Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Jan 30 2022

DixieFlyer

Guides 99
Routes 1,485
Photos 16,072
Triplogs 1,375

male

Joined Jan 07 2017
Fountain Hills,

Blackjack Jackson, AZ

Hiking		Jan 30 2022
		DixieFlyer • Triplogs 1,375

Hiking	8.25 Miles	2,522 AEG

Hiking	8.25 Miles
	2,522 ft AEG

Linked

linked

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Black Mountain 4515 Ruins

Blackjack Mtns to Upper Hess Canyon

Jackson Butte - Sevenmile Mountains

Partners

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no partners

Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

I headed out to hike the Blackjack Mountains highpoint and Jackson Butte, and figured that I would hike up to Black Mountain 4515 while I was out there. This was actually 2 separate hikes: 1) Blackjack and Black, and 2) Jackson.

Black Mountain 4515
I drove in on FR 645 and parked outside the crumple gate to unsigned FR 986. Most any vehicle can drive on FR 645. I would have driven to the base of Black Mountain, but it was no more than 1/4 mile from the gate so I decided to walk it. Most any 4WD vehicle could make the short drive.

I was a short, but steep, climb up to the Black Mountain summit. There was some vegetation in the way, but it was fairly easy to dodge it. Views were great at the summit, and there are some cool ruins up there.

Blackjack Mountains HP
I descended Black Mountain the same way that I went up, and then continued hiking on FR 986. It would be challenging for a stock 4WD vehicle to continue past Black Mountain, and I was glad to be walking it rather than driving. I turned off of the road at the recommended point in the guide and it worked out well. It was a straight-forward ascent, and I'd say that the off-trail hiking was 95% open country and 5% easy bushwhacking.

Views were great at the summit, so I hung out there for a bit. There was a Lilley-MacLeod summit register log up there.

Jackson Butte
After driving back to Highway 60, I continued north to the "trailhead" for Jackson Butte. Any vehicle could get there.

I had drawn up a planned route on RouteScout which worked out well, although I was a bit north of my planned route on the way up. However, I pretty much followed the plan to a "T" on the descent. I thought that my descent route was better.

It was easy navigating: on the way up the summit was in view, and on the descent the parking area was in view.

There was a tad bit of bushwhacking and rock scrambling just below the summit, but there was nothing sketchy at all. There was a bit of vegetation at the summit, which blocked the views a little bit. There are some interesting ruins at the summit also.

Synopsis
I like this area and really enjoyed these hikes. I'll have to get back out there before long and hike up to the Sevenmile Mountains highpoint.

Distance and elevation gain for the hikes is below. Stats above are the sum of the two:

Black Mountain/Blackjack HP: 5.57 miles with 1,392 feet of elevation gain
Jackson Butte: 2.68 miles with 1,130 feet of elevation gain

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Benchmark HAZ Rides Reference Mark Summit Register Log

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Black Mountain Blackjack Mountains Four Peaks Haystack Butte Jackson Butte Jackson Tank SEVEN 6409

_____________________

Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there

1 archive

Apr 16 2013

outdoor_lover

Guides 7
Routes 72
Photos 14,456
Triplogs 627

62 female

Joined Aug 19 2011
Scottsdale, AZ

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Globe, AZ

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Globe, AZ

Hiking		Apr 16 2013
		outdoor_lover • Triplogs 627

Hiking	7.30 Miles	1,963 AEG

Hiking	7.30 Miles	5 Hrs 30 Mns	1.62 mph
	1,963 ft AEG	1 Hour Break

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

partners

Grasshopper

Oregon_Hiker

Couldn't pass up a great invitation from two good friends to return to the Salt River Canyon Wilderness area. They wanted to take in some views...Sounded good to me...

Picked up a Grasshopper and met up with a NW Transplantee and away we went...Larry insisted on driving...

Nice Drive, good Conversation (I slept through all of the GPS stuff) and then we were Hiking!!! It was a beautiful day, but eventually the wind picked up and I had to put on a hat...

