Courthouse Rock / East Face • Climb Trip • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

login for filter options

Jan 16 2021

GrangerGuy

Guides 34
Routes 138
Photos 931
Triplogs 111

68 male

Joined Dec 26 2018
Phoenix, AZ

Roam in the Eagletail Wilderness, AZ

Backpack		Jan 16 2021
		GrangerGuy • Triplogs 111

Backpack	16.00 Miles

Backpack	16.00 Miles	2 Days 2 Hrs
			34 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Eagletail Mountains Wander

Ben Avery Trail - Indian Spring Petroglyphs

Triple Eye - Eagletail Mountains Wilderness

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Partners

none

no partners

In mid-January 2021, I took a two-day wander in the Eagletail Mountains Wilderness. I hoped to enjoy some solitude, some stars, check out the petroglyphs, and check on the various water sources.

I parked at the Ben Avery Trailhead. The road is pretty much as described in various logs and guides. My Cherokee had no trouble getting to the trailhead. Some of the road is definitely high clearance, and the last little bit is best handled in 4WD.

Since I had two days, I didn't try to get an early start. I left my car around 10:45 am and followed the trail up toward Indian Spring. One of the main things I wanted to do was check out the various water sources in this area. I headed first for Water Tank 726, and found a highly engineered facility, with signs indicating it had been built by the AZ fish and game department to provide water for wildlife. One of the signs was even an admonition to sportsmen not to vandalize it. There was a deer there as I approached. The wildlife drinking tank was about half full. Certainly this would be a viable source of water for people as well. It really surprised me the high level of engineering within a wilderness area.

I then went on to Indian Springs. The spring was dry, but the petroglyphs are awesome. I spent a half hour up close and personal with the cliffs, taking photographs. My iPhone camera does a remarkable job of enhancing the images of the petroglyphs. There was a hawk eyeing me as I approached.

From Indian Springs, I headed up the wash to the northwest, loosely following the route of the Eagletail Mountains Wander. Eventually the route leaves the wash and follows pieces of old jeep tracks. Where the Eagletail Mountains Wander takes a sharp right up the ridge, I continued northwest, following a very discernable old jeep track for a ways. Where the jeep track heads west and away from the mountains, I followed another wash more or less north toward a small pass. This is where I discovered an interesting feature of these mountains. What appear to be game trails become very clear routes over the various passes. Some of these trails are as defined as constructed trails; they traverse to avoid steep climbs, too. They made the travel really easy. Perhaps these are human caused, but I am doubtful.

I continued northwest, sometimes crossing some very deep washes, until turning northeast toward Triple Eye Catchment. There are two more heavily engineered water features here. The catchment itself sits in a very steep watercourse, and there are about 3 constructed basins. The whole thing is surrounded by a fence, which is really nothing more than something to hang onto so you don't fall over the cliff. The Catchment was dry, but the nearby game trough had several inches of water in it. Again, if you needed water, you could get it here. There are several game cameras around the water trough. At least some of them appeared to be official.

This area was to be my resting spot for the evening, so I headed back down the hill from the water a respectful distance, and set up my tarp near a nice sitting rock, where I could watch the stars come out.

In the morning I lightened my load by getting rid of excess water. I started out with 9 liters Saturday. I used about 4, and only needed 3 to get back to the car.

Sunday morning I headed up the nearby wash on my way to the pass above Dead Deer Tank. It was cool at first, but I quickly warmed up as I walked due east into the the rising sun. The wash is easy walking. Eventually, once again, game trails become preferable to the wash as you approach the pass. I followed the trail over the pass, and down the other side, arriving at Dead Deer Tank which had a lot of water in it.

Coming down from the Tank is a little tricky. The wash is steep and choked with vegetation at points. I found the best bet was to stay to the right when the vegetation closed in, staying up against the boulders, and fighting the Manzanita, rather than the more stickery things. Eventually the canyon opens up, and travel along side the wash on game trails becomes easy.

I had flirted with the idea of heading up the next valley to the left, and over a couple more passes, but decided to save that adventure for another day. I followed the main wash down until intersecting my path of the day before, and continued southeast back in the direction of Indian Spring. I left that route, though, and stayed close to the mountains on the left, eventually picking up the nominal route of Eagletail Mountains Wander back to the parking lot.

That cross country route looks easier on the map than it is in practice. Every 1-2 minutes you end up crossing another wash at right angles. Sometimes small, sometimes very big. It gets old after a while. Also you have to cross a barbed wire fence, which took a little searching to find just the right place.

