[Gimpilator]

This trip had no clear destination. I didn’t know how long it would last or where I might end up. Fortunately I was able to meet up with several folks along the way. Many of the peaks I hoped for didn’t work out, and there were several failed attempts as well. Life is like that sometimes. Just go with it. 3-22-23 Peak 2217 Leaving Vegas mid-day I arrived in the Castle Dome mountains around 4pm. I decided to check on some small peaks near the highway. For the first I circled around the south side and ascended a long east ridge.

Peak 2120 For the next peak, I used the same strategy and ascended the east ridge. A little easy class 3 at the top.

2217

2120

Peak 2260 There wasn’t much daylight remaining, but Peak 2260 was intriguing on the map and very few recorded ascents, the last one being 20 years prior. I went for an east ridge again, but it was guarded by a short cliff band. The first chimney I inspected was too technical, so I traversed left to a nicer one and scrambled solid class 3. I ascended slabs to reach the crest.

standing on the notch below class 4

On the map there was an area of question, and when I came to that I saw a notch below me, very narrow with exposure on both sides. It looked like a bit of class 4 to get down to this notch, but the rock was of unknown quality. I decided to try it. Things went well, with only a few little parts of the wall wiggling or coming out. Beyond the notch there was still some exposure, but nothing else challenging. I was very happy to get this mysterious peak with only a shred of time remaining before dark.

2260

3-23 High Peak (Attempt) – 2280' Matthias came to meet me. We wanted to explore the Andy Bates route on High Peak. The other route has a few reports that make it sound pretty terrible. Matthias had scouted this route before, and we brought a rope. I found two major ledge systems which took us to what seemed like the correct dryfall, but there was no way for us to climb in a manner which aligns with our acceptable level of risk. We retreated.

High

Matthias near our turn-around point

south face of High

Peak 2550 Matthias had to return to Phoenix, but vowed to meet me the following night, after his climb of Courthouse Rock. I puzzled out the route on the north side of Peak 2550. There’s a nice hidden break in the middle of the highest cliff band, which isn’t visible until you’re right at the base of it.

Kofas (Signal, Ten Ewe, Summit, Old Smoky, Squaw)

High

Peak 2383 I ascended the east side of Peak 2383 to a saddle and then ended on the north aspect. This route was loose and unpleasant. I suspect the south scramble route is better.

3-24 Peak 1920 This peak came highly recommended by Matthias. I decided to check out an alternate route to see if it was as good as his. Approaching from the northwest was scenic, but convoluted. The final scramble in the west gully was alright.

a banshee

1920

west gully illuminated

Bobbin and Needles Eye

3-25 Honkidori Benchmark – 1802' This peak is highly guarded on the exterior sides by cliffs, but has a southeast draw with multiple options for easy access to the upper ridges. We went up one way and down another.

Doc Carter Peak – 2240' Doc Carter might be the easiest peak in this group, with solid class 3 access. Up the southeast draw, to traverse class 2 slopes to the saddle between the two summits. The northern one is higher.

2425

Thumb, 2425

Thumb, 2180

2180

2425

Peak 2180 (Attempt) – 2120' The large ledge which bisects the upper south face of this little peak was an obvious place to start. We hoped it would go around the corner on the east side, to something nice, but no! Matthias spotted a ramp above the ledge, which looked kind of horrible, but is probably the only way to get this peak, so we went up that way. There’s a protected spot with a palo verde half way up.

ledge

ramp

Can’t stress enough how loose and rotten the rock is while scrambling on this ramp. Very bad. At the top of the ramp, you would have to pass around the left side of some large blocks very near the edge of the face. Looking at the blocks, I decided there was no way I was going to put my hands on them, for fear that they might come off the face and me along with it. Make sure you view the pic of Matthias full-size, high on this ramp, to get a better idea.

