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John Morrow Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Posts: 1526 | TRs | Pics Location: Roslyn |
Turtle Mountains Wilderness
Kofa National Wildlife Refuge
Muggins Mountain Wilderness
Palomas Mountains
The Needles BLM
Nov 21-23, 2020 Turtle Mountains Wilderness
Jerry and Drew drove from Seattle together and Linda met Kimberly in OR and they drove down together. We rendezvoused at the Mopah Spring TH. I had time for an evening walk up on Peak 2120, just inside the wilderness.
Evening walk from camp up Peak 2139 Evening walk Arrived at Mopah TH. Met everyone and set up camp. Then an evening jaunt up this peak. Tomorrow's day in silhouette Eve color
The next day it was onto the Desert Peaks Section classics: Mopah Point 3530' and Umpah Point 3553'.
Climbs of Mopah and Umpah with return hike loop and a trip up to Gary Divide/Mopah Spring Objectives ahead in sunrise light Terrain Mopah appears hmm? Jerry scouts a line Kimberly on the route everyone stretch across (off route!) well known crux The gang on Mopah Point tiny oasis below (palms in center) crux downclimb route we missed Kimberly on route descent final descent about down Turtle Mountains Wilderness Mopah 2/3 way up Umpah Point traverse to summit finish Drew on Umpah Jerry with Mopah behind Umpah downclimb Jerry views sunset gonna be a late exit last light
The next day we hiked up to Mopah Spring and Relocated to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.
Turtles morning Oasis ahead Mopah Spring spring and staghorn petroglyphs petroglyphs petroglyphs spring and mount petroglyphs banded tail
Nov 25-26, 2020 Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, off of the King Road (camp).
On the 25th we devised a big crosscountry loop of fine Sonoran desert terrain, stitching together no-name peaks, saguaro and ocotillo cacti, a tight water tank holding canyon, and long flats of "desert pavement" in and around the Hidden Valley Hills.
Crosscountry hike connecting four peaks with a worthy variety of scrambling. Back in Kofa! starting a long loop on Peak 2100' looking back Under Peak 2095' essential Kofa Peak 2095' scramble face Jerry on scramble big views north starting up Peak 2327' good scramble a bit of knife edge cholla are feeling drought Castle Dome south distance traverse to High Peaks next Descending Peak 2120' great west ridge descent on 2120' Hidden Tanks mouth closing our loop hike Moonrise!
Nov 26th we headed to the old mining area near Kofa Butte for a scramble of Polaris Mountain 3624' and what we found was an incredible loop.
KOFA Polaris Loop
It began up a beautiful switchbacking miners foot trail to below the High Henry Mine. It led to a wide gully that, unfortunately was loose and with a prolific amount of cholla cactus the bit us over and over.
Polaris Mtn for today old trail and droughty ocotillo neat spire Polaris far above the "cholla poke" route (gully)
Once near the summit we went over it and down great scrambling of the North Ridge to complete the loop via a western canyon that could be considered a right fork of Big Dick Canyon. Once it got wide and slow going we located a parallel mining trail up on the east bench for a quick route to the cars.
Near the summit epic crags west in Kofa Range deep canyon North Ridge Polaris descent classic look at Kofa terrain moving on the north ridge will eventually get there detour to pinnacle 3288' headed to the saddle along the crooked shadow/light line the pinnnacle about to descend found a bit of tight canyon fun canyon descent almost through big open unnamed canyon Polaris west slope moon over Kofa Butte
Nov 27th: Muggins Mountain Wilderness.
This small wilderness has a surprisingly large number of aesthetic scrambles. We chose the namesake Muggins Peak 1424' and its supposedly classic knife edge SW Ridge which splits two obvious gullies. Exciting it was, but we found it too loose to fully enjoy. We said farewell to Kimberly and Linda at camp...yes we were camped higher than the Muggins Peak summit, but 1424' is not a typo!
Jerry and Muggins Muggins with Central Rib Onto the central rib would be classic if solid Jerry leads on Drew next Jerry and Drew on rib steep step through Drew heads to summit block summit block crux Class 4 exposure Jerry on top descent time friction downclimb more downclimbing parting shot Jerry moving up
Nov 28-29; Palomas Mountains classic peaks.
Ibex Peak 2822' and Haystack Peak 2783' are well known by desert mountaineers and justly so. We varied the standard routes by adding a day and adding what I call North Haystack 2320'. It is a fun scramble in itself but doesn't compare to the incredible amount of Class 2 and 3 solid rock on the other two. We found variations that only added more scrambling, and rejoined the good parts of the standard routes.
Variations from norm:
lower north ridge approach to Ibex
West face to North Ridge of west peak of Haystack (great scrambling). North side descent in a nice waterpolished draw to N Haystack base Haystack and Ibex easy, pleasant approach Onto the Ibex route low down easy north rib getting steeper this is all still on approach upward now we traverse left to wall base scramble the base of the great wall Higher up easy scrambling Haystack from Ibex Eagletail Mtns far distance arch and north slope descent Haystack, NW slope/Face Ibex last look anthropomorph with spear of white quartz stones Ibex Peak the Fisherman Evening approaches this is a variation that adds much scrambling and avoids a long traverse on the SW side Drew on NW Face N Ridge of western peak great north ridge scrambling almost to rejoin usual route on the high west ridge to go N. Haystack for later (right peak) one of the best Cl 3 scrambles summit block area last few steps N Haystack, aiming for "bowl" Jerry in the bowl below top garden in the bowl Cl 4 variation Jerry liked descending staying on rock and off gravel The Haystacks parting shot Moonrise sunset moonset
I am photo happy I know, but they tell the story and keep the typing at a minimum!
Time to begin a northward path for Jerry and Drew so we exited the Sonoran Desert with a couple drive-by quick scrambles. One of which was impeccable.
Nov 30; Courtney Purcell's (guidebook) Little Haystack 1360' and Shangri La Butte 1520'.
Purcell really has his descriptions backwards as to which was solid and which was dangerous. Shangri La was excellent. These are opposite the highway of the spectacular looking Havasu Wilderness.
Drew races up Drew Jerry and cars below Tough pitch finishing Havasu National Wildlife Refuge Shang Ri-La next descent traverse down the route on Little Haystack Onto Shang Ri-La Drew having a great time Jerry routefinding impeccable rock Descending a lower west face gully avoiding scree on west face
Northward we travel next....
Shang Ri-La Peak
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
― MLK Jr.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
― MLK Jr.
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Gimpilator infinity/21M
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 1684 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
Really enjoyed this report. Thank you.
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1324 | TRs | Pics
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Looks like some great scrambling down there! Great report, thanks for writing this up!
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John Morrow Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Posts: 1526 | TRs | Pics Location: Roslyn |
awilsondc wrote: | Looks like some great scrambling down there! Great report, thanks for writing this up! |
Thanks Gimpilator and awilsondc. Lots more coming eventually: Valley of Fire, Lake Mead NRA, JTree, Chuckwalla Mtns Wilderness, Dead Mtns, Boundary Cone and others, Death Valley Natl Park and adjacent mtn ranges. something else I can't remember at the moment....
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
― MLK Jr.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
― MLK Jr.
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Bloated Chipmunk Cock Rock Searcher
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 2993 | TRs | Pics Location: Margaritaville |
"Big Dick Canyon"? I may have to check this place out.
Home is where the hiking is.
"Peaks that have come and gone four times should halt a man in his steps." -- William O. Douglas
A balanced diet is a margarita in each hand.
Home is where the hiking is.
"Peaks that have come and gone four times should halt a man in his steps." -- William O. Douglas
A balanced diet is a margarita in each hand.
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