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| Hiking | 1.73 Miles |
952 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.73 Miles | 2 Hrs | | 1.02 mph |
| 952 ft AEG | 18 Mns Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | For the fourth time in a fortnight, I headed for the Dragoon Mountains. The morning was dead calm with the stifling heat of the day still to come. A light haze was palpable as I journeyed NE from Sierra Vista through Tombstone and onto Middlemarch road - most likely the smokey evidence of the wildfire I had heard was somewhere across the New Mexico state line; this coupled with 90F+ degree temps would set the backdrop for the day's Twin Peak bagging in the inner sanctum of the Goons.
Being as there was no defined trail with which to summit Cochise Peak, I had decided to make it a bit of an orienteering romp with only a basic Topo of the area to pull indicators from. The road to the south of Soren Camp would serve as initial access, and could be a mini-hike itself if fully engaged. I bushwhacked my way through the Catclaw skirting that defines the area between the camp and the dirt road which would most likely lead to a fence line...it did of course. From here it is just upward ad hoc to the peak...I would return a different way so as to make it a bit more challenging. The Opuntia genus cacti (cane cholla & prickly pear) were blooming wherever they were to be found throughout! I ran up with the fence line as reference imagining a spine that would become an express elevator to the top. This in the ideal sense did not exist for me, and it was just a good steep off trail hike up...the kind where you know it will take just about as much time to get back down given the rocky grade.
The summit of the peak is flat and elongated to the north a bit. The very top is colonized by a typical large AZ anthill...making Cochise Peak one of the largest anthills in the state I would wager. I forgot to sign the log hiding in the rock pile...and only thought of it a few hundred yards down hill. I picked-out a pronounced tongue that was a visible landmark below and referenced it with the Topo map in hand. I chose the reentrant flanking it to the south as my target tangent and gingerly headed down in earnest. I found the drainage with ease and buffeted around the steep waterfalls with little difficulty...falling on my rear only three or four times in all given the loose grade, etc. I was pleased that I did NOT reach out for any Agave, Cacti or Amolillo (shin dagger) in the process! I returned to the road very near to where I had anticipated from above, finding my way to Soren Camp and lunch. An excellent warm-up for China Peak in the afternoon... Avg. Grade 112.1% See GPS route for details. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Gilda Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Moisture present but non-reliable / difficult to gather at this time. | | _____________________
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