Arizona peak-bagging, county by county

[azdesertfather]

Just saw an old article in Arizona Highways listing the highest peaks in every county ... which counties have you done?

• • Maricopa: Browns Peak (7,657)
  • Coconino: Humphreys Peak (12,633)
  • Gila: Myrtle Point, Promontory Butte (7,470)
  • Mohave: Hualapai Peak (8,417)
  • Santa Cruz: Mt. Wrightson (9,453)
  • Yuma: Signal Peak (4,877)
  • Yavapai: Mt. Union (7,979)
  • Pima: Mt. Lemmon (9,081)
  • Navajo: Unnamed Point on Black Mesa, near Kayenta (8,168)
  • Cochise: Chiricahua Peak (9,759)
  • Apache: Mt. Baldy (11,403)
  • Graham: Mt. Graham (10,720)
  • Greenlee: Unnamed Point less than 0.25 mi off US 191, just N of mile marker 227 (9,441)
  • La Paz: Harquahala Mtn. (5,681)
  • Pinal: north slope of Rice Peak (7,575)

[azdesertfather]

I linked 12 of the 15, I didn't find hike descriptions for the ones in Navajo, Greenlee & Pinal counties. If I missed any or got any wrong, let me know

[Jim]

Just Coconino, but I leave the state to do other peaks of interest.

[azdesertfather]

I've hit Coconino, Apache, Graham & Maricopa. Hard to believe I've missed so many...

[paulhubbard]

I was going to mark some, but my votes aren't really fair:
Humphreys? = Yes
Baldy? = Only while skiing
Mount Lemmon, Mrytle, & Promontory? = Yes, but drove there (rode the chair lift up Lemmon)

[trekkin_gecko]

does the white man's summit count on mt. baldy?

[azbackpackr]

Peak baggers are kind of particular about the game. It is like a game and has a couple of rules, but not an onerous number of them. For example, for Mt. Lemmon, you have to touch the fence in a particular spot near the observatory, unless you can get permission from UA to go into the observatory area. This involves hiking along the Lemmon meadow trail, along the fenceline. Mt. Baldy is not at the ski area, so unless you were cross country skiing, you didn't go very close to there there on skis. And isn't Mt. Graham still closed? So there is probably a place where you can go on that ridge to get as close as legally possible.

The Arizona Big List of Peaks is maintained by Mark Nichols of Benson. It is in Excel format, with the state divided into 4 quadrants. I believe there are over 4,000 peaks listed. I have the NE and SW quadrants he has emailed to me. Some are listed here: http://www.peaklist.org/USlists/AZP1000.htm

A book you can still get, although the author recently died (he was in his 80s) is Arizona's Mountains by Bob Martin.

If you send Mark Nichols an email he'll email you whichever quadrant you want, but you have to have Excel on your computer, I think. Do a google search and you will get a lot of hits.

[chumley]

Isn't Mt. Graham closed to public access? Did those of you who bagged it do so before the whole telescope / graham squirrel bs?

[azbackpackr]

does the white man's summit count on mt. baldy?

White man's summit is the only one that counts, in the peakbagger game.

[azbackpackr]

Isn't Mt. Graham closed to public access? Did those of you who bagged it do so before the whole telescope / graham squirrel bs?

That's what I was just saying. I do believe it is still closed.

[chumley]

Ok, here's an interesting question ... how many of the above can actually drive to the top of? (quads don't count)

[azbackpackr]

Hmmm...can't you drive to the top of the highest peak in the Pinals? If so, I guess I have been there.

[JimmyLyding]

Hmmm...can't you drive to the top of the highest peak in the Pinals? If so, I guess I have been there.

You're thinking of the wonderful Pinal Mountains south of Globe, but they're actually in Gila County.

[azbackpackr]

Gothcha.

Isn't Rice Peak in the Catalinas? Rice and Marble...off of the Oracle Ridge Trail, if memory serves me.

[chumley]

So the data for Myrtle Point, Promontory is wrong. That peaks out at 7,914 according to topo maps. And if it was correct, then Aztec Peak (and Brown's among a couple of others) would be higher anyway.

Which makes me wonder. How many of these highest points make up the border between counties. Browns and Myrtle Point both do. I haven't looked closely enough at the others.

I'm not a peakbagger so I certainly won't change the rules, but I like the thought of the highest point entirely within a county rather than one making up the border. So the high point in Gila would be Aztec Peak (7,748ft) under that scenario, ignoring the higher spots along the Mogollon Rim border with Coconino or Mazatzal border with Maricopa.

[johnr1]

I have done all fifteen finishing about a year ago. It sounded like a fun exercise when I started but rapidly became a two year quest.

The best source for hike descriptions is:
http://www.cohp.org/az/arizona.xml

The official list includes the true highest point in the county even though it may not be a peak. Rice peak is a good example where the peak is in Pima county, but the Pinal county high point is down the hill to the county border.

Another list is the county prominance point list at

http://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=41625

This list has Pinal Peak, Newman, Mazatazal and Guthrie instead of some technical bump

So for those of you who are looking for a achievable set of goals you might consider the County highpointing. I had a lot of fun and a real sense of accomplishment as I lunched on Black Mesa having bagged number 15.

[JimmyLyding]

I was waiting for John to weigh in on this. I checked out the peakbagger.com, and I don't understand why Mount Wrightson is in the Pinaleno Area and Mount Graham is in the Tombstone/Bisbee area

[tibber]

I was waiting for John to weigh in on this.

Me too, plus I can bug him again about catching up on his triplogs .

[johnr1]

Jim
The only thing I can think of is that peakbaggers never look down thus where the mountain is on the land just confuses them

Angela
Duly noted. Also, look at all the places I havnt dragged you (yet)

[joebartels]

Arizona County High Points
Arizona County High Points - w/county boundaries