Boulder Mountain • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Mar 22 2025

BobP

Guides 2
Routes 251
Photos 4,593
Triplogs 3,212

63 male

Joined Feb 26 2008
Scottsdale, AZ

Boulder Mountain

Phoenix, AZ

Boulder Mountain

Phoenix, AZ

Hiking		Mar 22 2025
		BobP • Triplogs 3,212

Hiking	11.40 Miles	4,175 AEG

Hiking	11.40 Miles
	4,175 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

partners

chumley

John10s

Plan B. Boulder mountain was top notch A1. We walked a road about 3.5 miles and then off-trail 2 miles to the peak.

John and Chums continued another 13 miles and I took the sameish route we took up back to the car. The views from the peak and on the way were pretty stella.

I drove to Busnell tanks and caught up on email and some reading and waited for Chums and John. Weather was great and not much catclaw. Fun day overall.

_____________________

https://www.seeitourway.org
Always pronounce Egeszsegedre properly......
If you like this triplog you must be a friend of BrunoP

2 archives

Mar 22 2025

chumley

Guides 94
Routes 840
Photos 22,055
Triplogs 1,993

52 male

Joined Sep 18 2002
Tempe, AZ

Boulder Mountain

Phoenix, AZ

Boulder Mountain

Phoenix, AZ

Hiking		Mar 22 2025
		chumley • Triplogs 1,993

Hiking	18.30 Miles	4,621 AEG

Hiking	18.30 Miles	9 Hrs 27 Mns	2.35 mph
	4,621 ft AEG	1 Hour 40 Mns Break

Linked

linked

Boulder Creek Trail

Boulder Bob's Cabin Trail

Partners

partners

BobP

John10s

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

TLDR: Tired. Hurts.

Details: Bob had grand plans for a full-fledged sufferfest but the forecast temps made us reconsider. None of us had stood atop this Mazzy peak and decided to make it the goal for today. Bob9L decided that the road was too rough for his Jeep so we set out walking from the land of twigs n berries.

It was an hour and a half and nearly 2000 feet of climbing before we left the road where the true ascent began. There was more brush than I had envisioned in the post-Bush terrain, but there was nothing that wasn't easily avoided by some simple zig zags.

As we crossed the 6000-foot contour, things got a little bit thicker, but getting over to the high-point didn't result in too much blood loss. 3920 feet, 4 hours, 5.3 miles. A solid start to the day.

We discussed our options and decided to send Bob back down fetch the Jeep and pick John and me up in Sunflower. The ridge traverse is a really beautiful stretch of Arizona. The geology up here is pretty spectacular and except for a few short stretches where live manzy was the preferred option over dead manzy there was generally a reasonable route to follow. It took us exactly 2 hours to cover the 3.2 miles to reach the AZT. There was quite a bit of unburned cypress and a nice ponderosa grove, both a treat. A couple of hawks and a few signs of some large elk and bear on the ridge showed there were other things that enjoy it up here too.

Knowing that Bob would be ahead of us, we bombed downhill trying to make the return as efficient as possible. We covered the remaining 9.7 return miles in 3:05 with a couple of breaks and a side trip to the Boulder Pool. Bob greeted us in a scene reminiscent of Will Ferrell cracking an Old Milwaukee in a Super Bowl commercial, and I consumed it like I was at a party in college. Mmmm.

The descent on #21 helps knock off yet another piece of trail in my quest to never actually hike any complete segment of the AZT. I'm now closer to my goal than ever!

We saw a pair of hikers heading uphill on a 6-day adventure but those two were the only other humans we saw all day.

This is a good workout and features some stellar views. It was a solid day. Thanks John and Bob for the company and chauffeuring. Not a single wildflower was seen.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Crabtree Butte

	Crabtree Spring	Gallon + per minute	Gallon + per minute
	Didn't go to the spring itself, but half a mile south of it the canyon was flowing so aggressively you could hear it from the trail (which was VERY surprising based on surrounding conditions).