26 hours
1 deer
1 coyote
4 hawks (or one, 4 times)
1 jackrabbit
1 campfire ring
0 people

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Cactuscat Pose

	Dead Deer Tank	26-50% full	26-50% full
	The natural pothole had good clean water, although no flow.

	Indian Spring	Dry	Dry
	No water here.

	Triple Eye Catchment	1-25% full	1-25% full
	The catchment itself was dry, but the nearby wildlife tank was 25% full.

	Water Tank 726	26-50% full	26-50% full
	There was a deer here when I arrived. The wildlife tank had plenty of water in it.

2 archives

Jan 01 2021

RedwallNHops

Guides 1
Routes 269
Photos 613
Triplogs 1,360

50 male

Joined Dec 22 2003
Tucson, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Climbing		Jan 01 2021
		RedwallNHops • Triplogs 1,360

Climbing	3.00 Miles	1,300 AEG

Climbing	3.00 Miles	11 Hrs 30 Mns	0.26 mph
	1,300 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

Great way to start the New Year! Camped near the Ben Avery TH on NYE. Got a dawn start the next day after reading about people's trips lasting 9.5 - 12.5 hours. Figured we'd be descending in the dark. Got to the start and started climbing at 8am. Swapped leads with my friend Don. I did pitches 2,3, and 5 and he did pitch one and the crux pitch 4. 2,3 and 5 seemed really easy. I placed a little gear, but mostly just ran it out. Pitch 6 we sorta just scrambled/handlined up - should've roped up instead in hindsight. From there it was some fun class 3 terrain to the summit. got back to the base at 2pm and made it back the cars at 3pm.

_____________________

Feb 10 2018

outandback

Photos 11
Triplogs 9

female

Joined Jan 10 2018

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Climbing		Feb 10 2018
		outandback • Triplogs 9

Climbing	3.00 Miles	1,300 AEG

Climbing	3.00 Miles	11 Hrs 30 Mns	0.26 mph
	1,300 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

What a great trip! Three of us decided to take advantage of the February weather and have a little adventure out at Courthouse Rock. We camped near the parking area to get an early start and enjoyed listening to owls all night. No coyotes, though, oddly.

Saturday morning we were up at 5 a.m. and started hiking at the first glimmer of light around 6:45 a.m. Twenty minutes later we were roping up at the base of the gully.

For the sake of time, two of us decided to swing leads, with the third climber tied in between. Of course, that meant the poor guy never got a break since he was always either climbing or belaying, but then again he didn't have to face the ridiculously run-out leads, so I think it's a fair trade.

The climbing up the gully is easy (pitches vary from 5.2 to 5.5) but there are very few opportunities for protection and what little there is doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, so you don't want a new leader on this. Also the holds have a tendency to break off without warning, which is exciting.

Oh, and you also have to do some recon to locate the bolted belay anchors. But once you find the anchors, they're terrific. In general, look for anchors on the right side of the gully. The one for the fourth pitch is easy to miss (or at least it was for me — I overshot it and had to downclimb and hunt) because it's tucked to the right of a large black flake, while the bolts (there are three) are about 12 feet to the left, where you can't see the anchor. Either ignore the bolts and stay right the whole time, placing protection if you can, or follow the bolts then move sharply right to the edge of the black rock after you clip the third.

Even with the route-finding, we finished the first five pitches before noon, so we ate a snack (and gave our middle climber a much-needed rest), then hiked a quarter-mile or so through the cholla field and up to the base of the summit block. That's easy navigation, especially if you stay high and out of the scree. Locating the base of the sixth pitch was a bit of a challenge, but as you face the summit block look up and just a bit to the west of center. There are three diagonal ledges that angle to the east, then west, then east, with a fairly level ledge on top. Scramble to that upper ledge and there's a narrow chimney on the west side that you can't see until you get up there. That's the start of the sixth pitch. You could probably climb the chunky face to the right of the chimney, then go left, but I just went up the chimney itself, which was fun. There's a bolt above the chimney that isn't visible from below (are you sensing a theme here?), then you go up and left over an arete, then duck around a large boulder to the right (that takes a little nerve) to find a bolted anchor on a sloping ledge. Once we were all up there, we dropped our ropes and harnesses and headed up the final scramble to the summit, which wasn't hard but was very exposed. There's a really cool gap in the summit block that cuts it from north to south and makes a nice frame for the other peaks below.

Made the summit by 2, so we ate a quick snack and snapped some photos on top, then reversed the whole thing. Scramble, rappel, hike, rappel, rappel, rappel, rappel, rappel, then hike back out.

By the time we got to the car, there was a pretty great Arizona sunset going on, so we enjoyed some post-climb chow and watched the show, then headed back home.