Matthias coming down the ramp

Peak 2425 For the last peak of the day, we had another steep one, but bigger. I proposed some route ideas which Matthias didn’t like, so we went to look at the yellow rock on the south side. Found some class 3 there at the first cliff band, but pretty loose. Ledges further east didn’t help.

2425

We backtracked to the west side, and I went to scout some more ledges. The route seemed to continue, so I asked Matthias if he wanted to keep trying and was glad to hear that he did. We proceeded to the upper west face and did some very exposed scrambling there. We came to a class 4 wall which looked solid, but I didn’t like it much, because it looked like it might not go any place we would want to be. We retreated again slightly and then traversed to the south ridge, which is class 3 and a fine example of good desert scrambling. We were both very happy to figure this route out.

Doc Carter

upper south ridge

west side ledges

2425

3-26 Peak 2340 (Attempt) In the southern Castle Dome Mountains, we went to check out a peak which came highly recommended by Stav. I simplified and shortened the approach significantly, however we weren’t able to find any sort of way through the bottom of the cliff. There were some slabs and hidden gullies, but everything we saw ended up unprotectable 5th class, so we turned our noses up at that.

2340

La Cholla Peak - 2460' Consolation prize hike. 3-27 Dead Man’s Peak - 6027’ Matthias returned home and I drove to Pine Mountain, but the road was blocked by a large pool of water, and a sign stated “do not enter when flooded”. Looking at the map, I noticed I was only a half hour south of Sedona, so I went there instead. Using Stav’s website, I found the correct acces to the top of the red cliffs, although I did it a bit different. I went up the furthest left chimney and then crossed to the right on a ledge about 2/3 of the way up.

do not enter when flooded

Traversing the slope above the red ledge is a bit daunting, especially on this day with many of the slabs still draining water from the recent rains. But it’s not too bad. There is some brush to deal with and that is not bad, if you go the best way. I found some cliff dwellings with pottery and obsidian tools, which I left in place. Many dwellings in this general area.

The final ascent on white sandstone and vegetated slopes was mostly class 2.

Mescal Mountain - 5047' I followed Stav’s route. Enjoyable little peak.

Deadman's

Capitol Butte

Deadman's

ruins

[Gimpilator]

3-28 Brins Butte – 5502' Matthias and I had been ogling this peak the day we climbed Morning Glory Spire. Turns out the easy route is on the north side.

Morning Glory

Church Spires High Point (Twin Buttes) – 5558' After Brins, I was ready for something more challenging, so I went to do the twin Buttes, the highest of which is class 4. Good trail access. If you bushwhack to reach the saddle between the two summits, like I did, then you are off-route. There’s a climbers trail.

East Twin Butte

The first obstacle is climbing above a chock stone by some serious stemming technique. At the top of the chimney, there are downsloping ledges covered in sand and detached stones. Employ extra care here. I worked up more class 3 and small ledges until I could go to the right near the top of the cliffs. The upper mountain is mostly a walk on climbers trails.

West Twin

West Twin Butte - 5335' The west peak is an exciting and committing scramble. There’s one crux move with heady exposure. I was bummed that the register had no pencil and no proper container. Please bring those if you go for a visit.

East Twin

East Twin

crux area

Courthouse and Bell Rock

3-29 The Cockscomb – 5008' A pack of coyotes sang me a nice song while I was eating breakfast in the dark. You have to hike an extra mile to get to this peak because of a private housing complex.

Doe Mountain – 5067' Trail hike to a huge broad plateau. The highest point is near the survey mark on the map.

Peak 5258 This peak is rarely visited, which is odd, because it has great views and features a trail 95 percent of the way to the summit.

Bell Rock and Courthouse

Twin Buttes (climbed yesterday)

3-30 Lone Mountain – 2809' Another big storm system moved in and chased me out of Sedona, so I went south to Apache Junction. Lone Mountain is a very nice trail hike and had many flowers to enjoy.

Usery Benchmark – 2972' Trail hike.

