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| Castle Dome - Chiricahuas 5811, AZ | |
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| | Castle Dome - Chiricahuas 5811, AZ | | | |
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Castle Dome - Chiricahuas 5811, AZ
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| Hiking | 4.51 Miles |
1,139 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.51 Miles | 5 Hrs 37 Mns | | 1.10 mph |
| 1,139 ft AEG | 1 Hour 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | It was a rather crazy day for me... I camped overnight near College peaks woke up, had a quick breakfast and started my drive toward Castle Dome. See my other trip report for the driving directions. I posted 2 possible routes. The route from the South was possible for a skilled driver but had some cautionary areas.
While I was on E Haymore Ranch Rd, somewhere near Mud Springs, I saw a man on horseback riding down the road about 100 yards ahead of me. I kept it very slow as to not scare the horse. He eventually turned left and rode up a hill. I continued and just ahead was a primitive gate. As I approached the gate, the man on the horse rode down the hill and toward me, so I got out of my truck to talk to him. He asked where I was headed. I told him I was trying to get close to Castle Dome. He said I could continue but might want to walk 100 yards and check out the road first. I did that, saw an eroded area where the road was partially washed out and slightly slanted to the right, and determined that I could get through. The man on the horse said he owned many of the ranches in the area and was willing to help me with directions to get closer to Castle Dome. I believe his name was Gus but I'm not 100% sure. I continued my drive North through the primitive gate and continued my drive to N. Desert Retreat Rd.
After driving for probably 20 more minutes, I got my 4x4 Chevy Colorado stuck on an eroded portion of N. Paradise Ln which was roughly 2 miles SW from my actual starting point for this hike hours later. It's not so easy to get my truck stuck but I made a dumb mistake. I was driving North and there was an eroded ditch to my right. I had enough room to drive between a bush and the ditch. My mistake was assuming the ground was solid. It was NOT, therefore the ground under me collapsed, my front right wheel dropped down into the ditch and my frame hit the semi-sandy ground. I got out and assessed the situation and it looked like it would be nearly impossible for me to get the truck out without a tow or a winch. Since my 4x4 has true power on my rear left and front right wheels, I decided to jam some rocks under the left rear wheel. My front right wheel was sticking over the edge and had no ground under it so that wheel was of no help to me. Upon trying, the wheels just spun and I wasn't moving at all. After 10 minutes of trying, I gave up trying to get myself out of this bind.
I packed up a backpack with a gallon of water and some food and decided to walk South. The last person I saw was Gus on the horse and that was probably 2 - 2.5 miles back down the road and I wasn't sure if he would still be there. I walked back down the road about 0.8 miles and noticed a motorcycle to the West. I saw a guy out there, walked over and told him my situation. His name was Sean. He said he had a neighbor named Bruce who had a powerful truck and a tow chain. He drove me to Bruce's place, we all headed out to the area where I got stuck and Bruce tied the chain to the back of my truck. I got in my truck, put it in reverse, and was waiting for Sean to tell us to hit the gas. We both did at the same time, and within about 3 seconds, Bruce yanked me right out of that hole and dragged my truck about 20 feet. I was thrilled that it was THIS EASY! I'm really thankful these guys were there and able to help me out of this mess. These guys didn't want any money, but I handed them each $20 which was the LEAST I could do. Thinking back, this might be the first time I ever got into a situation like this with my 4x4 truck.
By the way, the location where I got stuck was here: 31.535895 -109.499728.
Sean knew about Castle Dome and said he was interested in hiking it. I told him he was more than welcome to join me on the hike. He knew a way to get closer by cutting through a wash. This wash was a little sandy but any 4x4 vehicle should be able to handle it. Probably a RWD vehicle would do just fine also since I didn't see any deep sand anywhere. Sean got a few things together, and I followed him on the drive down the wash and to a locked gate at the end of the driving route that I posted (see my other trip report).
Sean and I ducked under the fence and walked West down a road for 500 feet. There was an old windmill and corral nearby. We noticed a wash to our North and 2 cattle hanging out near the corral, we decided to enter the wash and walk West around the corral. After a few hundred feet, we decided to walk N/NW up the slope to a ridgeline. We saw a ball cactus and a few interesting rocks. The ball cactus had some fruit that looked like tiny red peppers. We tried it and it tasted great. It was my first time trying ball cactus fruit.
