Rose Peak Trail • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

login for filter options

Aug 10 2024

ShatteredArm

Guides 12
Routes 192
Photos 863
Triplogs 356

42 male

Joined Nov 30 2015
Phoenix, AZ

Rose Peak exploration, AZ

Hiking		Aug 10 2024
		ShatteredArm • Triplogs 356

Hiking	7.50 Miles	1,293 AEG

Hiking	7.50 Miles	2 Hrs 56 Mns	2.63 mph
	1,293 ft AEG	5 Mns Break

no photosets

Linked

linked

Rose Peak Trail

Red Mountain Trail #25

Partners

none

no partners

With no rain in the forecast, I decided to check out something a little more on the exposed side, so I decided to head down to Rose Peak, which I had been meaning to check out for awhile. I started out on Red Mountain Trail, which for the first 3/4 mile or so, follows an old road. This made it easy to follow, and relatively clear until the Bear Pen junction (although there is deadfall here and there).

I was hoping to go all the way to the end of the trail, and the first quarter mile or so down from the Bear Pen junction offered some false hope. But once it left the lightly burned area for the moonscape burn, the trail quickly disappeared into overgrown, although hints of it could still be seen here and there. I started down from the first knob along the ridge, but by this point I was just following the fence trying to find relatively clear paths, and it was just not fun. I could kind of see the trail cut along the top of the next knob, but even getting there would've been rough. So I decided to head back up. From a later vantage point, I could see that almost the entire trail goes through heavy burn, so at this point I think it's safe to say that past a mile or so in, Red Mountain Trail is a thing of the past. Shame, because before the fires, it probably would've been a pretty cool route.

Back up at the road, I decided to head down Bear Pen trail. For a half mile or so, there were some stretches of burn and a few intact stands of trees, and a couple of locust thickets. Got to the end of a ridge where the trail turns sharply to the west, and there was heavy moonscape burn as far as I could see (which is about a half mile of trail probably). At this point I decided it's not worth it, and headed back.

Finally, I decided to summit Rose Peak. I was looking for the actual trail, but there was no sign of it, so I headed up the road. The ridge where the trail was is just covered in locust and charred trees. Got to the lookout at the top, and there was no sign of the upper end of the trail, either. Hung out at the top for a few minutes, climbed the lookout tower, used the bathroom, then jogged back down.

_____________________

1 archive

Jul 10 2023

chumley

Guides 94
Routes 840
Photos 22,055
Triplogs 1,993

52 male

Joined Sep 18 2002
Tempe, AZ

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Hiking		Jul 10 2023
		chumley • Triplogs 1,993

Hiking	1.40 Miles	524 AEG

Hiking	1.40 Miles	53 Mns	1.75 mph
	524 ft AEG	5 Mns Break

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

I've driven by this one twice and always wanted to hike it. So after some Red Hill action, I drove the 45 minutes off the rim through a very welcome, but also a little harrowing rain, wind, lightning and hail with temps fluctuating between the mid 50s and the mid 90s before arriving at the goal.

In June 2021 at the same time that the Telegraph Fire was torching the Pinals, and the Backbone Fire was destroying Fossil Creek, the Bear Fire was ripping through 20,000+ acres and threatening Rose Peak. The summit and tower were saved, but the north and west aspects of the peak were obliterated, along with much adjacent terrain across the 191.

I couldn't find the route to start and took something that resembled the 456 route directly up the spine (though her route was in pre-fire wooded terrain while mine was in a completely barren burn zone). I spotted a rock-lined switchback identifying the old trail cut about 3/4 of the way up and managed to follow the overgrown tread from there to the summit. On the way down I was able to completely follow the route to the bottom, though it is completely obliterated, features plenty of burned deadfall and subsequent hillside erosion. The handful of points in FOTG's hand drawn "official route" remains mostly accurate, though there's not much left of this one.

The lazy approach follows the motor vehicle road to the tower. While affected by fire on the lower slopes, the road cut still appears easy to follow and not eroded by post-fire flooding and would be a better option for folks who prefer road walks over adventures

.

The views from this one are better than expected, and the monsoon weather made for dramatic scenes on this day. The following day while visiting the Reno tower to chat with longtime lookout Don van Camp (azbackpackr's former Eagar neighbor)-- for the first time since I met him in 2014 on a trip with FOTG -- he made it clear that no tower had a better view than Escudilla did before it was destroyed in the Wallow Fire, but the second best in the region is Rose Peak. A group of Clifton district firefighters I met along the 191 told me that the longtime lookout at Rose Peak had retired and the district had not found a replacement, leaving the tower unmanned this year.

