Mountain Hiking

An excerpt from the new Arizona Highways book Outdoors in Arizona: A Guide to Hiking and Backpacking MOUNTAIN HIKING

"Mountain Hiking" is adapted from a colorful and exciting chapter in Arizona Highways' latest book in the Outdoors in Arizona series: A Guide to Hiking and Backpacking. The book contains 136 pages of detailed information on fortyeight biking adventures in Arizona's deserts, mountains, and canyons. To order your copy, write to Arizona Highways, 2039 West Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009; or telephone (602) 258-1000 or (toll-free in Arizona) 1-800-5435432. $12.95, softcover, postpaid.

Chiricahua Wilderness The Chiricahua Mountains, forming a "sky island" that rises out of the flatlands in extreme southeastern Arizona, have a special place in the hearts of Arizonans for their natural wonders and for their history as ancestral home of the Chiricahua Apaches, the people of Cochise. The peaks rise more than 9000 feet into the Hudsonian life zone and harbor a diversity of plants and animals. There is a maze of hiking trails in this range, and the backbone of the system is the Chiricahua Crest Trail. North of Chiricahua Peak, you can reach the crest trail from Rustler Park via Pinery In Arizona there are certainly enough mountain peaks to choose from. While the 12,670-foot Humphreys Peak and its sister 12,356-foot Agassiz are the state's highest, they aren't our only major peaks; 11,590-foot Baldy Peak and 11,357-foot Mount Ord reign over the Mount Baldy Wilderness and the rest of the White Mountains. Two more heights complete, together with Humphreys and Agassiz, the group of San Francisco Peaks: 11,460-foot Doyle Peak and 11,940-foot Fremont Peak. And the list of Arizona summits 8000 to 11,000 feet high is impressive. Anyway, you don't just march up 12,000-foot mountains without suffering the ill effects of hypoxia and altitude sickness. Better to start with some lesser heights.

Canyon Road. For families and the not so gung ho, Pinery Canyon Road provides a way of reaching the crest trail without the steep climb necessary from the Morse Canyon trailhead at the end of West Turkey Creek Road.

Morse Canyon Trail climbs through ponderosa pine forest to a saddle near Johnson Peak, then follows a ridge east to Monte Vista Peak. Your dividend for this relatively steep four-mile climb of 2600 vertical feet is one of the best panoramas in southeastern Arizona. Looking north, you can see Cochise Head rising above Chiricahua National Monument, and to the northwest, the salt-crusted mud of Willcox Playa reflects the sun. Bear Springs is a refreshing water supply about half a mile down the southwest flank of Monte Vista Peak.

Monte Vista Peak via Morse Canyon Trail is a good full-day hike. A little more than two miles north of Monte Vista Peak along the crest trail, between Chiricahua and Flys peaks, lie two alpine meadows: Anita and Cima. Each is carpeted with Rocky Mountain iris-western blue flag -and surrounded by cathedral-like stands of spruce and fir. Anita Springs and Booger Springs are dependable.

In Cima Park, there are excellent camp-sites just under the trees around the periphery of the meadows, and you have the added comfort of a soft blanket of pine needles.

Watch for coatimundi, a raccoon-like visitor from Mexico. Coatis travel on the ground and in the trees, in troupes of four to twenty-five, and they have long banded tails and sharp snouts. They can sometimes be seen in wooded areas and along the streams in canyon bottoms.

From Round Park, below Flys Peak, the crest trail runs about another five miles north to Barfoot Lookout on Buena Vista Peak. At the northern terminus of the trail, Barfoot Lookout provides a whole new but equally spectacular vista.

The Morse Canyon trailhead is only one of four main trailheads leading into backcountry; south to north, the other three are Rucker Lake, south fork of Cave Creek, and Rustler Park.

Primary Access: Morse Canyon trailhead or Rustler Park.

Elevation: 7000 feet to 9357 feet on Monte Vista Peak.

Water: Lower Morse Canyon (seasonal). Treat all water.

Seasons: All year long. Summer is naturally the most popular time to seek relief from the heat in this cool refuge. Fall is incredibly colorful; in winter you may need cross-country skis.

Backcountry Information: Permits are not required. Fires are permitted. Use existing fire rings and wood that's dead and down. Avoid fires during forest fire season.

Managing Agency: Coronado National Forest, Douglas Ranger District, R.R. 1 Box 228R, Douglas, AZ 85607. (602) 366-5515.

