Clark Peak Trail #301 Photoset • rwstorm • 2018-06-09 • HikeArizona.COM

Clark Peak Trail #301, AZ

	2018-06-09
	22 by rwstorm

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Clark Peak Trail #301

Tucson, AZ

Clark Peak Trail #301

Tucson, AZ

Hiking	3.70 Miles	1,165 AEG

Hiking	3.70 Miles
	1,165 ft AEG

Linked

linked

Carter - Nuttall Trail #315

Clark Peak

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One of the things I wanted to do on this short trip to the Pinaleno Mountains was to hike to Clark Peak and then continue beyond and try to follow the Carter Nuttall Trail to its junction with the Nuttall Trail. I then planned on heading back up to the Clark Peak Trail on Nuttall, before returning to the truck via Clark Peak Trail (kind of a little lasso hike). One of the reasons for wanting to do this was to figure out which way we came back up to Clark Peak Trail from down near Hells Hole 15 years ago. Well after hiking a portion of the Carter Nuttall, I can say we were not on that trail, but came back up via the more conventional Nuttall.

I really like Clark Peak Trail, at least the small portion of it I have hiked. This was only my second time going past Clark Peak. I went up to the summit via the eastern approach, which is basically a gnarly little bushwhack. Took a nice break there and read the registry entries, which was fun. Then I dropped back down to the main trail from the west side (I like this way to the peak better). Just as I reached the trail I heard voices, and it was two women that I recognized as neighboring campers at the lake. They said they wanted to go to Clark Peak, but couldn't figure out how to get there. I told them it was just up the hill, and went back up and showed them where the register was hidden.

Next, I was back on the trail heading westbound looking for the Carter Nuttall turnoff. The trail is very faint and the sign is set back from the junction a bit. The trail was fairly easy to follow as it slowly lost elevation on the east side of a ridge. The ridge eventually narrowed down and the trail topped out on it at that point, yielding nice views.

It is at this point that the trail sort of disappeared. If I had looked at my map before heading out, I would have known it stayed on the ridge longer before eventually dropping down the west side to meet the Nuttall Trail. While I was there trying to figure out where it was, I noticed someone had been there not long ago as there were some locust clippings off to the west side. It even looked like there was an old overgrown trail there, but it was probably just game paths, and quickly faded out. By this time I was down in the thicket, crawling in some places, and getting a little bloodied up, thanks to the locust plants.

Very steep there, so I had to carefully use the plants to help pull myself back up to the ridge and out of that mess!

At this point it was time to call it a day and head back. That probably was for the best, as had I been able to complete the hike as planned, I would have lost more elevation reaching the Nuttall Trail, and it would have added about 2 miles to what I ended up doing. That normally would not be a big deal, but between burning some time going up to the peak a second time and thrashing in the brush, it was getting pretty warm. Plus, it is mostly uphill back to the end of the road.

All in all, it was a fun little adventure before heading back to Tucson.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Clark Peak

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

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