Reiley Peak - Winchester Mountains HP, AZ

Overview
Reiley Peak (elevation of 7,640 feet and prominence of 2,320 feet) is the highpoint of the Winchester Mountains in southeastern Arizona. Reiley Peak is in the Coronado National Forest and is about 25 miles northwest of the town of Wilcox.


Etymology
Reiley Peak is named for James R. Reilly (1830-1906), who was born in Ireland. Note that the peak name misspells Mr. Reilly's last name.James R. Reilly was a jack of all trades. He served as a soldier in Arizona in the late 1850s. After his discharge, Indians stole his assets and he moved to Sonora, Mexico. While there, he killed a Mexican and was exiled to Baja California. In the late 1860's he moved to Yuma, Arizona where he had a store and a hotel. He studied law and by the late 1870s, he was in Phoenix, where he published a newspaper. In 1880 he was a justice of the peace in Tombstone. Soon after he established a ranch and stage station near the peak which today bears his misspelled name.
Source: Arizona's Names (X Marks the Place), by Byrd Howell Granger

Hike
From your starting point, you first need to make your way to some water tanks that are shown on a topo map at an elevation of 5865 (32.409172, -110.140564). If you start at the water tank at the end of FR 659 you'll have to descend into Brush Canyon and climb back out the other side. If you start at the well at the bottom of Brush Canyon, you'll have to climb back out of the canyon. It is a very steep climb out of the canyon. The author of the guide was able to follow some cattle trails that zigzagged up the steep slope. If a cow can make the steep climb the odds are that you can too.

Once out of Brush Canyon at the water tanks, you basically follow a ridgeline all the way to the summit ridge of Reiley Peak. This ridgeline is southwest of Brush Canyon and northeast of Rockhouse Canyon.

There is minimal brush that is encountered along the way, but there are ankle-busting lava rocks with virtually every step. Thus, the going is much slower than what you might expect. There are a few bumps to go over and back down along the way, which adds some additional elevation gain. There is no trail at all, but there are cattle paths that can be followed to help with route finding.

When you get to the summit ridge of Reiley Peak, you will be at the highpoint, which is on the south part of the ridge. You'll see a large summit cairn with a summit register log in it. The views at the summit are amazing and are some of the best in southern Arizona, so you get a good payoff for the effort to get there.

Note that the highpoint is about 500 feet south of the "Rilay" benchmark shown on topo maps at a spot elevation of 7,631 feet. It is not necessary to go to the benchmark to claim the highpoint, but you may wish to go to the benchmark anyway.

Return the way that you came. With all of the ankle-busting rock, the descent will likely be slower than you would think.

If you parked at the water tank at the end of FR 659 you might be tempted to go east to a ridgeline and go through point 6185 on your way to the summit via this ridgeline. While this would avoid having to go into and back out of Brush Canyon, this ridgeline is reputed to be very brushy. One report said that the ridgeline is "for masochists only". So unless you have masochistic tendencies, it is not recommended to try this route.

Stats for this hike are based on a starting point at the well in the bottom of Brush Canyon. If you instead start at the end of FR 659, you'll have to hike an additional 1/2 mile with 250 feet or so of extra elevation gain.

2024-01-07 DixieFlyer