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| Bluebird Peak - Little Dragoons, AZ | |
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| | Bluebird Peak - Little Dragoons, AZ | | | |
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Bluebird Peak - Little Dragoons, AZ
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| Hiking | 4.02 Miles |
1,413 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.02 Miles | 3 Hrs | | 1.34 mph |
| 1,413 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Brian and I had some extra energy and decided to summit this one after hiking Glenn peak in the Dragoons since it was along the drive back. The round trip distance appeared to be 2.2 miles based on a quick GPS plot I drew but our actual round trip distance ended up being around 4 miles. We arrived at the rest stop around 5:30 pm and knew we were pushing it close to sunset. We thought we had a decent chance to finish this hike before it got dark but we were wrong.
There were so many boulders and rock formations between Peak 5560 and Bluebird peak that we needed to go around, or through. Without knowing the actual terrain, sometimes these topo maps are just not very useful when planning routes.
We decided to hike to Peak 5560 first, even though we did it a few years ago, mainly because we wanted to publish a route for it. See my other trip report for more info on Peak 5560.
From Peak 5560, we looked North and saw what we believed to be our peak, which was lower in elevation from where we currently were, but we noticed at least 2 rocky boulder areas between the 2 peaks which appeared to be major obstacles. We hiked North across a flat rocky field and took a closer look at the obstacles in front of us and wondered if it was possible for us to reach the Bluebird summit before darkness. We decided to keep going. The next 0.85 miles involved some bushwhacking through brush, going up and down some steep grades, going around and over boulders. There were some great rocky views along this hike. If you do decide to go this way, don't do it at night time and hike with someone else for safety. Based on our route, there were a few class 3 moves needed with some exposure. If you are not comfortable climbing over huge boulders where there are a few 10-15 foot drops between them, this route is not for you. But, if you enjoy climbing through boulders, you may enjoy this route. Just take your time. A safer route would be to curve way down to the right (East) and get on the East ridge leading toward Bluebird peak.
After quite some time, we found ourselves in front of Bluebird peak and all we needed to do was climb up it. The grade was steep but nothing above class 2 on this final ascent. When we got to the top, the sun just set but there was enough light to see clearly. We found an old filled-in mining hole on the West side of the peak. We search all high points for a registry and didn't find one. Luckily, I had a glass jar with me which I used to start a new registry. We took some of the loose rocks and made a small enclosure and put the registry inside. We knew the route we took to get here would not be a good route to take at night, so we had to quickly figure out the best way to get back.
We noticed a gradual ridgeline heading East which we decided would be a much better and safer way down. We turned on our headlamps and headed out. Within a few minutes we saw a pair of eyes looking at us about 20 feet away. I got a good look at it and believe it was a ringtail cat. These animals sometimes will not run away from people. They are curious and sometimes friendly if they are used to seeing people. Several years ago, I remember seeing a ringtail cat in Peppersauce cave and it would follow us around and every time we turned around there was a pair of eyes looking down at us from high up in the cave. Getting back to our Bluebird down climb, we didn't see the ringtail cat again after that. We continued down the ridgeline and slightly after that we were startled by a turkey vulture that appeared to be sleeping on the ridgeline. Brian said he saw a black ball and it didn't move until he was only 4 feet away. I was 10 feet behind Brian, but he was startled by the bird flying off at the last second, and I was startled by Brian's reaction, which made me believe he saw a rattlesnake! Glad it wasn't. We didn't see any snakes all day, even though we are apparently in "snake season".
We continued down the ridgeline until we got lower, then turned to head down the ridgeline to lower ground, heading East rather than Northeast. We decided to hike to a relatively low point on the same ridge where Peak 5560 was. We figured if we got to a low point on the ridge, we would have an easier time down climbing the other side and hoped the grade wouldn't be too steep. When we finally got up to the low point on the ridgeline we looked down and toward the highway (I-10) and we were still fairly high up. We saw cliffs and no easy way to get down. From here, we had 2 options. Climb down the ridgeline to lower ground, or climb up the ridgeline to our route that we took up a few hours earlier. We decided it would be a better idea to climb up the ridgeline and take our original route because at least we knew what to expect. Hiking at night definitely slowed us down a bit, but we just took it step by step and finally made it down to our vehicle by about 9:40 pm.
We were pretty hungry after all this intense hiking so we stopped at the BK in Benson for a Whopper combo meal.
Directions: I-10 to Texas canyon rest stop (Northside of highway) which is between exits 318 and 322. You will want to be on the Westbound I-10 when you get to the rest stop, because you will be hiking North.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip) = 4.02 miles
AEG = 1,413 feet
Strava moving time = 2 hrs 32 mins
Strava elapsed time = 4 hrs 5 mins |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
coral bells, pink penstemon, pineneedle milkweed, red penstemon |
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| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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