and lightning, the kind that zaps the ground. I never left the house. Saturday was cloudy and mixed but not nearly as rainy. These storms wreaked havoc up in Tucson, Phoenix and Globe. It was a very intense system. Sunday was sunny and pleasant. I stayed in town, giving the whole region an extra day to dry out. I was up before dawn on Monday and on the road a little after 5 a.m.. In a little over an hour I was driving eastbound on Turkey Creek Road ito the range. I parked in a pullout near the southern terminus of the Turkey Pen Trail, near some Forest Service cabins. It was a little before 7 a.m., sunny and cool, when I started walking. I was still in shadow for most of the first hour.
Date: September 29, 2025
• Elevation: 6,936 feet ✳
• Prominence: 480 feet ✳
• Distance: 5.1 miles
• Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes (whole hike)
• Gain: 1,516 feet
• Conditions: Sunny and dry, and very pleasant
Arizona
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Main
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PB
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LoJ
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Lidar
I followed the trail uphill, past one confusing trail junction early on (ignore the sign, stay right), and up 400 feet to top out on the ridge. This segment is rocky but it goes fast, being less than a half mile.
Now I had to descend almost all of the 400 feet I gained. The trail drops into Turkey Pen Canyon, making a couple long and wandering switchbacks. Higher up, the two peaks were alit by the rising sun, but as I descended, I was back into the shade and in heavy tree cover.
The trail is a decent trail, but with all the rain we've had, the grass was green and high, often up to my knee and obscuring the tread in segments. But I never lost it, although at times I had to pay extra attention.
In time, the trail drops into the creek itself and parallels it. Here, the trail disappears amid the rocks and grass, but I just kept to the line I was walking and re-found it. The creek was mostly pools of water with a very gentle flow.
The trail gains out of the creek bottom and appears to be an old road. There were rocks pushed to the side, obviously by a bulldozer, and the tread was about eight feet wide. This "road" had to be a century old, at least.
I stayed on the trail until I came to the junction with the Fife Canyon Trail. An old sign marked the junction, but there was no obvious trail emanating from here. I guessed, went uphill and found it in about ten seconds. This trail swings sharply to the southwest and up toward a saddle separating the two peaks. I arrived at the saddle about an hour after starting, covering about two miles.
By now, the sun was up and it was looking like a fine day, with no clouds, pleasant (60s) temperatures, and low humidity. At the saddle, I had to pass through a gate. A fence line runs up the slope of Peak 6936, and I would be following it for most of the way up.
There was no trail anymore. I was hiking now in knee-high and sometimes waist-high grass and brush, with cactus, agave and downed tree limbs to get around or through. The slope was steep. None of this was difficult, but it was slow going. The grass was wet from the dew.
After a couple hundred steep uphill feet, the angle moderates slightly. I surmounted a hump and then could see the peak up ahead. I kept to the fence until I found a low spot to walk over it. The final segment was over gently-sloped terrain, heavy grass and a lot of rocks, but it went fast. It was just warm enough for snakes to possibly be out. In some places, with the high grass, I had no choice but to hope I wouldn't step on one.
The summit is brushy and rocky, two or three big boulders about three feet high being the highest point. I tagged all three, but could not locate a register. It had taken me a little over 90 minutes to get here. I sat for a few minutes and had a break.
Everything was lovely. The sunny skies, pleasant temperatures and the views. But my nose was working double time. The wildflowers were out in abundance, which is always very pretty, but I couldn't sneeze fast enough to get ahead of the pollen. For some reason, if I am moving, the sneezing seems to mitigate. If I stop, I turn into a snot factory. I spent about ten minutes up top. This was an enjoyable summit and the climb had gone very well.
After my break, I walked down the ridge I had come up, and was back to the saddle in about fifteen minutes. I took another very short break here to get my head right for the second peak.
Elevation: 6,893 feet ✳
• Prominence: 333 feet ✳
• Distance: 1.35 miles
• Gain: 433 feet
• Conditions: Still very nice, lotsa pollen
PB
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LoJ
Peak 6893 rises a little under a mile to the northwest of the saddle, as well as being about 40 feet lower in elevation that Peak 6936. This allows for a slightly gentler slope. However, the grass was just as tall here as on Peak 6936. I got moving and began the push upwards.
There are a handful of rocky segments along the way, where the rock lays mostly flush with the ground or angles very gently. Thus, I could walk on these like a sidewalk, covering a few dozen feet at a time. It made this segment go by a little quicker. But at times, the grass and brush would be up to my belly.
The route gains a ridge which to my eyes felt as high or maybe higher than the peak, which was visible to the east. Just to be safe, I sought out the highpoint of this ridge and tagged it. Then I continued on toward Peak 6893.
I dropped about thirty feet to a saddle between the two highpoints, then up to the humble summit, a rockpile being the highpoint, with brush growing up against it. From the saddle to here had taken just about a half hour.
I dropped the pack and took another break. This time, I found a register. Bob Martin had placed it here in 1992, and Mark Nicholls had signed it in 1996. Then no one until me. Was I the first person here in 29 years? Lists of John and Peakbagger show no one else. Maybe I was. Views from here were good. There was some small cloud build-up over the big peaks, and yes, my sneezing picked up again. I didn't even try to be quiet about it.
As I sat there, I pondered the 29-year gap, 1996. That was exactly half my lifetime ago. I remember 1996 well, and it doesn't seem like it's been 29 years. It doesn't seem like it was yesterday, either. But many of the events from then are fresh in my memory. It occurred to me that I probably won't be around in 29 years, in 2054. I'll be 87 that year. If my webiste is still up in 2054 and I'm still here, maybe I'll check back in and update this page. So yeah, this peak made me feel old.
I did not want to go back the way I came. From my perch, I could see down into Turkey Pen Canyon and it did not look like a bad drop. It looked steep at first, but then less steep ... so I decided to go for it. The only issue might be a band of cliffs or other bad slopes.
The downhill went slow, and yes it was steep, and yes, once or twice I slid and almost fell backwards as rocks rolled under me, but I was able to scoot down these slopes without too much trouble, angling left and right to get around rocky barriers.
Lower down, I entered into a side drainage that feeds into Turkey Pen Canyon. This drainage had three or four check dams built in, where big rocks were placed to form small dams about three feet tall and spanning about ten feet, the width of the drainage.
These check dams may explain the presence of the old road. This was probably someone's ranch allotment back in the olden days. The dams are backfilled with mud and dirt these days. The rocks were not small. It would have taken some serious effort to put these in.
After weaving through this side drainage, I emerged into the open and found the trail. From here, I just walked it back to my car. I took one more break, at the top of the first ridge from this morning, having to regain that 400 feet to get out. I was back to my car after 11 a.m..
After changing, I headed out, and stopped for some cokes at the gas station in Elfrida. Down lower, it was warmer, into the 80s, but very calm. The storms and the monsoon seem to have disappeared for the year.
This was a fun and energetic hike. I suspect that hiking it earlier in the year, e.g. March, would mean less grass. None of the hike was difficult, but the late-season grass slowed me a lot.
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