Date: December 8, 2024 • Elevation: 6,193 feet • Prominence: 1,106 feet • Distance: 6.1 miles • Time: 3 hours, 50 minutes • Gain: 1,460 feet • Conditions: Sunny, clear, very cold at first, warming later • Partner: Matthias Stender

Arizona • Main • AZ P1K • PB • LoJ

Mescal Peak rises north of state route AZ-82, about six miles west of the crossroads town of Whetstone. The peak is at the south end of the Whetstone Mountains. Whereas most of the range is enclosed within the Coronado National Forest, this peak and a few of its foothills lie south of the forest boundary, in a mix of BLM, State Trust and private lands. The peak itself is in a State Trust parcel, but most of the approach is across private land ... however, with an easement for the public to enter, "foot traffic only".

My primary interest in this peak was because of its high prominence, over 1,100 feet of it. It is a pointed peak with steep ridges, and a rocky knoll for a summit. Matthias suggested it earlier this week and I was interested. The weather has cooled down considerably to where these brushy high-desert peaks can be safely hiked. When I left Bisbee this morning at 6 a.m., it was 35° with a layer of frost on my window.

I followed the usual routes into Sierra Vista, then up Highway AZ-90 to Whetstone, where I stopped at the Chevron to wait for Matthias. He rolled in slightly before 7 a.m.. I parked at the Chevron and rode with him the few miles to the trailhead.

We had tracks from a previous visitor and knew where to park, but Matthias wanted to check out another road that might get us closer. It was worth a look. We found a road, but it dead ended at a gate. All other roads were gated at the highway. We drove back to the de-facto trailhead, but did not see a gate, although the tracks started from here. We parked about three hundred feet west, in another pullout with a gate. This actually turned out to be smart of us, as we would later discover.

We got properly attired and started the hike a little before 8 a.m.. The sun was up and it was cloudless and calm, but still very cold, a shade above freezing. We scaled the gate, a big metal thing. Touching the metal bars was painful, like grabbing onto a big block of ice. On the other side, we walked past a cleared area for cattle, then across a grassy meadow. We came upon a fence and found a spot to breach it. In moments, we were on an old track, heading north toward the mountain.

This segment covered about two miles. The track came to an empty earthen tank, then bent west. We were close to the base of the peak and it was just a matter of finding a good spot to leave the road and start up the lowest slopes. The brush was thick with ocotillo, prickly-pear cactus and woody thornbrush of various types. When we found an open "lane", we took it. A few minutes later, and we were at the base of the peak. The summit was still another 1,200 feet above us.

Two good options were in front of us, and we picked one, a low ridge with a gentle gradient at first. On the ridge, we had to weave through plenty of brush, mainly ocotillo and lechuguilla. It was never too bad, as we could always find some path through or around it, but this took time. The slope was covered in limestone rubble. The grade steepened, but there were no other obstacles. At times, the limestone rock itself provided good footing to get up some of the slopes.

About 600 vertical feet later, we were on the high ridge. We angled left and continued uphill, following the ridge north, then as it bent northwest slightly. All the while, the cliffs and rocks of the summit knoll stood before us. From below, these looked like they could be a challenge. But as we approached it, we saw weaknesses, chutes and slopes and it did not look bad at all.

The biggest cliff comes first, but once close to it, it's more a chaotic heap of boulders and chutes. We found the main chute, which was loose and rubbly, but it worked well and got us up about fifteen feet to the rocky slope above.

The remaining hike was like this, clambering up rocky heaps, one after another, broken up by short rubbly slopes. But it never was worse than simple scrambling. Nothing Class-3, and moderate Class-2 elsewhere. Then suddenly, we ran out of rocks to clamber up and were on the summit.

The summit was bare and grassy, no rock outcrops or anything of note. There were a couple rocky pits but no cairns or registers. Views were fantastic. It had warmed now, into the 40s and low 50s. We sat on what rocks we could find and looked around. North was the Whetstone Range and its highpoint, Apache Peak. South were the Mustangs and its highpoint. Way off in the distance were the Santa Rita Range and the Patagonia Range. Looking east into the sun were the Mule and Dragoon Ranges. It had taken us 1 hour and 52 minutes to get here. We spent about fifteen minutes up top.

The descent went well. The downclimb of the topmost rocks and rubble went slow, but once below that, we made better time along the ridge. A white-tail deer came running toward us, then stopped and looked at us before running off again. It's hunting season and this guy was probably trying to lay low, or hide high. We never saw anyone, certainly no one this high.

The rest of the descent was just a matter of walking downhill and not slipping on the rubble, which I did once, landing on my butt, but okay. Once back on the road, it was about a half-hour walk to get back to the car, which we did at 11:45 a.m.. When we exited, we saw that first trailhead jammed with cars, about twenty of them, all of them hunters probably. Parking where we did allowed us to leave unfettered. Had we parked at the first spot, we would have been blocked in.

From here, Matthias drove me back to the Chevron where we got some drinks. He would then head off for another peak, while I headed into Sierra Vista for a stop at the Lowe's. I needed some wood and primer to repair a bad fascia. Once home, I spent some time working on that project before cleaning up and catching a nap. My thanks to Matthias for coming all this way for this peak. This was our first hike together in exactly 6 months.

The peak's name is unofficial. It gets its name from the Mescal Tank and the Mescal Canyon which lie north and east of the peak. I was pleased with how well the hike had gone, this being my first Arizona P1K peak in almost nine months. I got some ideas for other peaks in this batch, but may wait until the hunting season is over.