The Mountains of Arizona
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A-Cross Butte • Bull Mountain • Peak 2708 These three hills rise on the lower slopes of the Sierra Ancha, where it descends toward Lake Roosevelt. The road I used to access these peaks, called A-Cross Road, runs about 30 miles from state route AZ-288 on the east, then northwest to AZ-188 up by Punkin Center, and is the only passable road along Lake Roosevelt's north and eastern sides. I taught my evening classes on Tuesday in Tempe, and stopped in a grocery for basics. There being no need to be at any trailheads at dawn, I drove only as far as to the Oak Flat campground above Superior, arriving there about 9:15 p.m.. This was my third time here, and second in two weeks. A creature of habit, I took the same spot again. The weather has been unseasonably warm, with highs near 80° in the deserts. Up here at about 4,000 feet elevation, it was cooler but not cold, in the 50s. I set up my cot and then had a meal in the front seat of my car. There were no clouds and the moon would not rise until just before dawn, so I had a moonless night too. The stars were tremendous and I enjoyed laying there viewing them. There was no breeze and it was very comfortable. A coyote band nearby would howl and yelp every few minutes. Up at dawn the next morning, I drove toward Globe, then got onto the AZ-188, heading north and west, then onto the Young Highway, AZ-288. I followed it north, down to the Salt River truss bridge, then up the opposite side. About ten miles later, I came to the Y-split where A-Cross Road goes left. This is just after a sign saying "Pavement Ends". A-Cross Butte rises about two miles northwest of this split. The butte consists of two main lobes and a couple rocky foothills. The USGS monumented the "A-Cross" benchmark on the lower southern lobe about 80 years ago. The highpoint is on the northern lobe. It's reasonable to assume "A-Cross" is a cattle brand from way back.
Date: Decmber 4, 2024
• Elevation: 3,886 feet ✳
• Prominence: 306 feet
• Distance: 4.5 miles
• Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
• Gain: 850 feet
• Conditions: Sunny, clear, cool
Arizona
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Main
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PB
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LoJ
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USGS BM Datasheet
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Lidar
The land here is all Tonto National Forest, except for an enclave of private land called the Bar 11 Ranch covering about 300 acres. A lesser track, Forest Road 43, branches north and was the hiking path I wanted to follow, but it is blocked by large rocks on the property, and the usual "No Trespassing" signs.
I backed out and drove back east about a quarter mile, parking in a pullout well short of this little ranch outfit. I would go overland at first, intending to do an end run around the property. I got suited up and was walking at about 8:15 a.m., the weather cool and pleasant, temperatures about 45°.
I walked the road a little, then went upslope through the desert brush, which was scattered enough to not slow me down. It was the usual mix of saguaro, mesquite, palo verde, grass, woody brush and some lower cactus within the grass. Cattle tracks helped whenever I found them.
Aiming directly for the peak, I was sure to meet the road, which I did ... with a fence running alongside it. So I stayed on this side of the fence and walked alongside it too. The fence looked sturdy and not easy to breach. However, I found a spot where the strands were loose and was able to squeeze through a pair, now on the road itself. I was abeam of the main peak here, and a smaller peak marked by a tiny 3,600-foot contour stood closer.
The road was open but rocky. Vehicles cannot access it, but there were fresh horse-shoe prints (a few days old at most). I walked this road as it bent around the butte, now angling northwest toward a saddle.
This road became progressively rockier and ill-defined to where it petered out not far after a dry earthen cattle tank. Cattle paths took over from here, but the terrain was open enough that I could find my own way uphill directly through the brush.
Once at the saddle, I angled sharply to the left and walked up the peak's northwest slope to the top. The grade was slightly steep, and the terrain very grassy with rolling rocks for two out of every three steps it seemed. But it wasn't difficult at all. Shortly, I arrived onto the top, about an hour after starting.
The summit features big slabby rocks and a few natural piles, but nothing more than a couple feet high, all of this interspersed with brush and grass. I stood upon or kicked three or four likely highpoint candidates. I saw no cairns or register or evidence of any past visitors. Lists of John shows just one previous visitor, Bob Martin back in 1997.
Views up here were outstanding. Looking south and west, I was almost two thousand feet higher than Lake Roosevelt way down below, with the Mazatzal Mountains in the back. Turning around, I would then look up almost three thousand feet at the Sierra Ancha. The closest peak near me was Asbestos Point, rising 2,800 feet higher. It was cloudless and dry, and I could see fifty miles to the northwest with clarity. I spent about ten minutes up top.
For the hike down, I retraced my routes and followed the road back out, even passing through the fence in the same spot mainly because there were no better options. I never saw anyone or anything, no cowboys on horseback, no cattle, no javelina. Other than random birds, it was just me up this way for the moment. I was back to my car a little before 10 a.m..
I was still surprised this peak has been overlooked by the peakbagger crowd. It was a soft-ranked peak meaning that its prominence could not be determined precisely, which may explain why some just passed on by. The new 1-meter Lidar data gives an elevation of 3,886 feet for the summit (the map says 3,888), and a prominence of 306 feet. This may spur a few more visitors. There was a 27-year gap between Bob's visit and mine, I'd be amused if there was another 27-year gap until the next person comes up here.
Back on the main road, I motored slowly westish along A-Cross Road, aiming now for the next two peaks, Bull Mountain and Peak 2708.
Elevation: 3,202 feet
• Prominence: 607 feet
• Distance: 1.5 miles
• Time: 1 hour
• Gain: 622 feet
• Conditions: Same, clouds
PB
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LoJ
A-Cross Road is a wide and maintained dirt road that winds in and out (and down and up) with the ridges that come off the Ancha. There were a few steep grades and some rockier wash crossings, but 4-wheel drive is not necessary. However, reasonable high clearance would be. I drove 7 miles on the nose to place myself near Bull Mountain, parking in a turnoff near the Bull Mountain Tank. I rarely got above 15 miles per hour.
