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| Mayswell Peak - 5180' - Kingman, AZ | | -
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| | Mayswell Peak - 5180' - Kingman, AZ | | | |
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Mayswell Peak - 5180' - Kingman, AZ
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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
2,200 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | 3 Hrs 45 Mns | | 2.13 mph |
| 2,200 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I went back to Camelbak Rd., which serves as the alignment for buried AT&T fiber optic cable. It is about 2.5 miles on the road, walking along the south side of Bull Mountain, to a saddle that rests at about 4,560'. The "road" narrows at this point and steeply drops almost 200', then turns west, climbing even more steeply back up to the 4600' level. With the exception of the short scramble to the peak, this section was the steepest part of the trail. It is basically no longer a road at this point, with lots of vegetation. I stuck to the left rut (which seemed like a trail) and even used my hands a couple times, which tells of how steep it was. I ended up a little to the left at the crest of the hill, quickly found the "road" to the right, which then descends about 100' to the intersection of a drainage/dry river bed. I started heading up the river bed and decided to just keep going on it rather than to backtrack and try to find where the "road" resumed on the other side.
The drainage was super cool! I was surprised to come across a couple short slick rock sections and there even was a tiny bit of standing water at one point. I weaved in and out of the drainage a bit to see what I could see ahead. After about a half mile in the drainage, I saw sunlight ahead, exited the drainage to the right and worked uphill to gain a view. Perfect! I spotted the utility pole on the other side of the drainage, which means I was back on track. Every so often there was one of these pole markers. More uphill from this point to the saddle, which rests at about 5,040'. Awesome views here to the west towards Golden Valley. From the saddle, it is only about a quarter mile to the peak, which lies to the east. I ate it once on the short scramble up, dislodging a sizable boulder, but no harm, no foul. Really neat peak and not too much room up there. Perhaps only 10' x 15-20' or so. Pretty much 360 degrees, with the exception of the >5300' hill/unnamed peak about one mile to the north/northwest. I didn't stay too long (less than 10 minutes) as I had started at about 2PM and wanted to return before dark.
Really nice hike. It could become a semi regular hike when the Hualapais are too cold and I don't feel like driving far. The only negative is that actual trails are much smoother, so you kind of have to be in the mood for a bit of an off trail hiking experience. Though, I was lucky today as the ground was very moist from the recent precipitation, so that made the steep downhill portions much easier. When dry, it would be quite slick. I used a hiking pole today, which I basically never do, and wouldn't hike this without one. |
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