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| Hiking | 9.58 Miles |
2,612 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.58 Miles | 8 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.13 mph |
| 2,612 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I arrived the day before and had some time to walk a portion of the trail. There were no known routes for this hike and only ONE recorded summit way back in 1995 by a "local legend" named Mark Nichols. I originally wanted to get to the John Long trailhead and mapped out a route to get there via FSR 360 but was surprised to find out that there was private property in the way and I could not go via FSR 360. I decided to head over toward the Turtle Mtn trailhead. At least from there it seemed that there were trails that allowed me to get over to Black Mountain.
In the early morning, I started on FSR 4244 walking North. Within about 15 minutes I was at the turtle mountain trailhead. I continued up the road to a campsite area and found a trail near the upper left side that seemed to follow the canyon to the left, which is called Sycamore canyon. It was appropriately named because there were several Sycamore trees in that canyon. The trail dropped down into the canyon for a while and crossed it a few times. I lost the trail once in the first mile but found it again further ahead. There were a lot of cattle trails in this area which caused some confusion. It was hard to tell what was official trail and what was cattle trail.
At about the 1.0 mile mark, I somehow got off the trail again but didn't discover that I was off the trail until after I had continued for 500 to 600 feet. Once I discovered this, I climbed out of this side canyon and headed toward where I thought the official trail was. Then, re-joined the trail and continued. When you are at the 1 mile mark, you should see an old corral. Walk through the corral and continue up from the other side. I made the mistake of taking some cattle trails branching off to the left in this area. Check the route to be sure.
After a total of around 1.66 miles, I did it again. I somehow missed a switchback and continued up the canyon. After I realized this, I scaled up toward where I thought the trail was and eventually reached it. The trail was leading up to the saddle North of Peak 7013. When I got there I discovered a barbed wire fence. I saw a fallen tree which allowed for stepping over the barbed wire fence. I also saw 6-8 coils of newer looking wire that were probably going to be used to re-do the fence. Who knows how long that wire has been sitting there.
I stepped over the barbed wire fence, then went back to the saddle. There were some cattle trails here but it was difficult to know where the official trail went from here. I followed a few ways and it got very messy quickly. I tried to get down to the canyon but there were cliffs in some places. I saw a new trail that appeared to follow the canyon but I discovered that it really was going up out of the canyon and that wasn't where I needed to be.
I worked my way down into the canyon having to do some light bushwhacking. Once in the canyon, I found a good trail that headed West along Cub canyon and eventually to John Long canyon. Near the junction of Cub canyon and John Long canyon, there was an old sign. I continued North for about 1/3 mile following an old 4x4 road. There were plenty of fallen trees along this old road. I eventually made it to the base of Black Mtn. I didn't know if I would find a trail here or if it would be a bushwhack.
After looking around it became more and more apparent that this was going to be a steep and messy bushwhack. I found a way to get onto the ridgeline and it was very slow going. After a while of hiking, looking up I could see some rocky cliffs and wondered how I would get around/through that. I kept going toward the rocky cliffs. There was one bushwhack section that was especially thick and terrible, but once I got through I could see the climbing started off as class 3 and there were some sections higher up that ended up being class 4. I kept going up and eventually could see where it leveled off. I got above the steep rocky section and knew from here all I needed to do was walk along the gradual slope to the high point. Within a few minutes I was at the peak. I found a rock pile with a jar and surprisingly found some names from March 2023 and the entry before that was Oct 2020. I didn't expect this peak to get a lot of visits.
On the way down, I really wanted to avoid going down some of those class 3 & 4 sections. For safety, I decided to try a different route that I knew nothing about. I hiked NW from the summit to a high saddle. From there, there was an unmarked canyon going down. This canyon had some very steep and messy areas. I was able to weave to the left of the canyon, climbing on some of the rock formations. Eventually, I was forced to go into and through the messy canyon. But, then I found areas on the right side going down that were better than being in the canyon. As I got lower the grade got steeper and the hiking became easier. Eventually I reached the bottom of the canyon and it came to a "T" junction. At this junction I made a right and then followed it back to the John Long trail.
The John Long trail was easier to follow on the way down. When I reached the junction with Cub Canyon, I made a left turn and followed the trail through the canyon. There was a lot of confusion getting from the canyon to the saddle North of 7013. I felt like my track going up was equally as bad as my track earlier coming down. I'm not sure if I missed something or if the trail was truly wiped out by fires, monsoon, etc...
I continued across the saddle the same way as I did earlier. I took this trail East and eventually ran into the Turtle Mtn trail #219 or #5219. I felt like I made better time down because I was on a decent trail. I kept going down the same way. When I had about 1.5 miles left, I saw a huge cow that didn't run away from me. The cow was near the trail and walking UP...
I kept going and took a break near the flowing water which was probably under 1 mile from the trailhead. I took a needed break here, then decided to finish the hike, getting back to my campsite well before dark.
Note. The last 1/2 mile was especially rough. Steep class 3 & 4 sections. A lot of brushy areas. 4g & 5g signal at peak! Wow!
Directions: I-10 East to Exit 318 (Dragoon Rd). Take Dragoon Rd for 13 miles until you reach US-191. Turn right going South. Continue for 25.2 miles. Turn left onto Rucker Canyon Rd. The pavement ends here but it is a good road that is graded well. Stay on Rucker canyon road for 23.8 miles. Turn left on FSR 4244. If you have 4x4 you can continue for 2/3 mile to the end of the road to the Turtle Mtn trailhead. There's a camping area at the end of the road as well as along the road. I decided to camp near the Southern portion of FSR 4244.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip) = 9.58 miles
AEG = 2,612 feet
Moving time = 8 hrs 30 mins
Elapsed time = 10 hrs 55 mins |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Santa Fe phlox, threadleaf phlox, garden petunia, New Mexico lupine, Apache plume, hedgehog cactus with red flowers, Spanish dagger/banana yucca, long leaf Indian paintbrush, Burnet rose?, Antelope horns, Utah penstemon (red flower), prairie clover, tufted globe amaranth |
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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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Route Editor
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