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| Hiking | 5.66 Miles |
2,399 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.66 Miles | 5 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.03 mph |
| 2,399 ft AEG | | | | |
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I posted a driving route from I-10 in case anyone would find that useful. See my "no summit goal" entry on 2025-02-05.
"HELLO NEWMAN... HELLO JERRY..." Made famous by Seinfeld ;-).
From our parking spot, we walked South along the CAP water system to a small bridge which we were able to walk across. Looking down into the CAP system, we saw some pretty large fish. I didn't realize fish were put here but apparently they eat a lot of the algae. It must be one of the cleanest "rivers" in the World ;-).
After crossing the CAP, we looked North and found 2 cairns that marked the start of an old mining road. We started following this road up and it continued for about 0.75 miles. A few times we had to stop and look for cairns. The road was overgrown and not used very often anymore and sometimes hard to follow. After 0.75 miles, the road turned more into a cairned trail. We continued until we had hiked a total of 1.3 miles, and then realized this trail was taking us up to the high saddle on the left, closer to Newman peak. We wanted to go to the lower saddle on the right side which was closer to South Newman, so we had to scramble and bushwhack Southeast for roughly 0.3 miles. We believe we saw a few cairns along the way. This was one of the harder areas of the hike because there was no distinct cairns and there were many ways to go.
After hiking a total of 1.6 miles, we found ourselves in the middle of the canyon leading up to the low saddle next to South Newman peak. We still had a lot of elevation to do at this point but at least there was a decent trail and some cairns along the way. There were far more cairns at the lower elevation than compared to the higher elevation. We saw some catclaw bush and other thorns bushes along the way. Some of these areas we needed to squeeze between 2 catclaw bushes or thorn bushes. If we had more time, I would have loved to cut some of this down! We kept moving up and as we got close to the saddle, the trail seemed to disappear. We got to the saddle and were relieved to be done with that part. We saw down and took a well-needed break. There was a slight breeze which made it comfortable.
After our break, we saw a trail which went around a corner and UP. Then, saw a few cairns up higher. There were a few ways to go. After a few minutes we could see the summit and we still have another 400-500 vertical feet to go. A little higher up we saw some really old pines trees that just clinging onto life. The trunks were very thick and they had the appearance of those 5,000 year old bristlecone pines that we saw in Central California a few years ago. We kept looking for cairns and finding trail sections leading us higher. Eventually we made it to the rocky peak. We did not find a registry at the top but we had some great views of Newman peak, the CAP water system before and of Picacho peak, across the highway. Picacho peak looked so tiny down below.
We took a break, I had the 2nd half of my lunch, and then we took some photos and headed out. It was 3 pm at this time and our goal was to get to the parking area before it got dark. We made pretty good time on the way down. The main difference in our routes was that on the way down we stayed in the South Newman canyon longer and got to the main Newman peak cairned trail about 1/4 mile lower that where we got off the trail going up. On the way down, we lost the trail a few times but ran into an old mining area. We found hundreds of old metal rusted cans that were dumped here during the mining days most likely. We also found an old concrete slab, and old refrigerator, and the springs of an old mattress. We continued down the cairned old road, getting off it a few times but eventually made it back to the parking area.
This was a challenging hike with a lot of steepness and involved a lot of rock scrambling. It's definitely not for beginners and definitely not for anyone who prefers a clean trail.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 5.66 miles
AEG: 2,399 feet
Strava moving time: 3 hrs 36 mins
Strava elapsed time: 7 hrs 4 mins
Driving directions:
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Note: a high clearance vehicle is required to get to this starting point. We took Brian's high clearance RWD 10 cylinder Ford F-350 van. With Brian's amazing driving skills we did make it but there were a few spots where I wasn't sure if we would make it. If you decide to take a non-4x4, you'll want to make sure you have good tires and some power. When you get to the powerlines, the last 1.5 miles is pretty rough and has some ups and downs.
Take I-10 to AZ-87 North which is just North of Picacho, AZ.
continue North on AZ-87 for 0.5 miles.
Turn right on Milligan road.
Continue for 3 miles.
You will see a stream crossing.
Check the depth of the water and cross here.
When we crossed in early Feb, there may have been 8-10 inches of water.
Continue for another 1.25 miles.
You will see a low bridge crossing over the AZ CAP water system (Note: see www.cap-az.com).
Continue for about 100 feet past the water and turn left onto a dirt road.
After 1/3 mile the road will curve to the right.
When you see a junction, stay right.
Shortly after this you will see an old abandoned swimming pool on your left.
Continue for less then 1/4 mile and turn right at the next junction.
Continue South for less than 1/4 mile until you reach a "T" junction. This is Milligan road.
Turn left and continue for 1/2 mile.
Turn right at the powerlines.
The road gets a bit rocky here and you will definitely need high clearance for this section.
Continue South for 1.5 miles.
Turn left and continue for 0.1 miles.
Look for a pull off on the South side of the road.
We parked at this location: 32.712704, -111.424839 |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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