Now that I know the route, I would absolutely do this climb again (and probably a lot faster, too). It's a great little adventure, but you definitely need to be prepared for a long day of back-country travels. Bring helmets, headlamps, and all the beta you can find.

1 archive

Jan 14 2018

trekkin_gecko

Guides 10
Routes 673
Photos 7,281
Triplogs 4,660

67 female

Joined Nov 17 2008
phoenix, az

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Climbing		Jan 14 2018
		trekkin_gecko • Triplogs 4,660

Climbing	3.00 Miles	1,300 AEG

Climbing	3.00 Miles	7 Hrs 30 Mns	0.40 mph
	1,300 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

partners

Fletchkl


Mountaineer	5.4	Trad	7 Pitches	1200 ft

haven't done any multi-pitch in a couple years
when mike and fletch suggested courhouse rock, i was all in
had first seen the formation on our recon for eagletail peak and it looked like an awesome summit
it was

started the approach around 9:30 across open desert then up a scree slope to the base of the gully
took water and the essentials for the climb and mike started up
lots of beta on this route, and reports of scarce protection, long runouts and loose rock are accurate
the climbing is easy and fun, with only a few small sections of 5.4-5.5
five pitches up to the saddle
mike and fletch traded leads on double 60s
the leader then belayed both of us following at the same time, leaving about 20 feet between
did this on four of the five pitches, saving some time with a party of three
we caught and passed two guys at the first belay; they did not summit
switched to hiking shoes at the saddle, crossing to another gully full of scree and cholla
got one good cholla ball in the calf and another in my pinky toe in this section
there's a decent scramble heading toward the final pitch with some exposure
we missed one of the ledges and climbed a short wall that might have been the most difficult climbing of the day
i took a short belay from mike - safety first!
one more shorter pitch, to another saddle before the scramble to the top
this was a lot of fun, not exposed at all
great views from the top of the eagletails, woolsey, big horn, saddle mountain
might have been able to see the kofas to the west
only stayed about 15 minutes since the six rappels down are a little time consuming especially with three
back to the saddle, then rapped down
not sure i was real helpful on rope management, but we got it done
mike offered to carry my share of the gear on a couple of the scree slopes, so i owe him two beers

don't usually post times on climbing days, but others might find it helpful to know what a long day they're in for
while the climbing was easy, there was a lot more involved in topping out:
knowledge of belay station locations, where the final pitch began, technical requirements of multi-pitch
i've been fortunate to be able to climb with these two
maybe not a classic, but a very cool rock formation to stand on top of
first new peak of 2018
nice sunset while enjoying beverages and chips & salsa in pristine desert
a big thank you to my partners!

_____________________

hazhole

2 archives

Feb 10 2014

dwightnancy

Photos 104
Triplogs 13

65 male

Joined Oct 26 2012
denver, co.

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Climbing		Feb 10 2014
		dwightnancy • Triplogs 13

Climbing

Climbing

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

Great summit with spectacular views! 8 hours camper to camper. Friendly climbing, sketchy pro, tedious raps.

Last year we had, what turned out to be our most physical day in the desert. Eagletail- north feather. Standing on top, we were inspired by the imposing monolith that rises 1,300 feet above the desert floor to the north. We knew then- we had another objective.

The technical climbing on courthouse is straight forward and the belay stations were easy to find. The protection was another matter. I led all pitches, and I placed pro at every opportunity- but this route was pretty hard to protect. I kept placing pro that would probably hold a light fall, only to go 30 to 40 feet before finding another marginal placement. However, it did seem that the cruxy bits were above the best pro, so hellyeah bring a rack. Lastly, despite the very easy climbing, this would be a bad climb for a new leader. There are not many opportunities to place pro, so not much learning. Furthermore, to be led safely the route must be well within your climbing ability.
As we roped-up at the base of the route it started to rain. Hmmm... We decided to take it one pitch at a time. During the 2-1/2 hours it took us to climb the 5 lower pitches the weather improved slightly. Another hour put us on the summit, by which time the weather had substantially cleared. There were just a few stray and distant showers brushing around the desert floor. The raps were slowed (a lot) by us painstakingly avoiding cholla -and we did. We did pull down several small rocks with ropes.

Hands down, this is the best route beta:
http://www.dankat.com/swhikes/courth.htm

I would just add that there is a big cairn near the base of the summit pitch and that the path over to it starts from pretty much right in the saddle. Also, in case you are wondering, the actual summit IS the huge thumb foreground right.

Ginger the dog did not summit. Cholla, safety.