Hiked up to the High Point in the Blackjack Mountains, soaked in some great views, signed the Register up there, got a group shot and we were on our way along the Ridgeline to the next point for more oohs and ahhhs...The Cacti was blooming their bristles off and there were lots of what looked like white Poppy looking flowers...Some of the Banana Yucca was going nuts too...

Got to the next high point along the ridgeline, and after taking in the views again from a slightly different angle, we all found a comfortable rock and had lunch. After lunch, we continued along the ridgeline to the next high point. After a quick soak of the views from there, we quickly followed the edge up to the last high point, enjoying the views all along the way, including glimpses of the Salt River and Hess Canyon...

Couldn't spot the Owl though... :sweat:

The boys had planned on doing an out and back...

I made the suggestion to them to do a Loop instead of doing the Roller Coaster ride again...They agreed rather quickly... :sweat:

Ran into some really cool Flora on this Hike, including a mini forest of Ocotillos. On the way down, we ran into a forest of a different kind...Prickly Pear...Wow! Route Finding became a little more of a challenge... :sweat:

It was so thick in spots that there was no way to even attempt to tip toe through it...And then to add insult to injury, there were areas where it thinned out only to be "filled in" with Agave!... : rambo :

We literally ran into a solid Prickly Pear/Agave Wall at one point...No picking your poison here, we managed to find a way around it... :sweat:

Made it down, found the Road and hoofed it back to the vehicle...Hank treated to dinner at El Reys in Globe and then the day was done...

Didn't encounter much Fauna on this Hike, with the exception of the White Tailed Deer that Hank flushed...(ya, I missed it Randal)...Lots of Lizards and lots of skittish Butterflies on the High Points of the Ridgeline.

It was a great day with awesome friends. Thanks for the invite guys. Larry, thanks for driving and Hank, thanks for dinner!!! Looking forward to our next adventure....

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Crucifixion Thorn Sotol Strawberry Hedgehog

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Blackjack Mountains Fort Apache Indian Reservation Haystack Butte Lower Corral Canyon Salt River Canyon Wilderness Sierra Ancha Wilderness White Ledges

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Mostly Cacti Blooms, but also lots of White Poppy Looking Flowers.

_____________________

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!"

Apr 16 2013

Oregon_Hiker

Guides 9
Routes 473
Photos 8,433
Triplogs 626

79 male

Joined Dec 07 2010
Phoenix, AZ

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Globe, AZ

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Globe, AZ

Hiking		Apr 16 2013
		Oregon_Hiker • Triplogs 626

Hiking	7.30 Miles	1,963 AEG

Hiking	7.30 Miles
	1,963 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

partners

Grasshopper

outdoor_lover

Met up with Grasshopper and Outdoor Lover at the Casino Arizona parking lot in Scottsdale at 6:45 am and headed for the starting point of our hike near the base of the Black Jack Mountains east of Globe. Made good time even though I was driving and got to the start point at the base of Black Mountain by shortly after 9:00 am.

We hiked up an old 4WD ranching road past an old corral for about 1.3 miles before turning left off the old road to start the climb up the east side of the highest mountain in the chain of 4 peaks along the crest of the Black Jack Mountains. Pam quickly learned that you don't want to follow the guy wearing cactus proof knee high gators through the prickly pear if you're wearing shorts so she took the lead. Of course her taking the lead might also have had something to do with her impatience with two old codgers who kept stopping to check their gps' when the destination was clearly straight up the hill.

The views from the top of the peak were fantastic as anticipated and seeing the routes of our past adventures in this area from this high vantage point was an added bonus. There was a large cairn with an old Gatorade jar containing a peak register. The oldest recorded names included Bob Martin 4/12/88 a renown peak-bagger and author of several books on the subject. Also Dave Shope who signed with Bob on 4/12/88. I quickly scanned other names looking for people signing as members of HAZ but didn't see any completely missing Mazatzal who has since informed us he signed the register in 1994. That re-enforces my belief that there is no where you can go in the AZ outdoors that a HAZ member has not been before.

