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| | | War Eagle Peak/L.O. & Tuscumbia Mountain, AZ | | | |
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War Eagle Peak/L.O. & Tuscumbia Mountain, AZ
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| Hiking | 9.89 Miles |
2,193 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.89 Miles | 3 Hrs 46 Mns | | 2.97 mph |
| 2,193 ft AEG | 26 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Short on time thanks to personal biz running late, [but super stressed and in need of something new and off-the-beaten-path], I decided to take a chance in terms of private property / access issues / rough dirt roads /etc. and head up FR 259 toward Crown King to knock off one of a several amazing-looking adventures I’d routed in that area. Once again, I struck gold, grabbing two summits and having one of the best trail hikes of my life in an area that proved to be incredibly beautiful and can definitely rival the awesomeness of the Hunter’s Access area that I love so much in my neck of the woods.
After reaching Crown King and making a couple of turns that didn’t pan out thanks to private property and/or no available parking, I found myself heading up FR 9239A. My objectives were War Eagle Peak and Tuscumbia Mountain. Had FR 9239A not been doable in a Forester, I would not have had enough daylight to pull things off; but to my pleasant surprise, the stretch of dirt road I was hoping to drive up was easily doable in my Forester. There were not many pullouts to choose from, but as luck would have it, there was a rather large one on the right-hand side of the road, right by the start of Gladiator Mine Road and under a quarter mile from the top of my first summit: War Eagle Peak.
War Eagle has two prominent points that looked roughly the same height, so I bagged both to ensure I got the highpoint. While bagging the first one [Eastern-most prominent point], I noticed some sort of structure near/on the Western prominent point [and hoped like hell it wasn’t a house]… come to find out after making my way over there, it was an old, abandoned Lookout. I’ve never seen a Lookout Tower that tiny… the bed that is still inside literally takes up half of the interior! It was really neat to see, and the views from both prominent points were just awesome.
Next up was Tuscumbia Mountain. I knew I’d really have to push the pace to pull this one off before dark, and if trail conditions proved to be poor, I’d definitely have to turn back early given that I haven’t had time to get a backup headlamp or fix the one I own. The free flashlight app I’ve been using to hold me over barely gets the job done; anything more than a slightly rough trail/road would really be putting my safety at risk…
…once again however, luck was on my side. With the exception of a few really rocky/steep sections where I had to slow up, the majority of the trail was in excellent condition… to the point where I was able to trail run with ease for good stretches at a time. With exceptionally beautiful scenery throughout – and a trail that takes you practically right up to the summit of interest without any annoying switchbacks – this was a rare situation where I was not discontent to be on the trail. That said, there were a few spots where I felt the trail could’ve made a ‘straighter shoot’ toward the destination; but given that I was racing the sun and there wasn’t much room for error, I resisted the urge to bushwack on the approach; [although if I wasn’t so captivated by the beauty of the area, there’s a good chance I would’ve been off the trail regardless of whether or not I was racing daylight  ].
The trail was consistent with what I’d seen on the topos: it goes right by the base of the Tuscumbia Mountain but not up to it. Thus, I waited for that perfect moment to leave the trail for the final, short ascent. With less than one quarter mile of bushwhacking from the trail to the highpoint, [in combination with excellent footing, an extremely gradual grade, and very little brush to content with], the ascent was a quick and easy one. The 360 views from the summit were absolutely phenomenal… but I have to confess, [despite being just a few miles as-the-crow-flies from the tiny town of Crown King, and only about 3 trail miles from the end of the dirt road I parked on with a few occupied houses], the remoteness of this peak / area was slightly intimidating, [and I’m not easily intimidated when it comes to being alone in remote areas... in fact, the only other area that comes to mind where I felt a bit intimidated by the remoteness is New Mexico’s Gila National Forest].
After taking some time to soak in the amazing summit views and then sending a few minutes searching for a register and survey marker, [neither of which I could find], I started the return trip. My stats to reach the summit, [including all picture stops, the stops to both prominent points of War Eagle Peak, and 2-3 stops to remove a thorn from my foot], were 5.12 miles / 1 hr 48 min. I didn’t expect the return trip to be much faster, [if at all], given that it was almost entirely uphill. The low point, [which was near the base of Tuscumbia Mountain], was just under 6,400’, while my vehicle was parked at around 7,200’. However, thanks to putting the jets on, along with opting for a slightly more direct return, [I allowed myself a short bushwhack off the SE ridge of Tuscumbia Mountain], my return trip was a respectable 4.77 miles / 1 hr 58 min, [which included my entire summit break on Tuscumbia Mountain, some short side trips toward the end to check for water in Wild Flower Gulch, and the extra time during the last 1-1.5 miles when I needed to slow my pace to a crawl thanks to the less than perfect lighting provided by the free flashlight app on my phone]. Despite not having extra time to explore the many extras in the area [mines, springs, drainages, minor UN peaks, etc.], I still thoroughly enjoyed myself and will definitely be back to do more hiking/peak-bagging in this area. |
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| God save the Prom Queen, cuz [reality check!] AEG's King...! |
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