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Has anyone hiked Estrella Peak this season? I would sure like to do it as I see it almost every day. Any info would be appriciated.

Tom O'Reilly

Estrella Peak is on the reservation and the tribe does not allow visits to it.

Many people have hiked Quartz peak which is down the ridge to the west and on BLM land.

Great hike and it is in the traildex

Thanks John. Quartz Peak is a great hike one of my favorites. Just wish that Estailia Peak would open up as it sure looks like a really good one also in the traildex.

The thing to do would be to befriend a tribal member, see if you could pay someone to hike up there with you.

Nice idea. Anyone know a tribal member? I heard they do not even let there own members up. Do they have tribal police looking for hikers?

Estrella Peak? Which one is that? The tallest peak in the range labeled 4506 feet on topos?

Estrella peak is an unofficial name for the range high point which is listed as 4512 feet at 33deg 16 min North by 112 17 West

I thought it was called Hayes Peak.

I've always wanted to go up there.

I'm just hoping y'all are pronouncing it correctly: Es-TRAY-uh, not Es-TREL-uh.

Thanks for how you say it. If anyone can figure out how to do this hike without going to jail please let me know. My email address is tomoreilly82@aol.com as I do not always get back to this forum in a timely way. I would do all I could do go even call in sick at work which I never do. It is tempting to me to go anyway and try not to get caught but I will not do that. I suggest you read the trail Dex a great write up on the hike. Thank you all for your imput. Tom

PS I am spelling challenged please forgive me.

Well, you could always find out what the fine might be. My son got fined for trespassing on the Gila River reservation recently, it was $200. It was not posted, though, it was a dirt road. He could have gone back to court and fought it, but he moved to Utah instead.

I have climbed it 5 times, always from the East, most recently approaching the Gila River by bicycle, dismounting, then on foot climbing the sweeping, twisting ridge to the summit. Twice, I encountered snow above 4000 feet, and once saw a number of boy scouts half way to the top. The most difficult part is the crossing of the Gila which can have little flow or to the point that a crossing is ill advised. There were piles of junk as well as a small tower upon the summit.

sidhayes wrote:Twice, I encountered snow above 4000 feet

I knew it was possible!

Did you just go for it each time or did you do something prior to the hike?

If you knew Sid, you would know that he can just go for it. They would never catch him on foot on that mountain. They would have to wait till he got back to flatland and then try to catch him with Quads and they wouldn't have the patience for that.

The only access issues I thought about were crossing the Gila. Since it is the high point in the range, it has be be done. If you ask, the tribe will probably say no. Maybe you should do like the military..don't ask, don't tell.

Al_HikesAZ wrote:If you knew Sid, you would know that he can just go for it. They would never catch him on foot on that mountain. They would have to wait till he got back to flatland and then try to catch him with Quads and they wouldn't have the patience for that.

sidhayes wrote:The only access issues I thought about were crossing the Gila. Since it is the high point in the range, it has be be done. If you ask, the tribe will probably say no. Maybe you should do like the military..don't ask, don't tell.

Duly noted!