	Pool East of 4264 - Boulder Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	Plentiful deep pools in the narrow bedrock here despite just some occasional surface water elsewhere in the drainage

_____________________

I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

Mar 22 2025

John10s

Guides 25
Routes 376
Photos 5,897
Triplogs 346

40 male

Joined Mar 01 2018
Chandler, AZ

Boulder Mountain

Phoenix, AZ

Boulder Mountain

Phoenix, AZ

Hiking		Mar 22 2025
		John10s • Triplogs 346

Hiking	18.14 Miles	4,612 AEG

Hiking	18.14 Miles	9 Hrs 28 Mns	2.38 mph
	4,612 ft AEG	1 Hour 51 Mns Break

Linked

linked

Boulder Creek Trail

Pine Mountain - AZT #21

Boulder Bob's Cabin Trail

Partners

partners

BobP

chumley

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

Common sense and forecasted warm weather scored victories on Friday night, and Boulder Mountain replaced the Cedar double as the choice for Saturday, with a few different route options on the table to hit the high point on Boulder and beyond. We started from Round Valley at 7AM and hiked up FR 1704 for a few miles with lots of shade and pleasant temps, steadily gaining elevation.

At ~3.5 miles, we left the road and started the steeper climb up toward the ridgeline of Boulder Mountain. Not surprisingly, there were plenty of boulders along the way. After some scrambling and brush-dodging, we took a break partway up the ridge before it got a littler steeper. Closer to the top, great views of snowy Four Peaks opened up, and after a push through some manzanita, we reached 6320. We identified a few landmarks, took a break, and I added a summit register.

Bob decided to make it an out-and-back but generously offered to pick up chumley and me so we could hike the full ridgeline of Boulder Mountain. We called an audible and coordinated plans for Bob to pick us up from Bushnell Tanks--of all the potential route combos on the table the night before, this wasn't one of them, but it worked out great. Bob headed back down to the west, and chumley and I headed east across the ridgeline.

There were plenty of areas with thick brush as we worked our way through alternating sections of live and dead manzanita and varying degrees of fire damage, but the ridgeline was the highlight of the hike. Great views of Four Peaks, a little scrambling, a few small patches of snow, cool geology, and some un-torched ponderosas made it worth every scratch. Given the terrain, we kept a solid pace across the ridge and connected with the AZT in two hours, after a quick detour to a scenic overlook where chumley showcased his Picasso-like artistic prowess.

With 9.5+ miles to go on the AZT, chumley texted Bob and let him know we should be out in three hours. We enjoyed views of Roosevelt early on and cruised through the mostly downhill miles, with a few short breaks, a quick chat with two backpackers, and a stop at Boulder Pools. Along the way, we had very pleasant views looking back up at the Boulder ridgeline with the ponderosas and scattered snow patches.

We finished off the route along Sycamore Creek, back to Bushnell Tanks five minutes ahead of schedule, where Boulder BobP and our chariot awaited. Fun group and a great day--thank you to BobP for driving/waiting and for planning, and to chumley for interrupting a nap to re-plan and re-re-plan when Cedar was out

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Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Automobile Remains/Wreckage Route - finding Labels Summit Register Log

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Boulder Mountain Four Peaks Holbrook Ridge (historical) Lion Mountain Mount Ord Pool East of 4264 - Boulder Creek Theodore Roosevelt Lake

	Boulder Mountain Spring	Dry	Dry
	Viewed from above across the drainage, spring box appeared to be dry

	Pool East of 4264 - Boulder Creek	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Light flow of water and several small/medium pools in the bedrock

Dec 07 2022

LJW

Routes 154
Photos 1,505
Triplogs 266

31 male

Joined Jun 02 2019
Phoenix, AZ

Boulder Mountain, AZ

Hiking		Dec 07 2022
		LJW • Triplogs 266

Hiking	24.63 Miles	5,300 AEG

Hiking	24.63 Miles	11 Hrs 43 Mns	2.41 mph
	5,300 ft AEG	1 Hour 30 Mns Break

Linked

7 linked trail guides

Pine Creek Loop #280

Ballantine Trail #283

Pine Connect Trail #80 - Tonto NF

Pine Mountain - AZT #21

Pipeline Trail - Mazatzal

Ballantine Cabin & Corral

Boulder Mountain

Partners

none

no partners

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

Early end to 2022, and for my customary Mazzy year-ender I went back to Boulder. Started the year by looping Pine Mountain, so there was some poetry in ending by looping its little brother. Followed in the 2014 footsteps of @BiFrost and sent their route to RS. Timed right, this route is one of the best ways to spend a day in Central AZ. Jumped on this one as the cold front finished up. Went CCW an hour and a half before sunrise.

