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| Boulder Peak Galiuros, AZ | |
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| | Boulder Peak Galiuros, AZ | | | |
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Boulder Peak Galiuros, AZ
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| Hiking | 5.19 Miles |
1,137 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.19 Miles | 4 Hrs 51 Mns | | 1.55 mph |
| 1,137 ft AEG | 1 Hour 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Thanks to Andy Martin for providing detailed info about the 4x4 road.
Note: It's about 1.75 miles each way to Boulder mountain from where we parked. My stats below involve summiting Boulder mtn AND going to the memorial for John Hamilton, the victim of a tragic 4x4 accident on Rug Road.
We camped the previous night at the Sombrero Butte ruins on BLM land. There were some fire rings in this area and evidence that people camped here before. The estimated overnight forecast said it would get down to around 49 degrees at this elevation but it was a bit colder. My thermostat registered a night low of 39 degrees!
We drove from the Sombrero Butte ruins back to the stream crossing but this time headed on the left branch crossing the stream North. There was some water in the stream but it wasn't a problem at all to cross. The roads in this area are maintained fairly well because of the extensive mining in the area. But, once you get on Rug Road, you have about 0.8 miles of fairly good road and then it becomes considerably steep and rugged after that.
You can read about the history of this road...
[a href="https://www.blm.gov/visit/rug-road"]www.blm.gov[/a]
Here's more information about Rug Road...
[a href=" [ Rug Road - Mammoth to Klondyke to Hwy 70 ] "]hikearizona.com[/a]
We parked in a parking area which is probably used by most people who drive out here. Continuing to drive past this point requires an extremely capable vehicle and capable driver too!
We started walking down the 4x4 road and the road was very rugged in some areas. We were both glad we did not attempt this part. I don't believe there's anywhere to turn around either! Within the first mile, we saw many old tires, insulated wire, and other trash. We were not sure if this was dumped here or if these were destroyed/flat tires from 4x4 vehicles over the years. It's also possible that the old tires could have been used in some areas to reinforce the road by preventing erosion.
After 2/3 mile we approached "the Gatekeeper". This requires a serious 4 wheeler to get past which is probably why it's called the gatekeeper. Just past the gatekeeper there's a split in the road. We went to the right which was shown on the topo map as a single dashed line, while the left portion of the road was showing with a double dashed line. At about 0.93 miles, both roads merge together and continue up. On the way down we took the other road and found both roads to be extremely rugged and not much different when comparing the two. At about 1.17 miles the road flattened out and we were East of Boulder mountain. We decided to do the open Country hike up the ridgeline to the top of Boulder mountain. There were several use trails, probably either animal trails or old hiker trails leading us to the summit.
At the summit we had some great views of Little Table Mountain to the North. We'll have to go back and summit that one someday. We found 21 pages of registry that went back as far as 1989. The last visit appears to have been almost 3 years before us.
We took a similar route back to the saddle but we decided to cut left and hit the road wherever it looked possible. We decided that we would walk down the road and look for a memorial cross which I believe was about 1/3 mile down the road from the Boulder mtn saddle. After walking a bit lower we didn't see it, but after looking down the mountain 'Eagle eyes' Brian C. was able to spot a cross along the road with 1 vertical piece and 2 horizontal pieces. That was a very good find. We continued along the road and came up to 'Carpet Hill'. This was by far the WORST part of the road I have seen and maybe the worst 4x4 section of road I've ever seen! We saw many pieces of carpet along the road, and all different colors. Is it possible that some of this carpet This road was so steep that we needed to walk in a zig zag pattern to get down it safely. We walked down to the cross on the side of the road below and got a few photos. We thought the vehicle might still be there since doing a vehicle recovery in this area would be extremely difficult and costly. I found a use trail right near the cross, walked for about 2 minutes, looked down the canyon and spotted the vehicle. Wow! It was pretty far down. Brian and I hiked the steep canyon down to the vehicle and discovered that it was an old jeep. Brian was able to identify the jeep as a CJ model. One of the wheels was broken completely off, the cab had support bars that were bent badly. We got a few photos of the vehicle. All we can say at this point is Rest in Peace John Hamilton...
This link has some more details about John Hamilton and the tragic accident that occurred on March 29, 2013.
[a href="https://www.jkowners.com/threads/operat ... ry.127129/"]www.jkowners.com[/a]
As of our visit, the memorial cross is still there and in good condition. We noticed that the road was only 80 feet away from the place where the jeep rested. Instead of hiking up the canyon, we found it easier to hike down/across to the road. From here we walked back up to Boulder saddle and South to our parking spot. We'll be back someday to hike Little Table mountain, which will be a more difficult hike from this starting point.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 5.19 miles (includes extra walk to memorial for John Hamilton)
AEG: 1,137 feet
Strava moving time: 2 hrs 44 mins
Strava elapsed time: 4 hrs 51 mins
Driving directions:
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Note: Thanks to Andy Martin for providing detailed info about the 4x4 road.
High clearance required. 4x4 highly recommended. The entire drive from the Mammoth area is 13.65 miles of gravel and dirt roads. Over that drive, our accumulated gain was about 2,750 feet.
Our vehicles were a 2005 Chevy Colorado 1st gen 4x4, and a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee with good tires but a non-functional 4x4. With some good driving skills you should be able to get to where we parked with a high clearance vehicle in relatively dry conditions. Be very careful going beyond where we parked because the road gets extremely steep and rugged. Going to our parking area, we drove 0.8 miles of the semi-famous Rug Road.
See my trip report for Sombrero Butte. The drive is identical for the first 10.3 miles. After that you will turn left at a junction and cross a small stream. See my GPS route for more details on the drive and hike. There is one track for the drive and one track for the hike. We camped the previous night near the Sombrero Butte ruins and did this drive in the morning. From the stream crossing, it takes about 20 minutes to get to the parking area. We were doing some analysis along the drive which took some time also.
Driving notes:
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Thanks to Andy Martin for sending this video which gives a great preview of Rug Road.
[a href=" [ youtube video ] "]www.youtube.com[/a]
Video Notes:
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5:40 - where the driver turned from Copper Creek road to Rug Road
9:14 - appears to be where we merged in from the right onto Rug Rd.
10:48 - I believe is where we turned left and parked for Boulder peak, we walked the section after that.
12:26 - old destroyed tire on the left side
12:30 - the steep rocky section commonly called "The Gatekeeper".
13:38 - you can see the right turn for the jeep road where the road splits. driver in video stayed left. we walked to the right.
15:21 - I believe this is where we turned left to hike up boulder mtn
17:10 - nice view of Little Table mtn before the really bad section of road
17:17 - going down "carpet hill", the WORST part of the road as far as I could tell
19:26 - driver drives by memorial cross for John Hamilton
20:20 - furthest point on the road we walked down to
29:56 - driver reaches saddle West of Little Table Mtn
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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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