{"id":10529,"date":"2020-02-03T13:53:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T20:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/?p=10529"},"modified":"2022-10-20T09:53:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T15:53:47","slug":"rocky-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/?p=10529","title":{"rendered":"Rocky Peak"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/h1>\n

I never hike the same area two weeks in a row, but this turned out to be the exception. I got up on Sunday expecting to return to the “Spire”<\/a>, but after reading more trail descriptions for the southern range, I decided to try another hike there, a long canyon walk that climbed to the crest. It looked like I might be able to get enough distance and elevation there before hitting deep snow.<\/p>\n

But on entering the mountains again, I stopped to review the trail description, and realized that most of the elevation gain occurred at the very end of the trail, where it was in bad condition. So I made a snap decision to take the very first and most popular trail in the canyon, a peak trail I’d avoided in the past because of its popularity, because it lay completely outside the wilderness area, and because it led to the ruins of an old fire lookout. Despite everything, it promised me over 3,000′ of elevation gain.<\/p>\n

On this first Sunday in February, I passed three people. An out of shape couple about my age, who didn’t make it very far and were frightened when I came up behind them, dragging my feet in the rocks to make noise. And an athletic-looking solo guy probably in his late 40s or early 50s returning from the peak, about midway up the trail. In contrast to last week’s ridge hike, I encountered few birds \u2013 most of them concentrated in the little groves of pine and fir in high north-facing drainages.<\/p>\n

Despite having climbed farther and higher many times, I found the top third of the trail exhausting. But it was well-maintained, and it was one of the most beautiful trails I’ve ever hiked. The cliffs above the upper part of the trail seemed impassable from below, but the trail designers cleverly found ways to wind around and between the many looming pinnacles. It was easy to get disoriented \u2013 it felt like something out of Lord of the Rings<\/em>.<\/p>\n

While working my way up short switchbacks and snacking on trail mix, I chipped a cusp off a molar, leaving sharp edges so I had to stop chewing on that side of my jaw. This happened last year \u2013 can’t tell if it was the same tooth \u2013 and my dentist patched it up, saying it might happen again. The old body’s just falling apart, piece by piece…<\/p>\n

Finally, unexpectedly, after trudging in the shadow of the north slope for more than an hour, I emerged onto the crest, where a tiny wooden cabin stood, apparently a shed for tools and supplies for the old fire lookout. A little higher, an outhouse perched on the edge of a cliff. And higher still, a winding concrete-and-stone stairway led to the foundation of the lookout, which burned in a thunderstorm almost 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8154\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A look back out the mouth of the basin, from a few hundred feet up <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8157\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8158\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8159\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8161\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8168\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"In <\/a>
In the distance, Cochise Head <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8176\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8177\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8178\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A couple miles up the trail, you see these cliffs ahead, and wonder how you will get past them <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A pure stand of young gambel oak, which must represent an old burn scar <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The oak are all leaning north \u2013\u00a0maybe to get more sunlight in winter? <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A beautiful overlook spot along the trail <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"One <\/a>
One of thousands of hoodoos in this rocky range <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8196\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Face <\/a>
Face rock – anyone you recognize? <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8206\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lots <\/a>
Lots of views like this, between pinnacles, nearing the crest <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Tiny <\/a>
Tiny shed perched on the narrow crest <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8215\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Outhouse <\/a>
Outhouse on a cliff <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8218\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"Stairs <\/a>
Stairs to the peak <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8221\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8223\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8225\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8226\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8227\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8228\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

This peak stands isolated within the northeast basin of the range, so it provides a 360 degree view encompassing the desert basin to the north and the long snow-draped crest to the south. To the northeast, I could just barely see the mountains I hike near home, and peeking over a ridge to the northwest was the top of the other sky island I’ve explored, 80 miles away. I’d kept warm by walking fast on the way up, but there was a cool breeze here, and after signing the log, I put my sweater back on for the descent.<\/p>\n

\"Top <\/a>
Top of the stairs <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View northwest past Cochise Head to the peak of the other sky island <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View northeast to the snow-draped mountains near my home <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View northeast to the granodiorite spire I climbed last October <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"At <\/a>
At the center of the ridge in foreground is some kind of structure which reminded me of my childhood dream of building a house on top of a mountain. There’s a better view of this later. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View west, where the crest tapers northwards <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A dirt road climbs from lower left to the pointed peak, where there’s a campground and several high-elevation trailheads into the wilderness <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View south to the long crestline ridge. The peak of the range is the unobtrusive rise in the center. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Upper <\/a>
Upper basin of the main canyon. Last week I was on trail to the peak in center. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Foundation <\/a>
Foundation of abandoned fire lookout <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View east <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8273\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

What a magical peak! The round-trip distance was just below 9 miles, so I knew I’d get back to the vehicle in time for another burrito at the cafe. But I wasn’t sure whether I’d feel like driving home in the dark. And I kept stopping on the way down for photos.<\/p>\n

In the event, I did get a burrito, and I did drive home in the dark. There were no state troopers on the highway this time \u2013 in fact, hardly any traffic at all. Driving there and back in a day turned out to be perfectly viable. Stay tuned for more, coming soon!<\/p>\n

\"Grateful <\/a>
Grateful for the handrail! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Could <\/a>
Could use a handrail here <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Another <\/a>
Another view of Cochise Head <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"There's <\/a>
There’s that group of structures, on the opposite ridge <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8306\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"IMG_8310\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8314\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"Face <\/a>
Face rock revisited <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8323\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8324Pano\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8328\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8330\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Zooming <\/a>
Zooming in on the mysterious ridgetop compound. I’m wondering yet again if I should try to build my childhood dream house… <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8340\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Turning <\/a>
Turning the corner of the peak and regaining a view of the mouth of the basin, with its settlement of vacation homes <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8355Pano\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Agave <\/a>
Agave up close <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"I <\/a>
I love the colors of agaves when they slowly die after flowering <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8353\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8367\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"Manzanita <\/a>
Manzanita flowering <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8370\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8373\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8375\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8382Pano\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8385\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_8386\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I never hike the same area two weeks in a row, but this turned out to be the exception. I got up on Sunday expecting to return to the “Spire”, but after reading more trail descriptions for the southern range, I decided to try another hike there, a long canyon walk that climbed to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,49,113,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chiricahuas","category-hikes","category-silver","category-southeast-arizona"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_8314.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10530,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10529\/revisions\/10530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}