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| | | La Barge - Peak 2830 Loop via Canyon Lake, AZ | | | |
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La Barge - Peak 2830 Loop via Canyon Lake, AZ
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| Hiking | 13.07 Miles |
3,168 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.07 Miles | 10 Hrs 8 Mns | | 1.59 mph |
| 3,168 ft AEG | 1 Hour 55 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I've been to Lower La Barge a few times and usually prefer hiking new places, but ishamod and TboneKathy had never been to La Barge, and I'd had my eye on Peak 2830 for a while, so this ended up being a good local option. We started from Boulder Canyon Trailhead just after sunrise and started up the hill, with great views in both directions...Canyon Lake behind us and then Battleship, Weaver's Needle, and many other peaks ahead of us. From that angle, Peak 2830 looks like a narrow ridge of rock that would be far more challenging to climb than it turned out to be.
We stayed on Boulder Canyon #103 around the west side of Battleship, and as 2830 came back into view, it looked steep but much more climbable from the side profile. There were plenty of people out on the trails, including some campers near the Second Water intersection, then more hikers/backpackers along Boulder Canyon near Battleship.
We took a short break before leaving the trail, and TboneKathy waited below while ishamod and I started the climb up to the peak. The lower part of the ascent had a lot more loose rock, but the steeper part of climb was more solid, and the brush wasn't overly cumbersome...just a few spots where we stopped to trim branches out of the way. Route finding really wasn't an issue--there was one main chute that took a fairly direct shot at the saddle between 2830 on the left and 2803 on the right that provided the easiest path up. It was a fun scramble, comparable to Picketpost in places.
[ youtube video ]
Once we hit the saddle, we followed the ridge left toward 2830. That stretch was reminiscent of a miniature Battleship, following a narrow ridge to the north, scrambling toward the peak...in this case, while overlooking Battleship. As someone else pointed out in a triplog, there's a surprising amount of bighorn sheep droppings up there. The actual summit and the register sit on top of a few large boulders that we scrambled up, and the peak provides a unique perspective on Battleship, looking down the east side from slightly above, and great views looking straight down into La Barge.
[ youtube video ]
We enjoyed the views from the top, took some pictures, and signed the register, which was placed in 2010 and refers to Peak 2830 as "Destroyer Peak"...I assume that's an unofficial name keeping with the naval theme given the proximity to Battleship. There were lots of familiar HAZ names in the register, and it looks like the peak has been gaining in popularity, with a lot more visits in the last few years, the most recent of which was a group of five earlier this month.
Someone had left a partially-empty bottle of Bullet bourbon at the summit, and ishamod took a drink before we started down. With TboneKathy waiting below and a stop at La Barge still planned, we didn't take the time to go over to 2803 and headed back down the way we came up. Ishamod narrowly missed a potentially bad fall on the way down, but some catclaw stopped him from sliding farther, possibly marking the the first time anyone has been thankful for catclaw...and providing a handy reminder that alcohol and steep off-trail hiking may not be a wise combination  .
Back safely at the bottom, we backtracked to the unofficial trail toward the south end of Battleship and followed it over the saddle and down into La Barge. We'd seen plenty of people around Battleship, but we had the canyon to ourselves. There was some nice fall color in the leaves, and some of the pools were full of very active minnows. We took a short break in the shade before we headed out.
We hiked back out via La Barge Creek, where there was a lot more fall color, then reconnected with #103. Even in the late afternoon, there were a lot of hikers on the trail, probably hiking in to catch the sunset. Our timing worked well, and we got to enjoy the setting sun as we finished the hike and wrapped up just before dark. |
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