Route Editor
Route Scout
Overview: Located within the Salt River Canyon Wilderness and viewed from numerous SRC locations, a summit of this Benchmark Peak with a short summit perimeter hike, offers excellent 360 degree views to.. Roosevelt Lake, scenic Horseshoe Bend and Cliff Hanger Rapids on the Salt River, Rockinstraw Mountain 5385ft, Blackjack Wash to Salt River, Yankee Joe Canyon, the unique White Ledges, and distant SRC Haystack Butte 5741feet. Check out the Official Route and Triplogs. Leave No Trace and +Add a Triplog after your hike to support this local community.
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WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.
Most recent Triplog Reviews
Jump Mountain 4878 - SRC Wilderness
Two weeks prior on 12/16, HAZ BEEBEE (Brian) and I had attempted an all day "out and back" hike to summit remote Benchmark Jump Mountain 4878 out-of the Horseshoe Bend TH. For this 12/16 I had unfortunately planned an unanticipated Rambo 
south approach route http://hikearizona.com/photo=381383 . A rewarding hike day it was with beautiful weather, and very scenic, but we were disappointed to be so close to our planned summit destination and have a need to turn back for safety reasons http://hikearizona.com/photo=381397 .
Prior-to 12/16 I had pretty much concluded that the alternate east approach route for this mountain would include just too much heavy vegetation bushwhacking and thus just not a good plan.
Fortunately, our HAZ- Oregon Hiker (Larry) who is much better at off-trail route planning than I, was behind the scenes viewing Google Earth, our HAZ Route Manager Topo Overlay Maps, and planning what looked like a very doable east side approach route
Now with this new route option it didn't take me long to propose a new hike date for a second summit attempt of Jump Mountain 4878
. Larry, Kelly, and I had previously planned a new Sierra Ancha hike adventure for 12/30 contingent on weather conditions. We all concluded that it made better sense to hike at a lower Salt River Canyon elevation for 12/30 than to risk possible ice, snow pack, and mud at higher Sierra Ancha elevations. Brian was of course in on this second planned summit attempt but unfortunately had a last minute business priority that did not allow him to join-in.
Jump Mountain 4878 (..and recommended East side approach route):
..This remote SRC Wild- Bemchmark summit and East side "out and back" approach route (with a loop option) are all winners and highly recommended for those qualified for this type of off-trail hike;
..I recommend viewing our geocoded picsets, pic captions, & tag notes for all this hike has to offer;
..From the PHX areas, it's a long driving day to hike 6.2 miles R/T, but worth it!
south approach route http://hikearizona.com/photo=381383 . A rewarding hike day it was with beautiful weather, and very scenic, but we were disappointed to be so close to our planned summit destination and have a need to turn back for safety reasons http://hikearizona.com/photo=381397 .
Prior-to 12/16 I had pretty much concluded that the alternate east approach route for this mountain would include just too much heavy vegetation bushwhacking and thus just not a good plan.
Fortunately, our HAZ- Oregon Hiker (Larry) who is much better at off-trail route planning than I, was behind the scenes viewing Google Earth, our HAZ Route Manager Topo Overlay Maps, and planning what looked like a very doable east side approach route
Now with this new route option it didn't take me long to propose a new hike date for a second summit attempt of Jump Mountain 4878
. Larry, Kelly, and I had previously planned a new Sierra Ancha hike adventure for 12/30 contingent on weather conditions. We all concluded that it made better sense to hike at a lower Salt River Canyon elevation for 12/30 than to risk possible ice, snow pack, and mud at higher Sierra Ancha elevations. Brian was of course in on this second planned summit attempt but unfortunately had a last minute business priority that did not allow him to join-in.
Jump Mountain 4878 (..and recommended East side approach route):
..This remote SRC Wild- Bemchmark summit and East side "out and back" approach route (with a loop option) are all winners and highly recommended for those qualified for this type of off-trail hike;
..I recommend viewing our geocoded picsets, pic captions, & tag notes for all this hike has to offer;
..From the PHX areas, it's a long driving day to hike 6.2 miles R/T, but worth it!
2013-12-30 Grasshopper
Jump Mountain 4878 - SRC Wilderness
a nice invite to hank's second attempt on jump mountain
larry and hank did quite a bit of research on a different approach, and everything they came up with worked out well
took forest road 645 in and parked at a gate
followed a fence line for some time, contoured around a smaller peak, then headed for jump
turns out you can simply follow the fence line up to within 50 feet of the summit, which is the line i came back to higher up
larry and hank took slightly different paths, which may have offered better footing and fewer sticker bushes
one little scramble and easy enough route-finding on the way up; just pick the best line
at the top, we found two reference marks and the benchmark, as well as a summit register buried in a cairn
the register had been placed by the sierra club in 1996, and only one other name was on it, in 2006
the summit area was quite expansive, and we wandered around to all points
great views of the salt river, white ledges, haystack butte, rockinstraw, four peaks, and more
(my track doesn't account for this exploration, so i'm adding a quarter mile)
hank showed us the saddle where he and brian turned around, and declared the second attempt route much preferred
larry had plotted a second approach, so from the base of the mountain we took that back down, making a nice loop that finished on a 4wd road
perfect weather and clear skies all day
a cool peak, a very intriguing part of arizona and great company!