I'd like to see the FS rehab this trail. It's not long and it's actually a nice stop for those making the long drive on the Coronado Trail. The former "picnic area" at the trailhead is a hot, sunny, dusty, burn zone, so it might not be a spot where anybody really chooses to stop anymore.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Rose Peak Rose Peak Fire Lookout

_____________________

I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

May 10 2017

AZHiker456

Guides 28
Routes 199
Photos 7,422
Triplogs 188

female

Joined Nov 07 2015

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Hiking		May 10 2017
		AZHiker456 • Triplogs 188

Hiking	2.42 Miles	558 AEG

Hiking	2.42 Miles	1 Hour 55 Mns	2.05 mph
	558 ft AEG	44 Mns Break

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

Day 6 (Hike 2) – Gila Trip Gone Wrong
Before heading back to Elgin, I squeezed in one final hike to Rose Peak & the Rose Peak Lookout. Although I reached the summit in just over 1/2 mile, the 500’+ gain made it a great little workout. And to top it off, the views were absolutely beautiful. There were some clouds rolling by as I was making my ascent, but shortly after reaching the summit they had cleared, allowing me to experience the sensational views. Unlike the previous two lookouts [atop Blue Peak & Escudilla Peak], the Rose Peak lookout is very nice and not run down / desolate. There is a nice survey maker on the South end of the peak, [which, according to the topos, is 10’ lower than the North end with the lookout]. I also saw a glass jar nestled among the rocks that might have been a register at one time, but it had no lid and there was no paper/logbook to be found. For my return, I took the dirt road since it would give me some extra mileage. The views were actually much better than those along the ascent, which were largely blocked by the tree cover.

Although my big plans for hiking in the Gilas got totally crashed, I still had an amazing trip and managed to cross off some big bucket-listers that were not on the original itinerary; the final one being the scenic drive from Alpine to Three Way along Hwy 191. The mountainous areas were very beautiful as expected; but a really neat surprise that I wasn’t anticipating was the mining area in Morenci. Hwy 191 literally goes right through this area, which makes the large mine in Green Valley seem peanut-sized by comparison. Clifton was also a neat little town to drive through.

_____________________

God save the Prom Queen, cuz [reality check!] AEG's King...!

Jun 16 2016

FOTG

Guides 37
Routes 556
Photos 10,872
Triplogs 1,052

43 male

Joined Jan 21 2013
AZ

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Hiking		Jun 16 2016
		FOTG • Triplogs 1,052

Hiking	1.57 Miles	567 AEG

Hiking	1.57 Miles
	567 ft AEG

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

I made yet another pilgrimage to the Blue Range over this last week and weekend. I car camped Wednesday night at the Strayhorse Canyon Trail #20 trailhead, not to be confused with the Strayhorse Campground, which is about 17 miles further north up 191, someone may not have realized this until the day of. Anyways, Rose Peak shares a trailhead with Strayhorse Canyon, so naturally I slated the peak in for either a quick pre-backpack hike, or a post-backpack hike.

I decided I would hit the peak before I stepped off for a rather ambitious overnight trip down to Lardon Springs. However, I quickly turned the 30 minute detour into a time wasting endeavor, as I started down the road to the peak, before realizing there was an actual trail. After realizing where the trail was, I just shot an azimuth to it and made the steep climb. This is the reason for the inflated stats and high AEG. I edited the route that should be official and attached it to this triplog. The road is an option to the peak, however, its about a half mile longer than the trail. The peak was nice and for the most part the positive reviews I read about the nice views proved to be true. However, they may have been better if I had not arrived before the fire watch was out of bed and had a chance to climb the tower.

A worthy little hike if ever sight seeing along the 191 and looking to stretch the legs.

_____________________

2 archives

Aug 29 2015

sbkelley

Guides 6
Routes 13
Photos 1,377
Triplogs 184

41 male

Joined Mar 29 2007
Reno, NV

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Hiking		Aug 29 2015
		sbkelley • Triplogs 184

Hiking	2.20 Miles	590 AEG

Hiking	2.20 Miles	45 Mns	2.93 mph
	590 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

Hike #2 of the day was definitely the easiest. We parked at a nice little picnic area just off of the Coronado Trail. Tanya decided to nap while I tangled with Rose Peak, so I rolled solo for this one.

Short, very easy. Just followed the rarely used old fire road to the top. It started in the nice, shady forest, but wrapped around to the east and then south side of the peak, blasting sunlight on me for the remainder of the hike. Topped out at 8,700'+, so the sun didn't feel as terrible as expected. It looks as if it's been awhile since anyone drove this road. Tall grasses and weeds told a story of an active monsoon season here.

Got to the top and it was empty, quiet, and looked like it had been that way for awhile. Cobwebs covered many of the door handles on the cabin and bathrooms up top. Quite the panoramic view from the top of the first set of stairs on the lookout tower (didn't go up or try to go any higher). Looked back up towards the rim and towards Blue Peak, objective #3 for the day. Saw a massive black thunderhead bearing down on me that I couldn't see while I was on the south side of the peak, so that put a charge in my step heading back. Tanya's nap was unsuccessful, but Rincon found a deer carcass near the picnic tables. There may have been a relationship between those two events.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Rose Peak Rose Peak Fire Lookout

_____________________

Jun 03 2012

cindyl

Routes 17
Photos 2,773
Triplogs 249

53 female

Joined May 15 2009
Phoenix and Tucs

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Hiking		Jun 03 2012
		cindyl • Triplogs 249

