Continued...
Eric and I were camped high in the Bradshaw Mountains in the Prescott NF, having
climbed Mt Union, the Yavapai County HP, late the previous afternoon. Eric had
to be back in Albuquerque by evening, so we planned a last peak together in
the morning before parting ways. I would then head north to Interstate 40 and
west towards California, tagging a few other peaks I would find along the way.
Spruce Mountain
This summit is found about 4mi north of Mt. Union, both sporting USFS lookout
towers. I think these might be the closest pair of towers I've yet encountered.
Despite the close distance, there is almost an hour's worth of driving between
them, all on well-graded forest roads. The forest is riddled with residential
developments both old and very new, all looking like they could become fuel in
a future fire. Nearby Prescott has expanded with development over the past
decades and some of that is spilling into the higher, forested elevations.
Spruce Mtn has more than 700ft of prominence and the popular Groom Creek Trail
that climbs to the summit from the west in a bit under 4mi. We chose to use
the easy way from the north via Spruce Mtn Rd. The good forest road gets one
within half a mile of the summit where is encountered. It is an
easy walk to the summit via found just below
. The lookout was unmanned and closed to visitors upon our
visit. We climbed the nearby for views to
Mt. Union, the Prescott NF in all directions. We were
with the hike in about half an hour, finishing before
8a. We said goodbye and headed off on our long drives towards home.
Mt. Floyd
This P1K is located north of I-40 in a patchwork area of state and private
lands. The outing let me explore a part of Route 66 between Ash Fork and Kingman
that I had never driven before, so that was pretty cool. I used the
well-graded Ranch Rd heading north off Route 66 to get within a mile of the
summit. Much rougher spur roads suitable only for 4WD led even closer, within
a quarter mile of the summit on . Though the distance
was short, the roundtrip took nearly an hour as there was much
and modest amounts of to sort through. It wasn't a very pleasant
climb at that, but are quite nice. There are the remains of
and just east of, and slightly
below the highpoint. There is a gigantic cairn at , about
6ft in height and similar in diameter. It's a class 3 effort to surmount the
cairn which was constructed with no small amount of skill. I left
here before retreating back off it. I went back via a route
to the south before traversing east , thinking it might be
better. It wasn't, in the end, and I think the more direct ascent route worked
better.
Peacock Peak
This P2K is the highpoint of the Peacock Mountains east of Kingman. Though more
easily approached from the south via I-40, I took the scenic Route 66 from the
north, passing through the forgotten small towns of Seligman, Peach Springs,
Truxton, Hackberry and others. The approach route is from the west via the
Kingman Airport, with well-graded Jan Rd taking one to the western edge of the
range. Rougher roads, not shown on the maps, get one within a mile of the
summit, to an elevation just above 4,800ft. 4WD and high-clearance needed for
the last stretch. I then followed the mostly class 2 to
in about an hour and a quarter. Some was encountered in
the upper reaches that could be avoided my taking easier terrain to the south.
Lots of sharp, pointy things to watch out for on this one along with moderate
brush in places. It was 80F when I started out around 1:30p, so this added to
the discomfort, but overall a pleasant enough hike. There is
and a register placed by Barbara & Gordon .
There are some earlier loose pages from ascents . The register
was quite busy, befitting the peak's P2K status. It would take about an hour to
descend via the same route back .
Sugarloaf Peak
This last summit is found in the Black Mtns west of Kingman and is featured in
Purcell's
Rambles & Scrambles. The summit looks like a difficult
prospect from most angles, including from SR68 to the south. Purcell describes
a route up through the complex features on the west side, a "magical chute"
that offers the only reasonable route to the summit. It's probably not something
that should be done in a hurry, but with a late start after 5p, I found I would
be racing sunset to get up and down the difficulties without a headlamp. I had a
GPX track from PB that followed the route, so I figured I shouldn't have too
much trouble locating the chute. It was still warm when I ,
but would cool nicely as the sun dipped behind the western horizon. I moved
quickly, following up and finding
much as expected. There is a good deal of catclaw
lining the chute, but with gloves and long shirt & pants, it did little harm and
only slowed me momentarily. I found above the
initial chute, then sort of winged it after that, relying more on my sense of
where would go rather than the written description of
it. The before I managed to reach the top, but only by less
than ten minutes. In all, I spent 45min on the ascent. Adam Walker had left
at the summit a year earlier, with several pages of entries.
I quickly signed it, tucked it back away, and started my descent after snapping
some quick photos of . I was able to retrace all the
class 3 portions of the route to return to the saddle on the west side before
needing my headlamp. The light helped me descend the drainage in the failing
light, returning to
around 6:45p - almost exactly an hour and a half
for the roundtrip. I ended up showering and spending the night very close to
where I had parked. I found a hilltop looking down on the lights of Bullhead
City and Laughlin, and good cell coverage, too. One of my better campsites on
this trip...
Continued...