Southern Terminus Access

PeteOutdoors · Post by **PeteOutdoors** » Dec 31 2016 3:26 am

Looking at Google Maps and Google Earth, I see an unnamed road about one mile to the west of Montezuma Pass, it starts at Eighty Spring, right on W. Montezuma Canyon Road, and goes south to Yaqui Canyon and the border.

That leaves you one mile directly west of the southern terminus, with a 600 elevation gain to the terminus.

Is there a reason why one can't reach the southern terminus this way?

sandyfortner · Post by **sandyfortner** » Dec 31 2016 6:16 am

keepa wrote:Looking at Google Maps and Google Earth, I see an unnamed road about one mile to the west of Montezuma Pass, it starts at Eighty Spring, right on W. Montezuma Canyon Road, and goes south to Yaqui Canyon and the border.

That leaves you one mile directly west of the southern terminus, with a 600 elevation gain to the terminus.

Is there a reason why one can't reach the southern terminus this way?

Looking at your map, you are thinking of getting a shuttle down that un-named road to the border and bush-wacking east along the border to the official start of the Trail? Trying to recall what the terrain west of the border TH looked like and nothing comes to mind - didn't really pay much attention to that direction since it wasn't where we were headed. My word of caution would be - since you are potentially hiking up out of Yaqui Canyon there could be a situation where you would be cliffed-out. May also be a little more difficult to get a shuttle in that direction. Not sure - just some thoughts. Getting dropped at Montezuma's Pass may be an easier shuttle to find and hiking out/back is pretty quick and easy before heading up Miller.

Sredfield · Post by **Sredfield** » Dec 31 2016 9:58 am

Checking that on the maps available here on HAZ (FS Topo and Satellite) it appears there is indeed a road to Yaqui Spring. From there the southern terminus would be a bushwhack of nearly a mile and up 800 feet. The trail will be quicker, less uncertain, and much easier, not to mention what the border patrol may have to say about random off-trail pedestrians in the area.

rcorfman · Post by **rcorfman** » Dec 31 2016 10:41 am

I camped at there the night before I started my section hike from the border to Patagonia. I can't imagine what you are proposing as being easier than just hiking down the trail from Montezuma Pass. Also, when I was shuttled back from Patagonia to Montezuma pass, the driver went through Sierra Vista as he said it took about the same amount of time and was a lot easier driving. To get where you propose utilizes a lot of dirt road miles, not all pleasant.

wha · Post by **wha** » Dec 31 2016 10:59 am

I have been curious about this myself. I kinda like the idea of not having to walk south to then turn around and walk north.

On sat photos (bing might be a little clearer) you can see the road along the fence gets to within 0.4 miles of the terminus, with about a 400 foot climb. The road is dirt of course but looks clear and well traveled, and the terrain along the gap doesn't look bad at all. But yeah, I imagine border patrol would swoop in on you pretty quick.

PeteOutdoors · Post by **PeteOutdoors** » Dec 31 2016 12:48 pm

wha wrote:I have been curious about this myself. I kinda like the idea of not having to walk south to then turn around and walk north.

On sat photos (bing might be a little clearer) you can see the road along the fence gets to within 0.4 miles of the terminus, with about a 400 foot climb. The road is dirt of course but looks clear and well traveled, and the terrain along the gap doesn't look bad at all. But yeah, I imagine border patrol would swoop in on you pretty quick.

My thoughts as well, I don't want to double back.

I also saw the road goes along the fence. I did the elevation profile along the fence line in Google Earth and it's no problem. I think I will try getting to the terminus this way. I will have my cousin drop me off so that's not a problem.

As for border patrol, I am sure that would be no problem once they see that you are a hiker.

PeteOutdoors · Post by **PeteOutdoors** » Aug 14 2017 2:27 pm

About 1 mile west of Montezuma pass on Montezuma Canyon Road there is a dirt road that goes down to the border, and another road that follows the border to within 2000 feet west of the trail head. See the image below. Is there any reason why you would not access the southern terminus this way? I really don't want to walk down two miles from Montezuma Pass to access the terminus, and walk back up again.

chumley · Post by **chumley** » Aug 14 2017 2:46 pm

keepa wrote:I really don't want to walk down two miles from Montezuma Pass to access the terminus, and walk back up again.

If you're really fretting about a two mile walk on a nice trail, you might want to reconsider your desire to hike 800-miles across Arizona!

There's a reason nobody does it that way.

PeteOutdoors · Post by **PeteOutdoors** » Aug 14 2017 2:51 pm

What's the reason nobody does it that way?

chumley · Post by **chumley** » Aug 14 2017 3:10 pm

The answers you got the first time you asked haven't changed much:

sandyfortner wrote:since you are potentially hiking up out of Yaqui Canyon there could be a situation where you would be cliffed-out. May also be a little more difficult to get a shuttle in that direction.

Sredfield wrote:From there the southern terminus would be a bushwhack of nearly a mile and up 800 feet. The trail will be quicker, less uncertain, and much easier, not to mention what the border patrol may have to say about random off-trail pedestrians in the area.

keepa wrote:As for border patrol, I am sure that would be no problem once they see that you are a hiker.

Since the track you drew in Google Earth goes into Mexico quite a bit, I feel like you might be surprised by the reaction of the officers whose job it is to prevent you from crossing back over.

If you look at the satellite view, the road ends where the fence ends. The reason the fence ends is because the natural topography is extreme enough as to not require a fence anymore. Can you scramble up a trail-less hillside made of boulders and small cliff bands covered with cactus and prickly desert plants on a steep slope equivalent to 1000 feet per mile? Yes, I'm confident you could make it. But I'm still not sure why you would bother trying. There's already a nice trail built exactly for the purpose of getting to the spot you want to go!