ducks and remains of several old
cabins during our route-finding probes. Nevertheless, we returned to the trucks
just at sunset and were rewarded with radiant pinkish glows from nearby billowy
clouds. Next morning, the sun's gleaming yellow scepter nudged us all out of
our bags by six. The views N across McMullen Valley of the Harcuvar Mountains
were as clear as could be. With blue sky all around, we were on the road by
eight, headed for Big Horn Peak.
BIG HORN PEAK 3480' CLASS 3
|
Big Horn Peak, situated in the Big Horn Mountain
Wilderness, was recommended to us by Desert Rat/guru, Dave Jurasevich. He
mentioned a third class summit. but we had virtually no details on any routes,
so intrigue was high. The Big Horn Peak 7.5 quad, which helped with the drive
in, was virtually useless for route finding because of "banded" contour lines.
Analyzing the peak from the trailhead is the best recommendation. Richard did,
and he successfully found the crux portion while en route, which goes high
class two to the summit mound, whereupon, there is a forty foot section of
"good" class three. This peak goes well with Harquahala, but it would also
entertain a return drive from Weavers Needle. The Railhead may be accessed by
continuing E on AZ 60 from Harquahala's TH turnoff, by turning S at Aguila, and
heading towards 110 on an unnamed paved road. However, I will give directions
relative to exit 81 on 110.
From the N side of 110's exit 81 (Salome
Road) overpass. proceed 0.3 miles on pavement. NW, to an excellent dirt road on
the N side of the blacktop, just E of a "DIPS" sign. Turn N onto this excellent
dirt road and proceed 0.65 miles N to a fork where the excellent dirt road
turns W and a fair dirt spur continues N, passing a "Borrow Pit" on the W.
Continue N on this spur for about 2.0 miles to where there is a "T"
intersection with a powerline road. Turn W here and continue for 0.3 miles, to
near pole number 27 (poles are numbered with metal plaques high on their
structures). There is plenty of roadside parking here, and careful 2WDs should
be able to get this far. The peak is obvious directly N of the parking area.
From the parking area, walk N for about 0.5 miles and locate, then cross, the
footbridge over the aqueduct. Continue N up to the top of a large earthen berm.
The top of the berm is a good place to orient a map and pick out a route. From
the summit, a gully can be seen immediately below the top as it drops over a
series of parallel, horizontally-oriented, series of cliffs. The gully is a
landmark for the general direction up the S face. We stayed to its right/E
side. Reference the topo below for our approximate route. Basically, though,
you're on your own adventure! Drop down the berm, cross over the service
road, |
and continue N for 0.25 miles to
where there is a barbed wire wilderness boundary fence. Slither under the fence
and continue N, passing through the low saddle between points 1458 and 1855.
From here, curve NW, picking your way up to the summit's third class mound.
Good Luck! Richard discovered an old buried register dating back to 1941.
Unfortunately, we couldn't make out the name(s). We replaced the glass bottle
with a tin can, putting both old and new registers within. We didn't find a BM,
but the topo indicates there is one there. From the summit, we could easily see
Harquahala Peak to the NNW. More stunning though, was the view SW of the Eagle
Tail Mountains. ROUND TRIP STATS.: 2100 feet elevation gain, 7 miles, 5.5 hours
P.S. I'd like to nominate Ten Ewe, Big Horn Peak, and Cerro Aconcagua for the
proposed Desert Rat List.
KINGSTON PK (7336')
AVAWATZ
MTN (6154')
March 19-20, 1994
Dan Richter/Asher Waxman
by Dan
Richter |
Listen. These guys were great. There we were at the
Kingston trailhead at 6:45 a.m. Saturday morning in the pouring rain. I said we
were going to give it a try and Paula and Bruce Peterson Tom Moumblow, Randy
Ragland, Carol Snyder, Mark Bender, Beth Epstein, and Jim Fujimoto joined us.
At the first saddle the rain was down to a sprinkle so we elected to go on, but
Tom and Randy already had the peak so they squished back down with Bruce. They
clouds soon began to clear and the rain let up so that as we set off on the
ridge out to the summit we could see our way. The sun broke through as we
summitted and we spent a good bit of time drying out. We placed a new register
and book. We lost the sun and began our decent getting back to the trucks by
2:30 p.m. with only an occasional sprinkle.
Paula had to get to Texas
so she and Bruce said good bye while the rest of us went to Tecopa for the hot
springs, the dryer at the Laundromat, and an early supper. After supper Beth
went on to climb Telescope while the rest of us went to Avawatz where we met
Bob Sumner and Erik Siering who had set up camp about a mile in from the main
road. A very jolly evening was had by all.
Bob and Erik went off before
first light and our group followed shortly after having no trouble on the
recently graded road to the microwave station. The road for the rest of the way
was quite passable. The day was post rain beautiful and we met the intrepid Bob
and Erik coming off the summit. We were back to the vehicles by 10:30 |