Apache Peak (Whetstone mtns, AZ)

Apache Peak at 7711' is the tallest peak in the Whetstones. There are no defined trails to this rocky top; it is a bushwhack for the entire 2.5 miles.  Driving the 18 miles on a rutted dirt road takes as long as hiking to the top.  Anyone planning on bagging this peak must plan for an all-day adventure. 

I had always wanted to bag this peak and today I had the chance when one of the Huachuca Hiking Club members, BarryD, invited me to join him, Ryan, and Doug.  The original date was yesterday, but Barry changed that to today because of yesterday's storm.  

We met at the Pizza Hut Bistro in Sierra Vista at 5:30am.  We drove off two minutes later.  I rode with Doug who didn't mind Hansel riding along, although the poor dog was getting stomach upsets after the bumpy ride and took a shit right after we got to the trailhead.  At least he didn't relieve himself in the cab of Doug's Nissan Forester!

The trail lives up to its reputation.  I had read trip reports from previous hikes on peakbagger.com and all said the drive was long and the hike was strenuous because of the rocks and flora, but there was no mention of shin daggers and tree cholla cactus being the two floral obstacles.

We got to our trailhead parking 2:10 hours after leaving the Pizza Hut Bistro. We entered the forest road from the Empire Ranch access off SR83. This is the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  We didn't reach the Coronado National Forest until the last few miles. The road came to a dead end at an overhang.  There were no signs anywhere that this was the route to Apache Peak.

We were all anxious to get started, and started we did by an immediate incline at 5405' for the first 0.3 miles as we ambled southward through desert flora which included shin daggers and cane cholla.  Hansel kept stepping in those pesky cholla stems, forcing me to stop many times to pull them off his legs and paws.  My right knee was also hurting--it's my meniscus again--and it hurt with every step I took. Carrying 1.5 gallons, food for two, plus a first-aid kit surely came to a 20-pound pack, forcing me to bend forward many times to relieve my back of its chronic pain. 

The route to Apache Peak was fairly direct. We had reached the first hill after that 0.3 miles, entered a level saddle, the followed a ridgeline in a northeasterly direction.  We could see the snow-covered top of Apache Peak from this ridge.  The adventure was now ready to begin. We took off our wind gear and headed up the mountain from the south. 

The hardest and steepest part of the route began after the 1.2-mile mark, when we reached the base of Apache peak.  The grade at times reached 40% as we meandered around cholla, shindaggers, prickly pears, catclaw, small oaks, and limestone containing fossiled brachiopods, crinoids and coral. 

The last 700' was covered in an inch of snow, much of the lower and exposed snow having melted by the time we descended.  The wind also picked up, so when we arrived at the rock-covered peak two hours after starting this hike, we all sought shelter on the north side of the peak to have our lunch. Hansel got his shank steak, I had my tangerines and a meal of fettuccini as we all hunkered down in the wind.  Had it not been for the wind and snow, we would have wanted to go farther and bag French Joe peak (7675'), adding 1.5 miles to this hike with much of the same terrain.

The panoramic views on top of Apache Peak are worthwhile.  It's quite noticeable how much higher Apache Peak is from all the other peaks in the Whetstones.  There are no trails visible anywhere, but one can see the topography very well: three ridgelines positioned at a northwest-to-southeast direction.  Granite Peak (7420') is the most southern peak in this range.

 

We descended the same way we came up.  The last half-mile was the most treacherous, as we got off course and ended up bushwhacking along dense brush and steep slopes.  I took a fall right on my right knee that caused a half-inch cut.  I could feel the wet blood trickle down my leg, but I didn't have time to patch it up; the pants kept the cut covered.

We were back at the cars by 3pm, an hour earlier than what Ryan had predicted.  We were all tired, even Hansel, who stayed in the cab and rested, farting a few times for his amusement on the drive back to Sonoita. 

My right knee was hurting badly during the drive out of the national forest and preserve, so when Doug and I stopped at the Copper Brothel Brewpub for a meal, both legs were cramped and I had to walk around to loosen the muscles.

Barry and Ryan drove on home, but I enjoyed a quiet meal with Doug.  The parking lot was crowded, but it wasn't too bad inside the brewery.  We were seated in a corner table that cushioned the noise.  I had a grilled chicken sandwich with a tasty winter ale and a mediocre cranberry-fig porter.