Chiricahua National Monument

There is great year-round hiking on well-maintained trails, and the visitor center can give directions to spectacular hikes lasting from a few hours to all day. Here are just a coupleEcho Canyon Trail. The Echo Canyon Trail wanders down through an Alice in Wonderland labyrinth of hoodoos, balanced rocks, and narrow passages. The pinnacles and spires stand like chessmen, sculptured out of volcanic rock layers formed by an eruption millions of years

"A strange freak of nature, a mountain canted up on one side." The Mogollon escarpment is a scar across the face of Arizona, from its cheek at the New Mexico border to its eyebrow in the area of Lake Mead. It is one of the state's distinctive landmarks and deeply rooted in the con-sciousness of travelers. This, the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau, is not quite a mountain, but it offers just about everything a moun-tain range can offer. The precipice zigs and zags, rising 1000 to 2000 feet above the land below. Travel is not bad right along the Rim. That is why, in 1872, General George Crook built a wagon road there. To the north, the plateau immediately breaks up into steep canyons that fall away to Cheve-lon Creek, Clear Creek, and ultimately the Little Colorado River. The land to the south, on the watershed of the Verde and Salt rivers, is even more irregular. The Rim averages a little above 7500 feet in elevation along its most clearly defined stretch, north of the Pine-PaysonChristopher Creek area. About 1000 feetago. The trail starts at the Echo Canyon parking area. A nice loop trip of 3.5 miles takes you down Echo Canyon Trail and returns by the Hailstone Trail through Rhyolite Canyon. But however you climb out of the canyon, it's steep and can be hot in summer. Heart of Rocks Trail. Some of the most distinctive rock formations and inspiring views in Chiricahua National Monument are seen along Heart of Rocks Trail. Unlike many other trails that take you into canyons, the seven-mile Heart of RocksTrail is carved into the top of a mesa. The trail starts at the Massai Point parking area. This is an exhilarating full-day hike. Bring plenty of water.

Mogollon Rim

The Mogollon Rim country is a "harmonious whole" viewed from a distance or from the air, but not if you're trying to hike it, or otherwise traverse the ragged country above and below the Rim. Captain John G. Bourke, who traveled along the crest of the Rim in 1871, called itbut it is not for the everyday hiker, or even for the majority of so-called experienced hikers. In winter these mountains are no place for anyone but the most experienced with the best equipment.

In hiking the Peaks, there are numerous approaches to take: any of the most obvious routes leading out of the inner basin; the old Waterline Trail paralleling White Horse Canyon up to Philomena Spring; the Weatherford Road, now a wilderness trail, which leaves 8024-foot Shultz Pass and switchbacks up to the Agassiz-Humphreys ridgeline; or the Humphreys Peak Trail. Of these, the new, 4.5-mile-long Humphreys Peak Trail is the most popular way to hike the Peaks. It's well-marked and easy to follow all the way to the Agassiz-Humphreys ridgeline.

Hiking above timberline is restricted to designated trails only; indiscriminate crosscountry hiking is prohibited. This restric tion is necessary to protect the fragile tundra habitat and, specifically, the San Francisco groundsel, a small endangered plant species found nowhere else in the world. Summer hikes to Agassiz Peak are prohibited, but Humphreys Peak provides breathtaking views over the 18,200-acre Kachina Peaks Wilderness and the rest of northern Arizona-assuming a storm isn't in the offing.

Primary Access: Fairfield Arizona Snowbowl.

Elevation: 9500 feet at Humphreys Peak trailhead to 12,670 feet on Humphreys Peak.

Water: No perennial water en route; however, seasonal snow can be melted and boiled.

Seasons: June through September is the most popular time. Beware the summer monsoons; you don't want to be anywhere on the Humphreys-Agassiz ridgeline when lightning starts. In winter be prepared for severe alpine conditions.

Backcountry Information: Permits are not required; however, there is a hikers' register near the trailhead. Fires are not permitted above the treeline. If you need to build a fire, use existing fire rings, dead and down wood, and beware of forest fire danger.

Managing Agency: Coconino National Forest, Flagstaff Ranger District, 5010 North Highway 89, Flagstaff, AZ 86004. (602) 527-7450.

