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| | | St. Clair Peak and Indian Butte, AZ | | | |
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St. Clair Peak and Indian Butte, AZ
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| Hiking | 10.98 Miles |
2,313 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.98 Miles | 7 Hrs 12 Mns | | 2.05 mph |
| 2,313 ft AEG | 1 Hour 50 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | We started the morning at Camp Creek Falls, then drove ~15 minutes to the trailhead for this one. We parked along the east side of Horseshoe Dam Road since the parking area on the west side just to the north was getting a little crowded. We crossed the locked gate and started on FR 1104, which immediately passes a water catchment, then takes a fairly circuitous route toward St. Clair Peak and its lesser neighbor to the northwest. I wasn't expecting to see anyone, but we passed two people with a dog early on.
We decided to hike up to the lower peak first, and I found a few pot sherds at the base before we started the ascent. We made a straight shot up the south side of the lower peak...it was a steady incline but not very brushy or loose. There wasn't anything unusual up there other than a concrete cross with a hole for a flagpole and some nice views toward Horseshoe Reservoir and the Mazatzals.
From there, we dropped down to the saddle and started up the north side of St. Clair Peak. It looked steeper from a distance but wasn't a bad climb. The lower portion, especially, was mostly clear of brush and had minimal loose rock. Higher up, there were more dense, thick branches to avoid, but nothing too sharp or pokey.
Once on top, we headed over to the ruins first. I agree with the assessment in a few of the other triplogs that these are okay, but not spectacular, but it was nice to check them out. There were low stacks of rocks, possibly outlining a few rooms, and two higher walls along the outside that may have seen some modern restacking. There was very limited pottery up there--We only found a few small pieces, though TboneKathy did find one large pot sherd ~4 inches across as we left to go up to the peak.
It took a minute or two to find the summit register, which was well hidden under a large rock. The original register--a small glass jar placed by Bob Moore in 2020--was inside a plastic box placed last year with a new notebook. The original register consisted of some brittle, water damaged pages that included some familiar HAZ names. We ate a snack and signed the new register notebook, the first entries in ~10 months. The temperature wasn't bad, but the wind chill was cold at the top...my fingers were so numb that my handwriting regressed to kindergarten level.
Next up was Indian Butte, and we went down the east side of the mountain. It was fairly steep at the top, but again nothing too loose or brushy. We circled around east/northeast of St. Clair though an area full of granite boulders reminiscent of the Ballantine area, and I found a few more random pot sherds. We made our way south to hill 3629 and picked up an OHV road that took us east toward Indian Butte, and we passed another hiker and a bow hunter.
We left the road again near Indian Spring and approached the butte on the south side of the spring. There were a series of concrete troughs with pipes near the spring, and though we didn't go down to the spring itself, we could see a little water down in the drainage. TboneKathy waited by the spring while I made a quick trip up to the peak, where I found a register in the summit cairn, once again placed by Bob Moore, who placed this one in 2020, 19 years after he placed the original one on St. Clair Peak.
We retraced our route back to hill 3629, then followed FR 4011 south before leaving the road and cutting back to the northeast to complete a wide circle around St. Clair Peak. A few things of note on the way out: several green gourds of unknown origin in a wash, a random hill with a rusty sign on top that has names scratched into it from 40+ years ago, and another fairly large piece of pottery.
Back near the trailhead, we took a closer look at the water catchment setup before we wrapped up the hike. Between Camp Creek Falls in the morning and these two peaks, it was a good day checking out some new areas for the first time, and as far as off-trail hiking goes, it was pretty tame--I don't think I picked up any serious scratches along the way  . |
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Indian Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Only saw the spring from above, but the drainage downstream looked damp, possibly some small pools. | | | |
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