We got back into town at sun set.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4948959081

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Cottonwood Canyon, Whetstone Peak Ridge Loop Trail (Whetstone Mts, AZ)

Distance: 10.6 miles

Elevation: 4709' -6665'; 2429'

Significance: oak-pinon canyon with creek; views from saddle

https://www.strava.com/activities/4632406642

https://www.strava.com/activities/4632406642

The Cottonwood Canyon trail #360, which joins the Guindani Trail in Karchner Caverns SP two miles up the trail when walking counterclock wise, is a beautiful oak-pinon agave manzanita scrub forest.  I was last here five years ago with HollyO and MaureenL and Sadie, but we turned around when we couldn't find the trail after the first mile.  I've been wanting to go back there since to explore the trail some more.  When Rod hosted this hike today, I jumped on the chance. I invited Ellen. This is her first time here as well.

We met in town at the Pizza Hut Bistro and then at 0800 hours caravanned to the state park where Rod, the official leader, was watiing for us.  We were eight people: RodC, SteveS, DougB, JohnS, BillC (first time we meet),  JimA, Ellen and I.  This is my first hiking club hike with the old gang this year.

I was dressed for 55F weather, but both John and Steve warned me that the forecasted high would be in the 70s.  That is not what my weather app told me earlier, but since it was already 44F at 8:30am, I took their word. I left my stuffed vest in the car and I'm glad I did.  I removed my wind breaker shortly before we got to the saddle and hiked the rest of the way in my beloved white hiking shirt with a white tshirt underneath, with jeans to prevent me from getting scratched up from shin daggers. 

Cottonwood Canyon had been chosen by the Forest Service to be Proposed Wilderness Area, or PWA.  No roads go into this canyon. The trail #386 meets up with the Guindani trail two miles into the hike. In a normal year, there is plenty of water.  Today the creek, springs and trough were all dry. Rock walls from the hillsides would create dramatic waterfalls.  I would have to come back here after a rain to explore the beauty.   Lots of bears live back here, as evidence in the over 50 piles of bear scat along the trail.  The more remote location had made this canyon a popular smuggle route going north, but today we didn't see any migrant trash.

We met a lone trail maintenance man near the 3.5-mile mark.  Originally from Pennsylvania, he moved to the area and single-handedly cuts down the overgrowth each spring.  The trail was easy to follow with the cairns along the way.  We only briefly lost the trail twice, and both times Ellen saw the cairns when the rest of us did not.

At 0.25 mile from the saddle we rested briefly at a dry trough.  I gave Zeke his water. (Ellen took photo)

We arrived at the saddle in 2:15 hours.  We could see to the northwest, with Rincon peak in the distance and the town of Mescal and I-10 below.  The trail here continues downhill few more miles to a green tank, which we could see below.  

A barbed wire with opening divides the national forest from private property at the sunny saddle.  We rested and had lunch here before starting our return hike via an ascent up Whetstone and East Peaks before the brutal descent and last two miles.

We followed a faint trail along the barbed wire and now were walking north, up an exposed hillside with plenty of shin daggers and catclaw at the peaks.  The soil itself was firm, though, and allowed for secure footing. From here we could see all the tall peaks of the Whetstones, this pristine beauty.  We rested near Whetstone Peak, where ladybugs adorned me, before now turning southwest along a ridgeline. 

We were now heading to our second peak, East Peak.  We could see parts of the Guindani trail and Rickets mine to our northeast.

 We saw a group of about eight people below in another saddle, all wearing red shirts and huddled by an oak tree.  Who were these people and what were they doing here?  We sure have met quite a few people in a remote canyon!  As we got closer to them we learned they were a search and rescue team out of Ajo, AZ, Paralelo 31, who were looking for a body near a water tank farther downhill.  We had seen the tank but didn't descend yet.  Paraleo 31 travels every month to find bodies of reported missing migrants so that families can have closure.  They are volunteers who pay for their own expenses, but do take donations as this work is not easy.  They all looked exhausted.  We chatted a bit before departing, we going uphill for a bit as they descended to the tank.  From this high point one can clearly see the north-south elongated uplift in the rock, a mixture of sedimentary and granite.

We were now on the steep descent once we made it past East Peak, and Zeke and I were getting exhausted.  The grade at times was 34%.  We advanced only 1.4 miles in the last two hours and we had the warming afternoon sun over us.  My knees were starting to hurt.  Rod fell and injured the same hand he broke a few years ago.  We didn't get back on tierra firma until we hit the 9,4 mile mark.  This last mile was at a much more humane grade, but but now we were all exhausted.  We stopped briefly at an old  ore processing mill but by now we were all in going home mode. We got to our cars shortly after 4pm and I attacked my cranberry juice while Zeke got his canned meal and ice water.

 

All of us were exhausted.  I thanked Rod for leading this hike and we quickly departed.  I stopped to get dinner for Kevin and me and went straight home, where excited dogs were glad to see me.  Hansel insisted I walk him around the block, so he, Sweetie and Gretel got a mini walk but now my legs were hurting.  My body needed to rest but I couldn't say no to the dogs. Once I got my boots off, I was in bed.

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