Sugarloaf Mountain - Spur Cross, AZ

Overview
Sugarloaf Mountain (elevation of 3,879 feet and prominence of 499 feet) is in the Tonto National Forest, just outside the boundary of the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area.


Hike
The hike to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain involves some onerous bushwhacking, and it isn't for everybody. I basically followed a route that HAZ user @hansenaz posted on his ascent of Sugarloaf Mountain to get to the summit.The hike starts easily enough -- from the TH, take the Spur Cross Trail to the Tortuga Trail to the Elephant Mountain Trail. So far, so good. A short distance after getting on the Elephant Mountain Trail, the trail will turn to the left. Instead of taking the left turn, continue straight on a use trail. This trail will run into the Limestone Trail, which you will take to the left. You won't go far on the Limestone Trail, and then you'll veer to the right on a use trail. This use-trail is well-cairned, and you will follow it to Peterson Spring.

Past the spring, the trail ends, and you'll be bushwhacking your way up to a ridgeline northwest of Sugarloaf Mountain. On your way to the ridgeline, you'll have to go down and back up a couple of ravines, which is a bit onerous. Once on the ridgeline, it is a steep climb up toward the Sugarloaf Mountain summit. You'll see an intimidating summit block ahead of you. Fortunately, this is a false summit, and you'll go to the left of it rather than climbing over it. Once you get around the false summit, you'll see a ridgeline that will take you to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain.

You will see a large summit cairn that marks the highpoint. The summit area is relatively flat, and to be sure that I bagged the highpoint, I walked over to a couple of other places that might have been the highpoint.

You have several choices to make on the descent. You could go back the way that you came, but that did not excite me too much. I noticed that @hansenaz descended on the south side of the mountain, but that route looked steeper than what I desired. Instead, I decided to go back north a short distance from the summit and then descend the mountain's east side. The descent wasn't too steep, but it wasn't exactly a bundle of joy. I made my way east, and then bushwhacked my way southeast and hit the Limestone Trail #252 right at the Limestone Spring spring box. This route wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't the most outstanding hiking experience that I have ever had.

Once on the Limestone Trail, it was an easy hike back to the Spur Cross Trail, which I took back to the TH.

Sugarloaf Mountain has some nice views at the summit, but this is not a hike that I will want to do over and over again. It might be one and done for me.

2021-01-01 DixieFlyer