_____________________

Mar 05 2012

johnr1

Guides 4
Routes 17
Photos 8
Triplogs 340

78 male

Joined Dec 22 2007
tempe, az

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Climbing		Mar 05 2012
		johnr1 • Triplogs 340

Climbing	3.00 Miles	1,200 AEG

Climbing	3.00 Miles	11 Hrs	0.29 mph
	1,200 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

Harquala Trifecta

Whether passing through or hiking, the Harquala valley has some alluring peaks that just call out to be climbed/hiked. The three signature peaks are Saddleback, Big Horn and Courthouse rock. In order to provide some structure to my wanderings in the area, I decided that bagging the three constitute a trifecta which I completed with this climb of Courthouse Rock.

The two of us started the day at the trailhead identified in Opland's Phoenix Rock II. There were some folks camping and hiking at the trail head with whom we chatted before heading out on a rock hopping and bushwhacking circuit of the mountain. From the top we could see that there were two roads that end much closer to the climb start which would have saved some hiking. The weather was perfect with most of the 80 degree day shaded by clouds.

The standard route climb is a classic desert backcountry experience with 8 pitches, 1000 feet of trad climb and five 200 foot rappels down. All of the anchors have modern bolts with webbing of varying quality. You clip the anchor and decide whether to replace the webbing and rap rings. We did not add any webbing finding all useable.

The climb is rated at 5.5 but there are only a couple of spots of climbing at that level. The rest is class 4 to 5.3 or so. However, it is a full day of sustained activity to summit and get down in the daylight.

The first 5 pitches go 800 feet up a steep gully that is nicely shaded. The pitches at the top have some of the 5.5 climbing on a crumbly slab with exposure. This was our consensus favorite pitch. The gully is followed by a walk along the ridge followed by a tamer gully with some slick rock alongside the peak. You reach a small saddle and then scramble right along the face until you see a big cairn which marks the start of the 7th pitch. This is up a small dihedral / chimney to the summit ridge. A walk along followed by 50 feet of class 4 and you are on the small summit with several summit logs. A fair number of folks visit the peak in the winter including a guy who base jumped leaving behind a bit of rope and some gear. The summit view is 360 degree.

The return was rather quick as we could rappel most of it. One 200 foot off the summit ridge and 4 down the gully. This is a rope stretcher for a 60 m rope and we got to down climb a bit when we ran the first and second pitch together at the end. We used a 10.2 60 m climbing rope and a 60m tag line but it might be more comfortable to use 70m ropes to allow for some route finding. The rack was a few medium to large cams and you won't find too many good placements so you don't need a lot of gear.

We caught a glimpse of a medium sized cat and an earful from a hawk and raven but that was it for animals.

We took 11 hours car to car with only about 30 minutes for two breaks. The rest was sustained climbing and hiking. I am grateful to Jayci for the tremendous lead job.

_____________________

Oct 10 2010

desertgirl

Guides 20
Routes 13
Photos 3,189
Triplogs 451

female

Joined Mar 31 2002
Chandler, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Climbing		Oct 10 2010
		desertgirl • Triplogs 451

Climbing

Climbing	12 Hrs	0.00 mph

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners


••••	Mountaineer	5.4

Great climb with Robert, Susan, Eric, Cheryl, Ashlee, Tracy! A great place to be for10-10-10.

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Throwing a Wendy

_____________________

Apr 10 2010

suzaz

Guides 1
Routes 2
Photos 3,905
Triplogs 154

female

Joined Nov 23 2003
Gold Canyon, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Courthouse Rock / East Face

Southwest, AZ

Climbing		Apr 10 2010
		suzaz • Triplogs 154

Climbing

Climbing

no routes

Linked

none

no linked trail guides

Partners

none

no partners

This was a beautiful day near the Tonopah desert in the Eagletail Mountain Area. The Eagletail Mountains are named for the bare granite pinnacles that resemble bird's feathers. And on the near side of this range a stark monolith of rock, huge and sheer-sided, rises majestically out of the desert floor and demands your attention. This is Courthouse Rock, a 2874ft guardian that is an irresistable magnet for climbers during the winter when the temperatures are moderate. This adventure tackles a 1300ft climbing challenge.

This trip has been in the planning process for awhile and was rescheduled once because of rain. I loved this climb. I might be making the shift from hiker to climber because I find myself becoming a fan of short approaches. This approach was 20-30 mins max. The climb had just the right mix of adventure, challenge and views. (honestly I'm not fond of ultra difficult routes) I thought it was a fun multi-pitch climb. I suspect it would be difficult to route find here without someone that had climbed it previously. Some of the anchor stations or belay points along the standard route are easy to find but others are not. We lost lots of time on a couple of pitches while looking for anchor stations. It was a lot of work to move a lot of people up a lot of pitches with a lot of rope. I learned lots.