thanks for including me, guys
larry and hank did quite a bit of research on a different approach, and everything they came up with worked out well
took forest road 645 in and parked at a gate
followed a fence line for some time, contoured around a smaller peak, then headed for jump
turns out you can simply follow the fence line up to within 50 feet of the summit, which is the line i came back to higher up
larry and hank took slightly different paths, which may have offered better footing and fewer sticker bushes
one little scramble and easy enough route-finding on the way up; just pick the best line
at the top, we found two reference marks and the benchmark, as well as a summit register buried in a cairn
the register had been placed by the sierra club in 1996, and only one other name was on it, in 2006
the summit area was quite expansive, and we wandered around to all points
great views of the salt river, white ledges, haystack butte, rockinstraw, four peaks, and more
(my track doesn't account for this exploration, so i'm adding a quarter mile)
hank showed us the saddle where he and brian turned around, and declared the second attempt route much preferred
larry had plotted a second approach, so from the base of the mountain we took that back down, making a nice loop that finished on a 4wd road
perfect weather and clear skies all day
a cool peak, a very intriguing part of arizona and great company!
thanks for including me, guys
2013-12-30 trekkin_gecko
Jump Mountain 4878 - SRC Wilderness
This intriguing and difficult to summit Benchmark Peak in our Salt River Canyon Wilderness has been on my radar ever sense Oregon Hiker and I made our first exploratory driving and hiking trip to this area in November, 2012. Since, I have viewed this peak from a distance on a number of interesting hikes in the area.
In the last couple of months I had completed a review of the area on our HAZ-MapDEX Topo Overlay options and Satellite View along with Google Earth to plan an off-trail GPS Hiking Route to summit Jump Mountain 4878.
I first rather briefly analyzed the east side summit approach.. http://hikearizona.com/photo=317872 off of an old, unnumbered, and serious 4WD Road which takes off from FR645 then crosses upper Blackjack Wash then ends abruptly further up the Jump Mountain east side ridge line. I initially eliminated this option due to the difficult 4WD access road (some of which could probably be hiked) and the total driving miles/time from the PHX area required for a planned day hike to reach an acceptable Park/TH Start location. This option also appeared to me to require a serious off-trail & steep section of thick vegetation to bushwhack through (but not confirmed) before reaching the summit.
My second and chosen approach option route for this first hike attempt was via FR219 end at the Horseshoe Bend area of the Salt River. This planned hiking route was to be first up via two well defined area wash drainages, then an off-trail up to the summit which appeared to me on our HAZ Overview Topo Maps and Google Earth to be the preferred route in of choice..until actually viewing it in person.. http://hikearizona.com/photo=381383
This hike day in at ~2:pm Brian and I elected for safety reasons to abort this first summit hike attempt.. http://hikearizona.com/photo=381397 So close!
Lessons hopefully Learned:
.. I need more practice planning serious, remote, off-trail GPS Routes on HAZ- Satellite View & Google Earth with a sanity check required
.. I sometimes take-on more than I can handle at my age and present physical condition and this was one of those times. Me with a 25lb day pack to start and Brian with his 28lbs (8 of which was electronic equiptment for HAM- SOTA BM Peak activation), Brian was still in great physical shape for this tough hike. He needed to slow this pace down considerable waiting for me to catch up and in view. I do believe we both would have made the summit with some time to spare if I had been in better physical condition and had not stopped so often to take so many pictures.
.. This hike option in mid-December requires a much earlier hike start than our 9:25am.
.. We both also under estimated the amount of H2O we would need to do this out and back hike
(I had 3.5 liters, Brian had 4, and we both were rationing water before reaching the vehicle)
Some smarter planning time, and a return visit for a successful summit attempt will happen
In the last couple of months I had completed a review of the area on our HAZ-MapDEX Topo Overlay options and Satellite View along with Google Earth to plan an off-trail GPS Hiking Route to summit Jump Mountain 4878.
I first rather briefly analyzed the east side summit approach.. http://hikearizona.com/photo=317872 off of an old, unnumbered, and serious 4WD Road which takes off from FR645 then crosses upper Blackjack Wash then ends abruptly further up the Jump Mountain east side ridge line. I initially eliminated this option due to the difficult 4WD access road (some of which could probably be hiked) and the total driving miles/time from the PHX area required for a planned day hike to reach an acceptable Park/TH Start location. This option also appeared to me to require a serious off-trail & steep section of thick vegetation to bushwhack through (but not confirmed) before reaching the summit.
My second and chosen approach option route for this first hike attempt was via FR219 end at the Horseshoe Bend area of the Salt River. This planned hiking route was to be first up via two well defined area wash drainages, then an off-trail up to the summit which appeared to me on our HAZ Overview Topo Maps and Google Earth to be the preferred route in of choice..until actually viewing it in person.. http://hikearizona.com/photo=381383
This hike day in at ~2:pm Brian and I elected for safety reasons to abort this first summit hike attempt.. http://hikearizona.com/photo=381397 So close!
Lessons hopefully Learned:
.. I need more practice planning serious, remote, off-trail GPS Routes on HAZ- Satellite View & Google Earth with a sanity check required
.. I sometimes take-on more than I can handle at my age and present physical condition and this was one of those times. Me with a 25lb day pack to start and Brian with his 28lbs (8 of which was electronic equiptment for HAM- SOTA BM Peak activation), Brian was still in great physical shape for this tough hike. He needed to slow this pace down considerable waiting for me to catch up and in view. I do believe we both would have made the summit with some time to spare if I had been in better physical condition and had not stopped so often to take so many pictures.
.. This hike option in mid-December requires a much earlier hike start than our 9:25am.
.. We both also under estimated the amount of H2O we would need to do this out and back hike
(I had 3.5 liters, Brian had 4, and we both were rationing water before reaching the vehicle)
Some smarter planning time, and a return visit for a successful summit attempt will happen
2013-12-16 Grasshopper
