HikeArizona.COM

Did some road recon yesterday. Willis Road east from the Sierra Estrella Pkwy is do-able in 4-wheel. I am toying with the idea of doing the piece of ridge-line that surrounds the headwaters of Corgett Wash. A single vehicle can be parked where the two spur ridges nearly come together. Going CCW you get bench marks 1918, 2968, 3650, 3482, 3567, 2907, then down to 1823. Maybe 8-9 miles total, about 2 miles are on the range ridge-line. Thought about going solo, but the road is very sandy, the country rough, and there will be virtually zero chance of anyone just happening by in case of mishap. Maybe sometime over the next 2-3 weekends. Interested?

Might be interested. Keep me on the short list. Think I may have done a portion of that already, need to take a look at my old triplogs.

The Estrellas are really rough, probably the toughest off trail hiking I have encountered in Arizona so far.

I am figuring that this section could provide a good preview of what a single day out of the three or more necessary to do the whole thing (with water drops) might be like. Sure could stand to have someone with experience go with. Start just before dawn.

JJ has done the entire ridgeline in sections. His tracks and triplogs are posted on site.

Having done the Estrella ridgeline myself, I would give the advice of expecting it to be longer and harder than you think, if you plan an 8 hour day, do not be surprised if it takes 10-12 hours.

There is a 1980's vintage AZ Highways article on it, not very encouraging.

Thanks to all for the feedback. If you had told me it was a piece of cake I would lose interest.

It is arduous, I was with JJ on one of his legs. You need to stop and plot your course about every 100 yards.

FYI there is a NASCAR race at PIR coming up soon. Check which weekend you want to do, because traffic is a pain in the rear anywhere close to Avondale that weekend.

Thanks for the PIR tip. The events are 3/12 - 3/15. I think you guys did the route I'm looking at. How long did it take? Arduous. Sounds good!

Think about 12 hours, of which 4 hours or so was spent getting in and out via the trails in Estrella Mountain Park. If you found a closer approach that would shave a bunch of time off.

i would be interested in doing a couple day trip starting in the desert just north of the high point and moving south as far as i could carry water for. maybe cache some around quartz peak...im going out tomorrow to explore another big segment of this area