We did the Mountaineer Route on the East Face. The route has approximately 7 pitches for the 1300 feet of rock climbing to get to the top. We completed 5 of those pitches and opted to bail after the first five pitches due to time concerns. I left my house at 3am and returned at 11:45pm, it was a full day....240 mile drive for me. (6 hours of driving and 15 hours of climbing) Planning another attempt for the Fall because it was already heating up.

The rock here has been lovingly referred to as crappy rock... meaning it breaks apart easily. I kind of like it because there are lots of little shelves to hold and/or step on....just gotta make sure they are solid before you fully weight them. I think there were only 2 bolts on the entire route (those were on pitch 3, I believe) and very few places to actually place gear. I only had a 5-6 holds flake away throughout the day. Certainly lots of loose rocks flying around. Helmets are a must on this route.

(still need to double check this with the other climbers and match it up to photos) Seems like it would be a lovely idea to GPS the anchor points....but nobody in the climbing world does that.
The approach--This was a straight walk to the base of the rock with no obvious route markings. We were near a wash as we got a little closer and did catch a foot path for the last part of the approach. We headed towards the shadowed gully/large crack in the rock. 33o27.72'N 113o21.46'W and elevation 1910ft is where the climbing begins.

Pitch 1--From the base it's pretty much straight up to a little landing hidden behind a rock wall. The anchors for the first pitch are not easily found unless you start up the right ridge. It is the second longitudinal ridge to the right of the streambed by about 20ft; it is also the ridge that appears easiest to climb. Climb about 50ft up along the left side of the arete and then transition about 6ft right onto the arete itself where there is one slightly awkward move (5.3) just below a bolted belay station in a wall to your left. It is probably best to bypass this station, to proceed up an easy gully and then climb left onto a prominent outcropping where there is a second belay station on a big ledge about 170ft from the start.
Pitch 2--This route starts out as more of a scramble and turns a corner to go up a bit of a gully. The anchor stations is to the right.It is a short pitch proceeds left along a ledge and climbs a short chimney in the streamcourse to a broad, recessed platform in the main streambed of the gully. The belay station is on a ledge above the streambed on the right. This easy (5.2) second pitch is only about 50ft.
Pitch 3--This pitch seemed straight forward until it takes a turn. We added a redirect piece to help swing the rope around the corner. The anchor station is near a small saguaro. The third pitch is also easy (5.2) and climbs about 160ft directly up the watercourse. It begins at about 2020ft and you should reach this point after 1hr of climbing. A jog to the right and a traverse back left take you to the broad recessed ledge at the top of the third pitch where there is a bolted belay station.
Pitch 4--This is a smaller ledge with room for about 3 people. The fourth pitch (5.5) proceeds up the center of the rockwall for about 160ft. There is a partially bolted route to the left of the center; this includes one key bolt (in the middle of a blackened face and visible from the bottom of the pitch) just below the crux in which the move is back to the right and up to the top of the pitch. Some recommend climbing to the key bolt, hooking in, descending about 10ft and then swinging over to the right where there are more features. However, our preferred alternative is to climb straight up the center about 12ft to the right of the bolts. The climbing there is much easier; the problem is in finding a way to install adequate protection over the central part of the climb. Nearing the top there are several ledges and cracks that allow for more comfortable climbing. The top of this 160ft fourth pitch (at 5.5 the most difficult pitch on the ascent) is a bolted anchor station on a small but secure ledge. You should reach this 2230ft elevation about 3hr after the morning start.
Pitch 5--The fifth pitch (5.2) proceeds up a more gently sloping and flat rock face to a bolted belay station just below the shoulder ridge of Courthouse Rock. A nice dihedral crack provides protection for the first 25ft. Beyond this secure anchor points are hard to find but it is easy friction climbing straight up about 120ft to the bolted anchor station at the top of the great gully. You should reach this point after 3.5hr of climbing.This pitch was more of a challenge for the lead climber because it wasn't very protectable.
It's a short scramble to the left of the anchor station and then to the right through a bowl and around a saguaro to top of the ridge.

This as far as we made it due to time concerns so the info from here is only what I have been told or could see....no real experience there.
_____________
After Pitch 5 it is a traverse or walk across the saddle to the rock area that leads up the final tower. This walk is far enough that you will likely want to switch out of your climbing shoes back into hiking shoes. There is a fair amount of scree and cholla bobs all over the place.
Pitch 6-- short climb up what appears to be like a staircase. Drop packs and harness here.
Pitch 7--Scramble to the top.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Chuckwalla

_____________________

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.

username		X
password		X