We continued our hike along the spine of the Black Jack Mountains visiting the other 3 peaks in this chain before descending to the old 4WD road about a half mile from where it ends at upper Hess Canyon. The route down the hill side before reaching the road was complicated by seemingly endless patches of prickly pear. The hike back along the old road was uneventful until Grasshopper and I stopped to look back down the road for Pam who had taken a break. When we turned to continue Grasshopper suddenly shrieked in fear and hopped 5 feet backwards. He had almost stepped on a large gopher snake which had been laying next to our feet the entire time we were standing there. Lucky it wasn't a rattle snake.

Back at the car shortly after 4:00 pm we headed for home stopping in Globe to fill up on Mexican food.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Blackjack Mountains Yankee Joe Canyon

_____________________

Apr 16 2013

Grasshopper

Guides 48
Routes 510
Photos 9,555
Triplogs 578

79 male

Joined Dec 28 2006
Scottsdale, AZ

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Globe, AZ

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Globe, AZ

Hiking		Apr 16 2013
		Grasshopper • Triplogs 578

Hiking	7.30 Miles	1,963 AEG

Hiking	7.30 Miles	6 Hrs 34 Mns	1.52 mph
	1,963 ft AEG	1 Hour 45 Mns Break

Linked

linked

Blackjack Mtns to Upper Hess Canyon

Partners

partners

Oregon_Hiker

outdoor_lover

Beginning in November, 2012, to date.. after numerous successful day trips and a one week vehicle camping trip to hike in and around this interesting and scenic Salt River Canyon Wilderness area, it was time to checkout the "Blackjack Mountains" with its four(4) main peak viewing summits: http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=332244

My thanks to our Oregon Hiker- Larry for again driving and for putting together our preliminary GPS Planning Route and to our Outdoor Lover- Pam for joining us and for confirming that my requested planning route was probably not really needed for the hike in but I do believe would be a wise download to follow for the hike back out to complete this recommended lolly-pop loop

.

I really enjoyed our day out together with all the numerous desert spring flowers and cactus in substantial bloom with the opportunity to summit four peaks along this Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline with their scenic near and distant views

.
____________________________________________________________________________

Ref: My Picset Camera Settings-
With my very limited understanding of camera settings, sometimes I experiment a little

. Today (a sunny-blue sky day) with my older Canon G10 I decided to set my White Balance on the "cloudy" setting vs the "daylight" setting (which would normally be my setting for a day like today)..I did this just to see what would happen to my pics..; Also, I usually use the "P" mode which automatically sets the focal lengths and the shutter speeds and I normally select ISO speed at "AUTO"; Today, I decided to set ISO at 200 speed exclusively and to set focal length at f6.3 exclusively, thus only shutter speed was controlled automatically; I always use an exposure setting of -1/3 on my Canon G10 and also the same on my Canon S95;

So, what happened differently with all my pics that I noticed-
The White Balance change to the "cloudy" setting definitely gave most all my pics a yellow/tan tent-like color (a cooler color?) that I'm not sure I really like or not? All comments on my posted pics "pro & con" are welcomed.. Really!

I can't decipher what if anything is significantly different (pro or con) with my pics regarding my change to ISO 200 and to f6.3 exclusively.. Any comments? :-k

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Blackfoot Daisy Doubting Mariposa Lily Feather Dalea Strawberry Hedgehog

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Blackjack Mountains Elephant Rock Jump Mountain - SRC Wilderness Lower Corral Canyon Yankee Joe Canyon

Wildflowers Observation Substantial

_____________________

(Outside.. "there is No Place Like It!!")

Nov 20 1994

mazatzal

Routes 36
Photos 2,658
Triplogs 1,347

67 male

Joined Jul 28 2004
Scottsdale, AZ

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Globe, AZ

Blackjack Mtns Ridgeline Loop

Globe, AZ

Hiking		Nov 20 1994
		mazatzal • Triplogs 1,347

Hiking	5.00 Miles	1,100 AEG

Hiking	5.00 Miles
	1,100 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

Hiked along an old road from FR645 then up a ridge to the summit and back. Did not do the loop. Pretty sure our route would match Hank's first 2.5 miles or so.

_____________________

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.

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