Little Table Top 3097, AZ

Overview
This out-and-back route starts within the Table Top Wilderness and tops out at the 3097 highpoint on Tohono O'odham Nation land. It's similar to the Black Mountain 3306 summit, but more compact and a tad easier (less mileage and AEG).


Hike
There's a road (not signed with a number) heading south from the Table Top Trail TH that you'll hike for less than a quarter mile before going off trail bearing southeast. The desert here is surprisingly open, meandering mainly through Creosote, Saguaro and Teddy-bear cholla.After a mile of generally hiking southeast, you'll have to gap a barbed wire fence, which is the boundary between the Table Top Wilderness and Papago Reservation. There's one major wash crossing and then the steep climb up the northwest-facing slope begins in earnest. The summit is similarly black basalt boulders as the other mountaintops in this area. The official route returns via the same track as the approach.

Synopsis
Definitely small-scale and not quite as flat when compared to its parent peak, but still a worthy mountain. Overall, it's another good, elevated, and unobstructed perspective of Table Top Mountain, and the Sonoran Desert views east, south, and west.

2024-03-06 pseudalpine