Date: November 9, 2024 • Elevation: 5,527 feet (Highpoint), 5,229 feet (South Peak ✳) • Prominence: 827 feet (Highpoint), 274 feet (South Peak ✳) • Distance: 6.6 miles • Time: 3 hours, 50 minutes • Gain: 1,507 feet (gross) • Conditions: Clear blue skies, cold at first then warming • Wildlife: About a dozen javelina

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ • USGS BM Datasheet

The Gunnison Hills are a long ridge of low hills rising north of the Dragoon Mountains and south of Interstate-10, between Benson and Willcox. The hills appear to be limestone uplifts, with striation patters on its slopes. This hill-range consists of the highpoint (the "north" peak) and an unranked but locally prominent "south" peak, plus a whole bunch of smaller bumps along the ridge.

From Bisbee, it's about a 60-mile drive to these hills. I followed the roads through Double Adobe and Elfrida onto US-191, then that north and west through Sunsites and onto westbound Dragoon Road. The hills are visible, a long band of gray-colored slopes surrounded by flat desert and rangeland.

I got onto Monzaro Road, which bends northeast and then under a railroad bridge. Immediately past the bridge, the road bends right, but a lesser track goes left. This gate is dummy locked with a sign to keep the gate closed but with pernission to proceed granted. The hills all lie on contiguous State Trust land, but this tiny segment, essentially from the main road to this gate, crossed private land. Once past the gate, I was essentially back on State Trust land.

The road past the gate was rough but driveable. I took a left at the first Y-junction, then passing through another gate. The road bent west then north and started to get much rougher. At a second Y-junction, I went left. I pushed the car up another couple hundred feet, worrying a little about where to park. I found a clearing barely large enough to stuff the car into. This last little bit was quite rough. A Jeep or similar would be necessary to go farther.

The day was sunny and very cold at the moment, in the high 30s, but not a cloud to be seen. There was a gentle breeze but nothing stronger than that. I got suited up and started hiking at a shade past 8 a.m.. I planned to hike the entire ridge to the highpoint (the northern summit), which was about 3 miles away.

I walked up the remaining road to a saddle. I then left the road and started into the brush. The brush wasn't thick and I could move around it easily, most of the time. There was a lot of creosote, prickly-pear cactus and other smaller cacti low to the ground (but no cholla, thank heavens), and a lot of ocotillo. At times the ocotillo grew so densely that I had to make big end runs around the clumps.

I gained about 200 feet to get onto the ridge above me. I could see the southern peak clearly, but the northern peak was hidden. On the exact ridge itself, the brush wasn't a problem. The rock formed into long low cliffs about two feet high that would often allow me a few dozen feet of brush-less hiking, like walking on a bumpy sidewalk.

I simply went from point to point. I gained a small hill then dropped about 80 feet, then hiked up the the next hill and so on. The ridge naturally led to the south highpoint, Peak 5225. It made more sense to climb it directly than sidehill around it. I was on top about an hour after starting. The top is flat with a cairn. It was here (actually, just a little before) where I had my first views of the Gunnison Hills Highpoint peak, still about a mile and a half away on a straight line (and more like two miles following the ridge).

From this peak, I dropped about 175 feet, then up a smaller hill, marked with spot elevation 5206T, this hill with about 160 feet of prominence. Then I dropped about 260 feet to the lowpoint in the ridge, elevation about 4,940 feet. I was still over a mile from the highpoint, but making good time. The weather was warming into the 50s and it felt great.

I continued the march, going uphill to the next point, Hill 5253. However, I did not tag its top since it was offset from the ridge a little bit. By now, I was dealing with a ranch fence that ran generally along the ridge. It was a sturdy fence but easy to cross when necessary. I was now on the highest ridge, no more bumps between me and the summit.

I gained another slope and came to a gate at the corner of two fence lines. There is no road here and probably never was, but the gate was big enough for a vehicle. Maybe it's opened now and then for any stray cattle. In any case, add this to the list of most unlikely places to find a gate in a fence. I passed through it.