Bull Mountain itself rises immediately to the west, and as soon as I stepped out my door, I was on the climb. The weather was still sunny and mild, temperature now in the high 50s. But above the higher Ancha peaks to the east, some clouds were assembling, some with dark underbellies.
I crossed what looked like some slopes shaped over by bulldozers, maybe when they were digging out the tank or repairing it. I was soon on the more natural slopes with abundant grass and low brush, but with lanes to follow. This would not be a long hike, the top being about 0.6 mile on a straight line from my car, 600 feet higher.
Once above the lower approach slopes, I was now on the main slope, a steep slog uphill through grass and rubbly rock, but featuring some of the biggest and healthiest saguaro I've seen anywhere. Some of these guys rose 40 feet with multiple arms. They were most impressive.
About twenty minutes later, the slope moderated, and slowly approached the top, which was flat and brushy, and not very exciting. I found a rock pile that might be the highest point but no register. I also walked the area and tagged any other rocks that seemed highest.
Views were good. Now much lower and closer to the lake, I had some fine views of the lake and its surrounding hills and coves. Big Dutchwoman Butte rose to the northeast. The Four Peaks also stood out with better clarity.
I noticed an odd rock pile, not the kind a cairn builder would built. It looked like a miner's boundary pile. When I got to it, I found a benchmark! I was not expecting one and there was no mention of one on the map. This was a new one, placed here in 1985, stamped "Dagger". It was a Bureau of Reclamation benchmark. These are not logged in the usual databases. I could not find any reference to it on the internet.
This is another peak that sees almost no one. Lists of John showed just one previous visitor, Nick Scouras, from 2015. This one baffles me because this is a big peak nearby a road and it has over 600 feet of prominence, so it's not hidden from view. Even venerable Bob skipped it back in 1997.
I hiked down the same route and was back to my car a little before noon, about a one hour hike. It was still pleasantly cool, so I sat in the front seat and had a lunch.
Peak 2708 rises to the south, but I had not committed to hiking it when I started this little adventure. I wanted to see how things went with the first two peaks. Since they went well with no delays and I was still in good spirits, I decided to go for it.
Elevation: 2,706 feet
• Prominence: 348 feet
• Distance: 4.5 miles
• Time: 2 hours
• Gain: 650 feet (gross)
• Conditions: Warmer, more clouds
PB
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LoJ
There was also the matter of timing. Being noon now, I would be back in Globe in about an hour, but the highway into Phoenix would be closed until 2 p.m. due to blasting near the Queen Creek bridge. I had to use up a couple hours, and I knew I would never come back for just this one peak, so today would be the best opportunity in my life to climb it.
This peak tops a band of hills that lie astride Lake Pleasant itself. Were it not for the lake, they would merge in with Windy Point, which is now an island-peak. The road in toward the peak looked pretty bad, so I kept my car where it was and started walking from there. I was looking at about a mile and a half to get to the base of the hills.
I actually got off the road at first. From where I parked, I followed a track that went down an embankment near the earthen tank, then just degenerated into a cattle track. I angled more toward the mass of Bull Mountain and came upon the road in a minute or two.
The road is narrow and rocky, and gains an apex at about 2,600 feet elevation, then drops over 250 feet in the next mile, angling to the right and paralleling the base of the band of hills, with Peak 2708 being at the far end. The road here was very rocky, a Jeep would be a minimum requirement. But there were some tire tracks so people do drive this road on occasion.
I left the road and started directly uphill, aiming for a saddle on the ridgeline above, the last lowpoint before the summit. The grade steepened and for about 200 feet, was very steep with loose rock. The brush was thick too, and I had to battle it at times, although I also found some lanes too. Fortunately, this segment was short. I was soon on the high ridge.
The top was just a short walk ahead, a gain of about 60 feet. I found a cairn and sat beside it, and snapped a few images. I found a register in a glass bottle and opened it. It had gotten moist and some disgusting mold had taken over. It was a green slimey mold, the color and consistency of snot.
I fished out the papers and pencil. The papers were goners. They just disintegrated in my hands. The pencil was still functional but encased in that mold. I had a scrap of paper on me and signed myself in, and reset everything. I tried to clean off the goop as best I could. I fully expect that my paper will not survive for the next visitors in 2030 or so.
The views were very good. The sun's angle was such that it allowed for Lake Roosevelt's waters to reflect the terrain almost like a mirror. Looking back east at the Sierra Ancha, the clouds were getting more abundant. This time of year, thunderstorms are not a concern. But I would later learn, there had been a very small low-pressure cell pass through northern Arizona and this was some of its effects. Above me it was clear and pleasant.
I retreated the same way and was back to my car, the time a little before 2 p.m., meaning this hike had taken a couple hours. It wasn't an amazing peak but it was worth the effort and I am glad I hiked it. Lists of John showed three previous visitors (Bob, Nick and his son). I may be the only person in the world, or ever, to climb all three of these peaks.
I changed into more comfortable clothes and drove back out to the highways. It took me almost an hour to get back into Globe, and another 90 minutes to get into the city. I had a cheap hotel reserved as I had a doctor's appointment the next day and wanted to be clean and rested when I went to see them. Some of those clouds had developed into small cells and there was some virga falling on the highest peaks.
The statistics for this peak include the 250-foot drop and its regain, both on the way in and as I exited. By the end, I was tiring and regaining that 250 feet wasn't very fun.
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