Other Mountain Hikes at a Glance Kendrick Peak

At 10,418 feet, Kendrick Peak is more than 2000 feet lower than the crest of the San Francisco Peaks; however, unlike the latter peaks, Kendrick offers an unrestricted 360-degree panorama from its summit. Kendrick thrusts itself above the 7000-foot-high Coconino Plateau by more than 3000 feet, providing the greatest vertical relief in the southern half of the Kaibab National Forest. While the four-mile climb to the summit is an invigorating hike, it's the destination, not so much the journey, that is your reward. As early as 1902, cartographer Francois Matthes used Kendrick as his key triangulation point for the first topographic map of the Grand Canyon. From the summit of this natural lookout, you can clearly see the Grand Canyon to the north, the Little Colorado River gorge to the northeast, and San Francisco Peaks to the east. However, if you turn in any other direction, you'll need a good set of maps to identify all the other mountain ranges.

Bill Williams Mountain

Nowadays you can drive all the way to the top of 9264-foot-high Bill Williams Mountain on a narrow, twisting road that corkscrews its way up the southern flank to the lookout and radio towers crowded onto the small forested summit. However, the hiking trail leading to the same point gives you a fine taste of what it was like when mountain man Bill Williams trapped the area in the mid-1800s. Appropriately enough, it's called the Bill Williams Trail.

Hualapai Mountain Park

The Hualapai Mountains, south of Kingman, provide magnificent vistas of the surrounding basin and range landscape of northwestern Arizona. From the campground at about 7000 feet, three relatively easy trails meander up Hualapai, Hayden, and Aspen peaks. A short trail climbs Hualapai Peak at 8417 feet, and a 2.7-mile trail reaches Hayden Peak. From the top, one can see four states, Utah, Nevada, California, and, of course, Arizona.

Mount Lemmon

Not far from downtown Tucson, the Mount Lemmon Trail skirts the summit of the Santa Catalina Mountains (9157 feet). It meanders through ponderosa pine forest and crosses beautiful grassy meadows. In summer and early fall, sunflower and Indian paintbrush decorate the mountainside. Even in the middle of summer, when Tucson's temperature soars well above 100 degrees, this is a refreshingly cool place to hike.

Madera Canyon and Mount Wrightson

At the head of Madera Canyon, beginning the climb up Mount Wrightson in the Santa Rita Mountains, you already are in ponderosa pine forest at 5500 feet elevation. You have a choice of the Old Baldy Trail or the newer Mount Wrightson Trail. As usual, you do not get something for nothing. Old Baldy is shorter, but steeper. You might want to try this combination: Start on the Mount Wrightson Trail, which leaves from the lower end of the Roundup Picnic Area parking lot and follows a gorge 3.7 miles to Josephine Saddle. The Old Baldy Trail also crosses this saddle and is a good way to travel the next 1.6 miles to Baldy Saddle. You pass dependable Sprung and Bellows springs along the way. The final mile to 9453-foot Mount Wrightson is an exposed trail, providing awesome views of southern Arizona. You can climb Wrightson year-round, but high mountains create their own weather. Bring more clothing and food than you think you need.

Mount Baldy Wilderness

At 11,590 feet, Mount Baldy in the White Mountains is one of the highest peaks in Arizona. The extinct volcano is sacred to White Mountain Apaches and figures in the lore of other tribes. A forest of Engelmann spruce, blue spruce, and Douglas fir harbors elk, beaver, golden-mantled ground squirrels, Audubon's warblers, gray jays, and redbreasted nuthatches.

From the trailhead at Sheeps Crossing, the Mount Baldy Trail meanders through alpine meadows and along the West Fork of the Little Colorado River. In about six miles, it climbs from 9300 feet to near timberline at 11,200 feet.

Summer through fall is the best time to explore the Mount Baldy Wilderness. It is always cool. Thunderstorms develop quickly.

John Annerino is principal author of this guidebook. He has a bachelor's degree in wilderness leadership from Prescott College and spent fifteen years as guide, instructor, and boatman. Now a photojournalist, he is author of Hiking the Grand Canyon, published by Sierra Club Books.

Peter Kresan is an instructor in geosciences at the University of Arizona and a contributing editor of Arizona Highways magazine. He explores remote regions of Arizona as a biker, geologist, and photographer. Several chapters of this guide resulted from his experience and insight.

James E. Cook is a native Arizonan who writes a column about the state for The Arizona Republic. He is author of Arizona Landmarks, published in 1985 in celebration of sixty years of Arizona Highways magazine. Cook edited the text of this biking guide and contributed to some chapters.

To ensure the accuracy of the trail sections of this book, the authors have described only those areas they personally biked.

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