Now on the high ridge, the peak just a quarter mile ahead of me, I felt the giddy rush of a job well done, that victory was mine. Then I heard grunting and rustling. Then I see the fat little bodies of about four or five javelina getting up and "running away", which means they run twenty feet and look back. And the farther I walked, the more I scared up. There may have been a dozen or so encamped here.

I dropped about thirty feet off the ridge to give them space to grunt and snort and run around. I banged my sticks but I am not sure if they understand what that means. They can't see well, so they go mainly by smell and sound. They generally are not aggressive unless they feel cornered or are protecting their young. I did not want to find out, so I stayed low but kept an eye out for them. After awhile, I felt I was far enough and re-ascended to the ridge.

By now, I was essentially on the last slope to the top. From below, the peak has a trapezoidal shape with about four little bumps along its ridge. I hiked up the last slope, which was slightly steep but not difficult, and was quite pleased to be at the summit. It wasn't at the far end of the ridge, it was right here.

This had taken me almost two and a quarter hours to get here, with all the ups and downs and occasional javelina. The top is a big rockpile. I found a witness marker and the "Hills" benchmark, set in 1960 and looking pristine. I also found the register buried deep within the rockpile. Andy Martin had placed the register here a few years ago with one of his half-inch pencils. Mark Nicholls had signed in about twenty times. Then me, the first signature for 2024.

The views were fantastic in all directions and I spent some time relaxing and looking around, snapping images. I also took an actual break, having a snack and something to drink. Mountains I could see included Mount Glenn and the Dragoons, Behind-The-House Hill, Mount Adams and peaks alongside the Texas Canyon near Interstate-10, and the Little Dragoons with Mae West Peak. Looking east I could see the Dos Cabezas and Chiricahua ranges way off in the distance, and the Willcox Playa down below. Conditions were beautiful. By now, the temperature was in the mid 50s and there wasn't a breeze to chill me.

After about twenty minutes, I started down. I wasn't eager to repeat all the ups and downs along the ridge. I hiked back down to the lowpoint (the 4,940-foot saddle), then decided my route from there. While up high I could see some ranch roads down below to the east. These also appeared on my map and seemed to agree. They also seemed to head back to where I was parked.

Thus, I decided to drop off the ridge here, heading east. The initial couple-hundred feet was steep and loose, the rocks not consolidated very well. Brush was thicker too, but not impossible. I had to cross into and out of a number of deep-cut arroyos. Once the gradient lessened, I made better time, the ground being more open with plenty of cow paths to follow.

I eventually came to one of the tracks, then started following it south, still about two miles from my car. These tracks weren't in bad shape, either. The Subaru could have handled them nicely. After awhile, I rounded a bend and could see my car where I had stuffed it against the hillside.

The track I was on was the right fork of the last Y-junction I had mentioned earlier (I had gone left). Once close to my car, I left the track and bee-lined it back, arriving at noon on the dot, a three-hour and 50-minute round trip hike, and only about a 90-minute egress. I was very pleased how it all went. The weather was great, the routes were easy and logical, and the views were fantastic.

The Gunnison Hills hide in plain sight, and see very few visitors except for the Southern Arizona Hiking Club occasionally, and Mark Nicholls regularly (I know he lives close by). Access is not limited, but it's not clear how to get close without doing some homework. I had a great time and recommend them. In fact, with a capable vehicle, one could drive that track I followed out. This would place one close (about a half mile) from the 4,940-foot pass and bypass the southern hills entirely. It did not add much distance to my overall hike. The problem is that at the Y-junction, the right fork (looking north) has some bad ruts and washouts where it crosses an arroyo. After that, it looked pretty mellow.

I stayed dressed in my hiking clothes and drove south back to Bisbee. On the way, I wanted to check out a pair of peaks near the Courtland ghost town area. I was able to hike two more peaks today, starting with Mexican Hat Mountain.