We continued up ahead and after hiking a total of 0.75 miles we were just North of a high point labeled 4905 on the topo map. The next 0.6 miles consisted of some cattle trails and and pretty rugged terrain where we needed to side hill and scramble across and up the rock. We noticed a barbed wire fence below us and thought about the hard work that it would have taken to install the fence where it was. Eventually we made it to the high saddle NW of the summit. At this point we hiked about 1.4 miles. There were some mustard greens here also know as field mustard. I was not too familiar with this plant but Sean said it was edible, so we tried some of the leaves and parts of the plant and it tasted great. It tasted like spicy mustard and would have been great for a salad.
We found a use trail which could have been made by cattle or hikers. We followed this up a bit and then saw a line of rocks continuing all the way to the base of Castle Dome. The slope was steep but the rocks were stable and we even saw a use trail through the rocks. After a while, we reached the base of Castle Dome and decided to take a water break and snack break. I knew the route was nothing more than a class 2 route and I felt that we needed to skirt the cliffs and continue heading East. After the break we continued East and within a few minutes we saw an opening above us that looked like a good way to the summit. There was a use trail that took us through this gap and up. There was a large rock face that we needed to hike around to the right to find a hidden use trail leading up. Before we knew it we were on the final section and there was nothing more difficult. It was a solid class 2 route the entire way.
At the summit, we found a rock pile and a registry with 15 post-it sized note pages going back as far as 2012. We both signed the registry, and took some photos. We noticed that there were at least 2 large trincheras (stone circles) up there which looked authentic. I had a lunch and Sean had some water and snacks. Sean finished all of his water at this point which I felt was a mistake! I gave him about 1 quart of what I had left which I knew he would need. We walked down the rocky area the same way we came up, for the most part, but we did do a class 3 down section which we didn't need to do going up. After getting back down to "mustard saddle", we tried a few more mustard plants and this time decided to descend Northeast and then curve around the East side of Castle Dome to get back.
The slope was more gradual and we did not need to do any side hilling. When we got down to about 5,000 feet elevation, we ran into a small wash. We found a few cattle trails heading down into the wash and sometimes along the sides of it. The wash was nice and shady. We stayed in the wash and kept heading down. In a few places we did see some catclaw bush but not a lot. Except for a few spots, it really was a great wash and route down. As we got lower the wash widened quite a bit, curved around and led us all the way back to our starting point. Up ahead we could see the windmill and corral. Looking to our left we could see our vehicles and the barbed wire fence that we crossed originally. We finished before 6 pm and still had about an hour of light. Overall it was a great hike, not so difficult. I followed Sean out down the wash and out the West route toward Leslie Canyon rd. I drove back toward Douglas, getting back on US-80 East. I planned on meeting Amy after our hikes to camp on the AZ state trust land on Mud Springs Rd. I told her the crazy story of my day, but it turned to be all worth-while. We would camp overnight and continue hiking the following day. This would be day 3 of hiking for me and maybe day 8 for Amy!
**The Route: Our route down around the East side of Castle Dome was a better route overall and could be used for both the ascent and descent. The wash was wide open and clear for maybe the last mile of the hike and for a large portion before that. When there was a lot of brush, we found cattle trails around it. If you take the route on the West side of Castle Dome, there will be a lot of side hilling along the way.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 4.51 miles
AEG: 1,139 feet
Strava moving time: 2 hrs 22 mins, but I believe it was closer to 4 hrs
Strava elapsed time: 5 hrs 37 mins
Driving Directions:
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Here are 2 driving routes that should work...
4x4 vehicle recommended, but with good tires a RWD vehicle may be fine if conditions are dry.
Download my track and load into Peakbagger app for best results.
Better driving option:
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US-191 to W Glenn Rd. just North of Douglas, AZ
continue East on W Glenn Rd
North on Leslie Canyon Rd
East on E. La Canada Dr.
South on N. Coyote Trail (road may not be signed) which turns into La Canada Dr again.
East on E. La Canada Dr.
(continue local directions)
Alternative option:
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Take US-80 North from Douglas, AZ area
Turn left on N Perilla St. and continue North
West on E Haymore Ranch Rd.
Turn left on Mud Springs Rd and continue West
*Note: There was an eroded spot on Mud Springs Rd, marked on the GPS route. Road must be dry and you must be a skilled driver to pass safely. About 100 yards past a primitive gate was a bad spot in the road where the road is sloped downward. If you decide to take this route, you might walk part of the road first to be sure you can make it... I made it in early March when dry.
(continue local directions)
Local directions:
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North on N. Desert Retreat Rd. (road may not be signed)
Turn into wash at position indicated on GPS route
Exit wash at position indicated on GPS route
continue to locked gate and park in this area |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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