Hiking	1.00 Miles	360 AEG

Hiking	1.00 Miles
	360 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

i was much later than i had hoped for this stop (i got waylayed in greer to see a friend, then found i had a flat tire, and i also discovered that i had left my pack and my poles at the trailhead at escudilla, requiring another little jaunt out that dippy road). regardless, when i finally arrived at the rose peak trailhead, i took a couple of beers up to the lookout, zeyn, in hopes of catching the sunset from the lookout tower. i had wondered how the area was after the fire, and the area around rose peak is still quite lush.

zeyn told me how he had been the first to report the whitewater fire in the gila. apparently when he reported it, it took a while for the guys out in the gila to register that this was a new fire, and not part of the baldy fire. of course now they've merged and become the giant that it is today (6/6/2012) at 259,025 acres. in the right wind conditions, the gila is fairly clear from rose peak, but today, it was so hazy that i could barely make out the smoke plumes.

as for the lookout tower itself, they have remodeled since i was here last. it's an aermotor mc-24, 12x12 cab, so it's really quite spacious. two years ago when i visited, it seemed to have a lot of wasted space because the living quarters were still in a cabin down below. now it is now a live-in tower.

(end trip report, begin driving home saga)

i made it down to the jeep while it was still just a little bit of light, and drove on my way down the scenic (well, at least during the day) coronado trail towards clifton, morenci, and safford. after i had passed three-way, i was going up a bit of a grade and the jeep started rattling something fierce so i thought i had a flat tire. i pulled over and checked, and all the tires were intact. i merged back into traffic and i heard a loud "boom!" again, i pulled over, and checked under the vehicle, where i saw the yoke hanging down.

apparently the u-joint had given up just about 30 miles outside of safford. :stretch:

lucky for me! i was able to call aaa and get a tow and a cheap hotel room in safford. the next morning i found out that nothing else major was damaged, and the cost for the u-joint and labor was fairly small. i lost a day of work, but things could've been much worse, especially if the part would've decided to go about 50 miles sooner where there was no shoulder to pull over, and no cell phone reception.

all's well that ends well, but note to self (and others): only drive scenic highways when you can enjoy the scenery and there might be other people on the road. :M2C:

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Claret Cup Cactus

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] HAZ Gear Osborne Fire Finder

Meteorology

Meteorology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Sunset

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

_____________________

There are just two switchbacks left. And another half-mile to the destination...

Jun 28 2010

rwstorm

Guides 1
Routes 136
Photos 22,415
Triplogs 1,041

77 male

Joined Feb 28 2003
Tucson, AZ

Coronado Trail, AZ

Scenic Drive		Jun 28 2010
		rwstorm • Triplogs 1,041

Scenic Drive

Scenic Drive

no routes

Linked

linked

Rose Peak Trail

Partners

none

no partners

Heading back home from some New Mexico chaos, I decided to drive down this Arizona classic (US 191 from Alpine to Clifton). This truly is one of the great roads in the state. It is a bit tedious in places, but the scenery is top shelf. If you are not in a hurry this drive is just plain fun! With fires burning in the area, and early monsoon storm action cranking up, I couldn't resist. :y:

Along the way I did a quick hike up to the fire lookout at Rose Peak, which I had never been to. Well worth it, easy, and great views. Continued on down to the big pit at Morenci, which was fun driving through in the rain and dust. Storms, wind, and dust kept me company all the way to Willcox. A fine day indeed.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Cliff-Rose Rough Prickly Poppy

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Diesel Locomotive Fire Lookout Structures Osborne Fire Finder

_____________________

Jun 27 2010

cindyl

Routes 17
Photos 2,773
Triplogs 249

53 female

Joined May 15 2009
Phoenix and Tucs

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Rose Peak Trail

Alpine, AZ

Hiking		Jun 27 2010
		cindyl • Triplogs 249

Hiking	1.50 Miles	360 AEG

Hiking	1.50 Miles	40 Mns	2.25 mph
	360 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

This is a not-so-hidden gem! You'll see the lookout structure as you come up to Rose Peak, right next to the Coronado Trail (US 191 south of Hannagan Meadow). With just a half-mile hike, just off the road, why not?

Zeyn, the lookout, said I was the fourth person up this season. Why is this not more popular? I had talked to Zeyn for over an hour when I finally noticed the time - I needed to get back home eventually, and I knew it was two hours to Safford from here. I reluctantly told Zeyn I had to go - and I made my way back home.

I hiked the trail up (.5 to .7 miles, depending on who you listen to) and the road back (1 mile).

The lookout here will only be manned until July 8 - so get there while you can. Or try again next year - I know I will...

Oh, I should mention - this is a fairly new 14x14 cab. Big enough to be a live-in, but since the one it replaced had the living quarters down below, this structure was not equipped to be a live-in.

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Fire Lookout Structures Osborne Fire Finder

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

_____________________

There are just two switchbacks left. And another half-mile to the destination...

WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.

username		X
password		X