Today we were after a few more prominence peaks, these in the Whipple Mountains on the eastern edge of the state near Parker Dam. I had been to this range on two previous occasions, the first to reach the range highpoint in 2008 while chasing down the DPS summits, and more recently in 2015 on a similar desert road trip. On that second visit we had run out of time to tackle today's peaks along with some others that we had to leave for a future visit. There are so many interesting peaks in the Whipple Mtns, particularly that part of the range close to the Colorado River, that one could easily spend a week exploring them. We had spent the night camped on the north side of the Colorado River Aqueduct and SR62, on a lonely stretch of BLM land between US95 and the river. In the morning we piled into Michael's Nissan Pathfinder and headed off for the first of the day's peaks.
Savahia Peak
This peak rises as
a lone figure from the desert on the western end of
the
range, easily visible from US95 and SR62. It has seen extensive mining interest
over the years though that is all dormant now. An old mining road, now a BLM
route, runs north from the aqueduct to the west side of Savahia Peak where we
parked less than 2/3mi from the highpoint. 
Up close,
the peak appears far more
impressive with dark volcanic rock that juts up more sharply than we had
guessed. It looks to be more difficult than it really is, the West Gully
providing a mostly class 2 route with some short bits of easy class 3. I had
thought this might be a quick one-hour effort that would
get us back and onto the
big ticket peak much sooner, but the driving and climbing were both more
involved. We spent about 45min climbing 
up the gully and then north
along the crest to reach 
the benchmark at the highpoint. Iris
helped me with the wiring to reinstate 
the survey stick that once stood
here while Michael watched with amusement and 
Scott perused the summit
register. The Vitz register dated 
to 1993 though it noted an earlier
1973 ascent by a Gordon MacLeod party. There
have been a handful of visitors since, the most recent some five years ago. Not
finding any obvious alternative routes, we 
descended back
the same way we'd come. Scott did 
a bit of jogging at the end
to stretch his legs a bit more while ensuring he was 
the first back.
Peak 3,357ft
It would take us another hour to drive back out to the aqueduct road and then east to our starting point for Peak 3,357ft near the Blue Cloud Mine. We drove about half a mile further up the wash than I had expected we might be able to and probably could have gone another mile with a Jeep or similar. I was happy that we were able to get as far
as we did, making the distance
to the summit less than 5mi one-way. The hike turned out better than
anticipated, too. I thought the 
hike up the long 
wash system
was going to be pretty mundane, but that ended after the first hour when the
wash began to narrow and grow more interesting. A 
defunct guzzler is
found where the canyon first narrows. Three large 
water tanks once fed
the guzzler enclosed by fencing on three sides. The tanks were filled by a water
line running up the canyon to a spring that no longer seems to run, at least
not that we could discover. The fencing appears to have been designed to keep
the wild burros out, allowing only the bighorn sheep that can approach from the
open cliff side. The guzzler was high enough off the ground to keep reptiles and
smaller mammals from taking advantage of it. Nearby at a small dry waterfall,
there was 
evidence that the burros are used to digging in the
soft sand to obtain water a foot or so under the surface - so much for human
enviro-engineering.
After following the narrow portion of the canyon for another mile, we started
out of 
the drainage to climb 
the South Ridge leading to Peak
3,357ft. It was an interesting 
ridgeline with some
avoidable class 3 that took us through colorful rockbands,
a cholla garden (careful here!), and 
a false summit before
catching a view of the highpoint another third of a mile 
further north.
In all, we would spend the better part of two and half hours climbing 2,200ft to
the summit. Barbara and Gordon had beaten us to the summit by some
38 years with another three parties occupying the 
second page
of the register. The summit has a fine view overlooking the Whipple Mtns, with
the range highpoint rising in a broad ridgeline behind us to 
the north,
Cupcake Mtn and most of the other interesting volcanic summits to
the east and southeast. Our descent was only a modest variation of our
ascent as we 
dropped west off the South Ridge once we were about
halfway down in order to reach the wash a bit sooner. It didn't end up
being any faster in the end, but no one seemed to mind much. Not long after
returning to 
the wash, we came across 
a tarantula out of his
hole, probably looking for a mate. We interrupted his quest for several moments
as we tried to get him 
to pose for our pictures. Hopefully it wasn't
too disruptive and he was able to continue his quest...
We were 
back
to the vehicle not long after 2:30p and settled in for the longish
drive back to our campsite where we'd left our vehicles along the aqueduct. I
was left to fend for myself for the rest of the week as my companions drove back
to civilization and jobs, the latter of which have become somewhat distant
memories for me. I drove the van to Parker, AZ where I refueled both vehicle and
myself before retiring back to the California side to find a quiet place to
sleep for the night. I felt a bit lonely after the others had left me, but as I
settled down to sleep for the night, cozily ensconsed in my sleeping bag, I was
already looking forward to the next few days' solo adventures and the sadness
slipped away...
Continued...