Wrote about this in January, but Ballantine is largely no good past the corral. So it was creek bed until the climb out, where the trail picks up until the ridge. After that, got off track before Rock Tank. Gets easier to follow after as the trail heads into the pines toward the AZT connector.

The very top of the connector is gone, so I headed straight up to the road. There's a barbed wire fence the way I went, but it seemed easier than the alternatives. Clouds passed overhead and storms built to the west as I walked the road. Decided if the ridgeline wasn't covered in clouds by the time I got there, there was no way I would turn back. The sky was cloudy and darkening over everywhere but Boulder, so I took it as a sign and headed up the ridge.

It's a bushwhack around the boulders until the first saddle. Then the route enters the Bush Fire perimeter. The only burned pines are around the first saddle. The mountainside is a nice and easy walk under the green, green pines until the third saddle, where in years prior to 2020 the route became a significant bushwhack. Maybe the only good thing to come out of that fire is that the brushy sections of the Boulder Mountain ridgeline mostly burned. It was almost disappointingly easy. Still tough so many miles in. There's one notable scramble before the final climb to the summit. Other than that the terrain wasn't too bad, mostly piney or burned away.

Made the summit, and like in 2019 I only go to enjoy it for about a half hour before the rain clouds started to roll in. By the time I made Pipeline, the mountain and ridgeline were swallowed up. Took a break at the cabin, and proceeded to Ballantine and down. Awesome cloudy sunset made for a great finish.

Ballantine Canyon

Light flow

	Rock Tank	76-100% full	76-100% full
	Medium-light flow

Upper Pine Creek & Tributaries

Dry

7 archives

Dec 09 2019

LJW

Routes 154
Photos 1,505
Triplogs 266

31 male

Joined Jun 02 2019
Phoenix, AZ

Boulder Mountain, AZ

Hiking		Dec 09 2019
		LJW • Triplogs 266

Hiking	13.09 Miles	4,118 AEG

Hiking	13.09 Miles	6 Hrs 23 Mns	2.43 mph
	4,118 ft AEG	1 Hour Break

Linked

linked

Pipeline Trail - Mazatzal

Boulder Mountain

Partners

none

no partners

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

Third attempt at Boulder Mountain in 10 days. This time I came armed with advice and a route sent to me by @CannondaleKid. With his help, I switched ridges and was able to excise ~5 miles off the route. I still think that the drainage I used last time is a good route up from the Ballantine side, but it makes little sense to use it on a trip up FR1704. The long and the short of it is this time I made it.

Parked at the Sycamore Creek pull out near Round Valley once again and headed up the road. Water in every creek and drainage on the way up, and a lot of water running down the road. At least one good sized waterfall not too far down from 1704. Spent about 4.5 miles on 1704/Pipeline before heading off trail. Not sure if I made it to the Pipeline trail, hard to tell where the road ends and it begins.

The off trail work was hardest in the boulder field that has to be negotiated .25mi after leaving the trail. Once to the main ascent the miles come pretty easy. The game trails were wider, longer, and more numerous on this side of the mountain.

Made it to Holbrook Ridge and the clouds were starting to blow into Pine Creek Basin and toward the mountain. The ridge skinnies up, and there is some scrambling. This is made trickier by the dense plant life. Was soaking wet by the time I made it there because of all the bushes holding rain from the day/night before, and this made the scrambling more difficult as I didn't have much grip on the smooth granite.

Took me 3.25 hours to summit: 1.5 on the road and 1.75 plodding up slope. The views of the clouds sweetened the last failure, as I wouldn't have been there to see them had I made it. They started to darken, so I headed down after about a half hour.

Walked down the ridge through clouds that were pushing their way up onto Boulder. By the time I was two miles from my car dark rain clouds had swallowed the mountain. Pretty good timing. That, and there was a rainbow close by on the last of the walk down as the rain started. Pretty neat.

Didn't see anyone on the hike and no animals besides cows. I think this might be the least difficult route up Boulder Mountain. Not necessarily the best, but if the end goal is getting up there, I think this route is a winner.

Meteorology

Meteorology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Fog Rainbow

1 archive

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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