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We'd left Sedona the previous afternoon, driving southwest on SR89A through
Cottonwood into the Prescott NF just to the west. We stopped in the old mining
town of Jerome (now an upscale touristy place) for dinner before continuing
higher to our camp for the night. We found plenty of dispersed camping near
the Woodchute Trailhead where we would start in the morning. This was a far
cry better than the severe camping restrictions in place around Sedona.
Woodchute Mountain
This P2K is the highpoint of the Black Hills and the Woodchute Wilderness, and
is found in Purcell's
Rambles & Scrambles. The Woodchute Trail starts
south of the peak and runs north across the length of this small Wilderness. It
is a very nice trail with easy gradients, well-marked , and
for the first half of the route. We started shortly before
sunrise, for about 3mi, taking and hour and a quarter.
We then left the trail, turning west for the last quarter mile of
through the open forest. We found
and marking the highpoint (though it
isn't
obvious on the summit plateau exactly where that might be), but no register.
On the way back, Eric wanted to follow Andrew Kirmse's track to the northeast
where an overlook is found while I wanted to go hike another peak, so we parted
ways for a few hours. I went back by myself, returning
to shortly after 9:30a.
Hickey Mountain
is found a few miles southwest of the Woodchute TH and has
more than 500ft of prominence. After returning to the Jeep, I went off on a dirt
road to the west, past where we'd camped the previous evening. The road becomes
much rougher after passing through . Recent rains had
left mudholes scattered along the roadway. I was able to drive about half the
distance to the summit before where the road veers south and
away from it. A trip report on PB by John McCafferty describes the route as a
"simple climb with easy route finding, minor bushwhacking, and great views," and
so it proved to be. The route from the northeast follows the ridgeline,
but growing as one nears
the summit. Forested to start, the trees give way to
closer to the summit, leaving on the rocky summit open in all
directions. I spent about 3/4hr to reach the summit and a similar amount on the
way back. There is a good view of to the southwest that at
least one other person had combined with a climb of Hickey, but it looked
terribly brushy from my vantage point. I decided to leave it unvisited. I left
one of at the summit before returning the same way.
Mingus Mountain
This summit with nearly 800ft of prominence lies south of SR89A and is only
45ft shorter than Woodchute. It does not lie within any Wilderness and one can
nearly drive to the summit. There is a hang glider launch pad nearby that
overlooks the steep escarpment to the southeast. I first visited the lower
lookout tower about a mile to the southwest, which would also be a drive-up
save for about 1/3mi from the summit. I parked and
started , meeting Eric briefly who was on his way down. I
would catch up with him at the higher point shortly. is a
tall one, but a chainlink fence locks out visitors. A USFS truck was parked
adjacent to it, its driver busy prepping the lookout residence for rental
purposes. Not much in the way of views without ascending the tower.
I next drove to the atop Mingus Mtn where Eric had just
watched a pilot take off from ten minutes earlier. The
white glider was about halfway down to when I arrived.
We walked the trail along the escarpment edge a short distance before seeking
out the proscribed highpoint nearby. It was clear that the points on PB and LoJ
were likely not the highpoint, but the true highpoint would be difficult
to discern with any accuracy due to of the terrain. We
called it good before heading back towards the vehicles.
Mt. Union
While I had been driving back from Hickey Peak, I'd come across the idea of
driving west to Prescott and Mt. Union, another P2K. I had a few other ideas in
mind as well, but when I suggested them to Eric for consideration, he
immediately hit on Mt. Union even though it would be out of his way for his
drive home the next day. P2Ks are a powerful draw among peakbaggers. And so we
spent the next couple of hours driving back down to SR98A, then southwest
towards Prescott, then once again up into the higher forested mountains south of
town. There is much new development in these hills and the forest roads have
been well-graded to accomodate the increased traffic.
extend all the way to near the very summit of Mt. Union, which consequently
could have been a drive-up. I say "could have" because we did not turn at the
proper junction to reach the summit, but stopped short about a mile below it. No
matter, we could use some afternoon exercise. We spent about 20min hiking
to the summit where stands, though closed
to the public. We found and among the
nearby summit rocks. The register was left by Wade Luther and his Meet Up group
in 2019 and had quite a few pages of entries. We added before
heading back, using a bit of to shortcut the roadway.
After to our vehicles, we drove about a mile to the east on
the continuing forest road to find at a saddle SE of
Mt. Union. It was a fine location with a fire ring, quiet, and level ground to
park our vehicles for sleeping. It would suffice nicely for the night.
Moscow Peak
It was just past 3:30p, not quite time to call it quits. I noted that Moscow
Peak was only 2/3mi to the south from our campsite. I tried to entice Eric into
joining me, but he would not be drawn in - he was done for the day. My GPSr
showed a trail running along the ridgeline but that didn't really exist. The
Yankee Doodle Trail starts from our campsite and runs south, but it stays low
on the western side of the ridge and not all that helpful. So I headed off
along the very top of , happy to find that there was no real
bushwhacking to this one. There are, however, several along
the way that have to be surmounted in turn. I found a few ducks and vestiges of
a use trail, but nothing really helpful. I spent about 20min covering the
distance to which has less than 200ft of prominence and
. On my way back, I sought to avoid the extra up and down
over the intermediate bumps, so I on the west side to pick
up . It was further down the ridge than I would
have guessed, or liked, and in the end I don't think it saved me any time or
effort. I was by 4:30p, happy now to join Eric for
refreshments and campfire...
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