McDowell (climbed Dec 2021)

Peak 2933 Kind of a sub-peak of Usery. Minor class 3.

Pass Mountain – 3312' Another surprisingly nice hike for being so near civilization. A little bit of class 3.

Pass

3-31 Tortilla Mountain – 4918' Being the weekend again, I told Matthias he should pick some stuff for us to do. Tortilla in the Superstitions had been on his list for awhile. We took the old Tortilla ranch road to a canyon and he was surprised to see the amount of water flowing in all the various creeks. Not typical for Arizona.

The southeast canyon looked like the closest option to the trail, but I didn’t know if it would actually work until we were about half way up it. We scrambled some easy class 3 dryfalls, which were not totally dry. When we saw the summit block, we knew our challenges weren’t over. However we found a few class 3 routes on the northeast side of it.

Music Mountain – 4311' Matthias headed back to town and I went to ascend Music, which is one that I saw when I did Coffee Flat Mountain. This part of the Superstitions is rife with catclaw and Music actually had the most dense patches I’ve ever had the pleasure to tangle up and dance with. Much damage was inflicted on my new Arc’teryx pants as well as my epidermis. To top it off, the summit area was generally unpleasant, and very far away from the trailhead!

Tortilla

Coffee Flat

Superstition, Weavers

4-1 Mount Triplet – 5299' Matthias introduced me to Scott Peavy and Scott Surgent, a couple of AZ peakbagging legends. Surgent wouldn’t be joining us until the 2nd peak of the day, but I was very excited to meet these guys. I had known the Surgent name from back in the SummitPost days. Mount Triplet was easier than expected with only a little bit of class 3 on the upper southeast ridge, and even that could be avoided.

Triplet

snake!

poppies

Ash Benchmark – 6003' This peak was generally unpleasant with many rounded rocks most of the way, which test your ankle strength. It was also hot, and all four of us were parched when we returned to the car. The peak is bigger than it looks.

Ash

Peavy, Stender, Surgent, gimpilator

4-2 Bluff Spring Mountain – 4120' Accessed by Peralta trailhead. A pleasant and scenic hike, with flowers and typical Superstitions charms. Solid class 3 ascending a southern dryfall to reach the upper mountain.

Miners Needle

Weavers Needle (climbed with Fletcher and Josh, Dec 2021)

3826

Bluff Springs

3826

Weavers Needle

A multi-day storm system was moving into the area. That afternoon I mistakenly drove to the southeast Arizona for my next peaks, before I noticed the forecast called for 55-65mph gusts on big peaks all over the state. No thank you!

[raising3hikers]

Woah, more desert goodness! As always, thanks for the unique TRs and pics

[awilsondc]

Wow!! This has gotta be my favorite trip report of yours in recent memory. Nice job piecing all that together! Great pics! I especially love the Sedona area. That banshee pic is cool too. Good stuff, Adam!

[Now I Fly]

Whoa! You are living the life! So jealous! Thanks very much for posting these trips! B

[Eric Hansen]

Thanks Adam, great report and pictures. And, always good to see Bob Packard's name in a register.

[RichP]

Cool. Matthias was considering joining us for for Rincon but opted for that area instead. As it turns out we never got to Rincon due to some schedule changes and did Wrightson. Another trip for the future.

[puzzlr]

You picked off some of my favorites in Sedona - Cockscomb, Brins Butte, etc. Others you did I probably won't be brave enough to try when I go back. Thanks for these reports.

[rubywrangler]

Ha, we really need to coordinate! I did some of the same obsure-ish Sedona stuff and also spent some time up past Tortilla Flat in Jan & Feb. Thanks for writing all those up, now I can keep being lazy. And nice photos of Bluff Spring Mt area! I love the Superstitions.

[GaliWalker]

[The Ghost of Bear 380]

Wow, so awesome and beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

[Fletcher]

Some of the best desert scenery that you’ve ever posted Adam. Looks awesome!