Date: February 9, 2023 • Elevation: 2,934 feet • Prominence: 434 feet • Distance: 5 miles • Time: 4 hours • Gain: 1,050 feet gross to Peak 2934, another 600 feet up and down Table Mesa • Conditions: Clear, sunny and very windy

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ

I had a morning open, a last-minute change in zoom meetings to where I didn't have to be back until noon. So I piled into my vehicle and headed north, planning to hike both Table Mesa and nearby Peak 2934. I was here early in January with Dan Fleischmann but I bailed due to the weather. Today was sunny and cool, and extremely windy.

I parked and started walking along a rough track. It descends toward New River, which was flowing, but narrow and rocky enough to find a way across it. I was essentially at the foot of the long western ridge leading up to Table Mesa. It looked promising, except for a cliff band at its very top. But I hoped when I got there, I'd find a ramp or weakness through it. It was a small gamble.

Getting onto the ridge was easy. Then, still down low, I came upon a lower cliff band, walls about 15-20 feet high. After some inspection, I found an ugly, brushy ledge that fed me onto the ground above it. Above that, I walked up the steepening slope. Toward the top, it got real steep, and it was becoming clear there was no way up the highest cliffs, just a solid wall. Oh well. I turned around and scooted back down the slope, then eased down that ledge.

Now I turned my attention to Peak 2934, so I descended on a different tack to catch a power-line road (the same road I was earlier on). I followed this road about a half mile, then angled onto another track heading northeast, aiming for the saddle between Table Mesa and Peak 2934.

The hiking went well and was easy. The road gains steeply toward the end, and I followed a small spur up to a small turn-around, whereas the main track dropped into a small basin where there was once a mine. I was on a small perch and to my surprise, found some low walls about 3 feet high and a couple circular walls. The walls ran about twenty feet and were fitted together well, with smaller rocks chocked in between to add strength to the structure. I was not expecting Indian ruins right here, although they are common to the hills in the area. Later, I looked online but saw no references to these particular walls.

Past the walls, I followed a weak path that followed the ridge, going up and down a couple low rises, then side-hilling to the right of a bigger hill. This put me on a higher ridge coming in from another direction, but this was good because the slope up and over this bigger hill was much better looking from this ridge.

I hiked up onto this hill, then dropped about 80 feet to a saddle, then up and down another hill, another 80-foot gain and drop. Peak 2934 was visible, a rounded hump with some rock outcrops on its south and west slopes, the very ones I would be at momentarily.

These outcrops were easy to scale and bypass, full of openings and solid. Once past them, I had another 60 feet or so to the top. I found a cairn at the far end, but the top was flat enough that any of about three or four rocks could have been the highpoint. I shot a few images and enjoyed the sunny day, blue skies and no clouds. But the wind was fierce, a constant breeze about 20-30 m.p.h.. It wasn't too warm to begin with (low 60s) so this heavy wind cooled me very quickly if I didn't keep moving.

I descended the same way. I took time to study the slopes up to Table Mesa, and from this aspect, the cliffs seem to be very small or not there, so that getting up the peak is just a steep hike. I didn't have time to try again today. I went home and got busy being productive. However, I plan to return soon, now that I know what to do, and that it's too close to ignore.