Third time's the charm: 1st time- Christmas week'09 I was camping under Byous Butte. Nonot and I had planned for Christmas Day, a variation of my loop hike "Byous Butte Loop w/Hewitt Ridge Cyn Hike" with a side trip along the way to summit Hackberry Butte if time permitted, but time did not permit. 2nd time- On 4/15/10 I was again camping under Byous Butte this week. Johnr1 and I had a plan#1 for a remote off trail day hike back in from Byous Butte Saddle#1 to try and gain the summit of Hewitt Ridge. We had a plan#2 to summit Hackberry Butte. After further assessing the risks for me to proceed with a summit of Hewitt Ridge based on my previous planned approach.. http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=133102 , I chickened-out and we proceeded with plan#2. By the time we reached what I thought was Hackberry Butte and its ridge line approach, it was just too daunting a ridge hike for that late in the day.. http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=133108 (only after discussing my interest in another summit attempt with ssk44 did I realize that this previous ridge line and summit was really not Hackberry Butte at all, but rather a ridge and summit a distance south.. ). 3rd time- I turned the trip planning over to ssk44 and he easily found the best off trail hike approach for my allusive Hackberry Butte Summit 4230 and I was off again to give it a go and this time successfully

This moderate two mile one way hike with a relatively easy to navigate off trail segment was a real winner and worth the wait. I enjoyed it enough to issue a new HAZ hike description with posted GPS Hiking and Driving Tracks, and my pic set to further document with captions the fun, scenic, and historic interest of it all. I do hope that others with consider giving it a try.