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| Peak 2811 Maricopa Mtns, AZ | |
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| | Peak 2811 Maricopa Mtns, AZ | | | |
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Peak 2811 Maricopa Mtns, AZ
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| Hiking | 4.60 Miles |
1,121 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.60 Miles | 5 Hrs 21 Mns | | 1.15 mph |
| 1,121 ft AEG | 1 Hour 21 Mns Break | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | Brian and I arrived around 11 am at Margie's Cove East trailhead. We started walking West on the road. Vehicles are not allowed to be driven here. After walking about 0.7 miles we reached a loosely fenced in area. This area is known as a guzzler or game water area. Rain water is captured and funneled into a trough. All animals have access to this water. Small animals can easily go under the fence. Deer can easily jump the fence. I'm not even sure why it's fenced. Maybe to just alert people that there is something here for the animals and people should carry their own water?
We walking into the guzzler area and got a few photos, then continued and stepped through the fence on the other side. Once past the guzzler area, the road seemed to end. We continued heading in the direction of the peak, doing an open Country hike. Along the way, we needed to cross a few washes. After hiking a total of 1 mile we noticed a rocky area in front of us. This area looked as though there could be petroglyphs on the rocks but we didn't find any.
We continued around the rocks are starting heading to the summit, using Wade Luther's track as a guideline. Thanks to Wade for posting the route. We ended up paralleling a wash for a while. When we got higher up, we noticed a saddle to our left and decided it might be a good idea to go there. After 1.87 miles we reached a high saddle and could see the summit. We continued straight-up toward the summit from here. Within a few minutes it got quite steep. There were a lot of places where we needed to use our hands and there were a lot of class 3 moves along the way. There were several areas with loose dirt and crumbling rock. This area was especially difficult to get up and even more difficult getting down. But, we did a lot of zig-zagging and tried to avoid these loose and crumbly areas. This last section of the hike was the most difficult and most time consuming by far.
Eventually we reached the summit. There was a nice shaded area behind a boulder near the peak. This is where we decided to have our lunch. We found a jar with about 12 registry pages with the first entries being from 2009. After finishing lunch we decided to head down taking a similar route as we took up. It was fairly slow going mainly because of the loose and crumbly areas. There were a few areas that we needed to spider crawl.
As we got closer down to the bottom, we could make better time. Down below we found some mature saguaro cacti and some huge birds nests above some of the cactus arms. We were not sure what kind of birds made these nests but we guessed maybe hawks. Unfortunately, we did not see any hawks, but we did see some turkey vultures hovering around near the summit.
Eventually, we saw the guzzler. This time we walked around the fence, picked up the road and walked back to the parking lot area. We didn't see any vehicles or people the entire day.
GPS track shows drive and hike as 2 separate tracks.
Note: The topo map shows Peak 2813, but the Lidar elevation was shown to be 2811.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 4.6 miles
AEG: 1,121 feet
Strava moving time: 2 hrs 0 mins, but our real moving time was probably closer to 4 hours.
Strava elapsed time: 5 hrs 21 mins
Driving Directions:
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High clearance vehicle required.
From Maricopa, Arizona...
Take W Garvey Ave and N Loma Rd to AZ-238 W , 5 min (1.7 mi)
Continue on AZ-238 W to Maricopa County , 21 min (22.1 mi)
Turn right into the Estrella Road Parking area. As of Feb 2026, the gate is open.
Continue North.
After 4.4 miles you will cross the Butterfield trail junction, continue North.
After a total of 6.8 miles, turn left and continue 1.7 miles to Margie's Cove East Trailhead.
There is a restroom here, along with picnic tables.
You will be on a dirt road for the entire 8.5 mile drive.
There are a lot of ruts crossing the road horizontally, especially in the first few miles, which is why you will need a high clearance vehicle.
The drive from AZ-238 to the Margie's Cove East trailhead will take most driver's at least 30 minutes. |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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