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| Hiking | 3.44 Miles |
1,572 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.44 Miles | 7 Hrs 57 Mns | | 0.43 mph |
| 1,572 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Note: We did Peak 6199 along with Mustang Peak. Doing these 2 peaks together is quite difficult no matter how you do it because there's a low saddle in the middle with cliffs on both sides!!
This hike was extremely slow going because of the steepness, rockiness, climbing down long class 3 sections, route finding, etc.
From our parking area, we looked South at the ridgeline which didn't look too far away. We found a use trail heading off in that direction which we followed that was probably formed by cattle and/or deer. When we got higher up we saw other branches, but kept heading up and then left to cut down on the steepness. I got to the ridgeline and felt better because the angle was not as steep, but the ridgeline was a bit rocky in some areas. I found a use trail left of the ridgeline which was less rocky and more traveled. I continued along that line and not long after that I found myself at Peak 6199. Brian arrived a few minutes before I did. We looked around for a registry but did not find one. I had a jar, but only one day and decided it might be better to save it for Mustang Peak in case that peak didn't have a registry. Looking East we could see cliffs and we knew it wasn't going to be easy to get around them to get to Mustang Peak.
Since it wasn't quite lunchtime, we decided to take a look East down the cliffs. At first it looked like a dead end and that we would have to go around, but after walking in that direction and going down a bit, we felt like there was a safe way down to the saddle that was about 150 feet below. Then, once at the saddle, we would need to determine the safest way to continue from there, which was a mystery at this point. We really took our time going down this steep cliff. There were many class 3 sections but the rocks were pretty stable and we took routes with little exposure. Near the end we needed to curve to the left. Then, we were finally at the saddle about 1 hour after the top of Peak 6199. We looked up and couldn't believe that we made it safely down that steep cliff. It was already 1 pm at this time so we stopped to take a needed lunch break.
After lunch we looked at the terrain ahead of us and all we saw were cliffs blocking access to Mustang peak from here. It looked like we needed to drop down A LOT in order to cross over to the main ridgeline. After hiking Northeast and dropping nearly 200 feet in elevation, we looked up to the East and saw a tiny channel that appeared to be a bridge crossing up and over the cliff band. We were not sure if this would lead us the way we needed to go but we decided to give it a try. There were a few areas were we needed to squeeze between trees and the cliff face, but after traveling a few hundred feet, we were shocked to realize that it was a clear path all the way around to the main ridgeline. This route probably saved us 1.5 hours compared to going all the way down and around the rocky cliff bands. Once, around the cliff bands, we just worked our way up to the high ridgeline. The top of the ridgeline was very rocky, so I stayed below it. I kept heading toward the high point and found myself at the summit after about 1 hour from being at the saddle.
At the summit, we looked back at Peak 6199 and those cliffs around it looked very steep from this location. We found an old broken plastic bill bottle at the top but no paper and no sign of a registry. Whoever was here last either didn't secure the registry good enough or it got damaged in some bad weather. Luckily, I brought an extra jar which we used to build a new registry. We built a solid strong rock pile this time, signed the registry, and left it in a secure place.
On the way down, we decided to hike a similar route back to near the narrow bridge was. But, instead of taking the narrow bridge we just continued down the ridgeline. After another few hundred feet of going down, we noticed that it was getting very rocky up ahead and there were some dropoffs which caused us to have to turn right and look for a better route down. Luckily we found one but it wasn't so clean. After traveling East about 150 feet, we saw a path heading West and DOWN. We ended up ducking under some trees and going through a lot of brush to get past the next section. After this we found some animal trails and followed them to lower ground. We noticed a canyon to our left but decided to stay right of it. We kept moving forward since the slope appeared flatter up ahead. We kept following cattle trails which took us North and then West, back in the direction of where we parked. Near the end we got to a gate which we needed to pass through and a few brushy canyons to cross. All in all this was a very difficult hike for being roughly 3.5 miles. It was hard to believe that all day we didnt even travel 3.5 miles. It felt like about 8!
If you want to make this hike easier, you could start from the East side of the ranch like others have done. But, we were interested in doing both peaks.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 3.44 miles
AEG: 1,572 feet
Strava moving time: 2 hrs 7 mins (in actuality, we we probably on our feet for 6+ hours of the 8 hours elapsed time)
Strava elapsed time: 7 hrs 57 mins
Driving Directions
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From Tucson/Phoenix, take I-10 east to AZ-83 South which is just a few miles outside of Tucson.
Take AZ-83 South for about 25 miles to Sonoita, AZ.
Take AZ-82 East for 8.4 miles to Upper Elgin Road.
Turn right on Upper Elgin Road.
Continue South for about 2.5 miles on the paved road.
Look for a gate on the left side of the road.
Turn left and continue through the gate.
From here, the road turns to dirt.
High clearance should be OK.
I turned on my 4x4 just in case.
Drive East for about 1.1 miles until you see a fence up ahead.
You should be able to drive to the right to exit this fenced area and then make a sharp left to continue through another gate.
Continue until you have driven a total of 1.8 miles.
You will see an old metal cylindrical tank here.
The road continues, crossing a wash and then going up a hill to a camp area.
I parked at the very end near the camp area. |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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