Date: January 3, 2025 • Elevation: 3,973 feet • Prominence: 1,093 feet • Distance: 4.4 miles • Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes • Gain: 1,290 feet • Conditions: Cloudy and cool with a breeze, then sunnier as I exited

Arizona • Main • AZ P1K • PB • LoJ

This peak is located in the mountains south of the Colorado River, where it feeds into Lake Mead. It rises about a dozen air-miles north of Table Mountain Plateau, which I climbed yesterday. The peak has no name printed on the map, but it has been known unofficially as Salt Spring Mountain for at least twenty years, probably longer.

I had driven to Henderson, Nevada, for a personal matter, and stayed the night in Boulder City at the Hoover Dam Lodge. While there last night, I got on my device and looked at maps, noting that this peak was "in the area". I had ignored it when planning my short trip so I did not have any maps. But trip reports indicated it was a straightforward peak, both in terms of the access and the actual climbing. I decided I would hike it the next day (today), knowing full well that I rarely get to this part of Arizona any more. With the weather cool and stable, now would be a good opportunity.

I was up and on the road before dawn, timing my drive so that as I was on US-93 in Arizona heading southbound, the morning sun was right in my eyes. Traffic wasn't heavy, and I drove about 40 miles to the Pierce Ferry Road, which I was on yesterday for Table Mountain Plateau.

I followed Pierce Ferry Road northeast about twenty miles (I did not closely track the actual mileage). Just past its intersection with Stockton Hill Road is Greggs Hideout Road, which goes north. Greggs Hideout Road is a wide gravel road, signed as being "primitive" but obviously maintained.

This road runs north about twenty more miles to a cove on Lake Mead. I stayed on it for just over 11 miles, crossing into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This boundary sign was my hint to keep an eye out for the side road I wanted. The peak itself was visible, a long ridge with some cliffs facing east, but nice long gentle slopes from the south.

A little over a mile past the Lake Mead NRA sign, I turned left onto what the maps call Temple Bar Back Road. A small sign on the main road pointed to it, calling it the Temple Bar Ranger Station Road. Trip reports mentioned it being passable, high clearance recommended.

I was on this road for a little over four miles. It was marginally decent. It was uneven with erosion ruts in places, and with segments where the rocks forced me to go very slowly, including stopping once to remove some bigger ones from the tread. A bigger truck or 4-runner would probably be fine on it. My Subaru did well, but it was slow going. I found a track not shown on the maps but visible on the satellite images that went north into a canyon on the south end of the mountain. I drove in about a hundred feet, then jammed the car onto a small clearing.

The day was cloudy with a particularly heavy band directly over head, but mild in terms of temperature. There was no chance of rain. I got suited up and packed, locked the car, and started walking up this track.

The track went north, then bent east and ended in a clearing within the lower foothills of the peak, which for now was a little under two miles away to the north, and not visible from where I stood. I picked a slope and started up it, now off the road, aiming for the main southern ridge. This off-trail hiking went very well, the slope being very gentle and the brush spaced out, light and not particularly pointy.

I got to the ridge, and once on it, the breezes hit me hard. They weren't strong, but strong enough to chill me. That cloud bank was muting the sun and keeping temperatures down by a few degrees. As long as I kept moving, I felt fine.

I just aimed north now, and walked up the slopes ahead of me. I surmounted a couple of easy ridgepoints, then saw a steep slope ahead of me. But once on it, it sloped back nicely and was very easy to gain. This put me on another ridgebump where I had more expansive views of the rest of the ridge, including the summit ridge way up ahead.

The tread was always stable and the plants spread out. I was in shorts but had no issues being scratched or forced to bust through dense brush. I was moving very efficiently. Up next was the "crux" of this route, a knobby ridgepoint that looked like it could be trouble, possibly even with small cliffs.

Once I got to it, the slope wasn't too bad, but it was steep. I took this part slowly and ensured the footing was safe. Higher up, where it looked cliffy from below, it was just some sloping rock faces that had good traction. I was able to walk these directly, just leaning in. It never felt treacherous, and I was soon on top this knob, where I had an unfettered view of the summit now.

I walked down this knob, losing about fifty feet. This was the only spot where I used hands to ease down through the rocks, but only for about ten feet. Then I just walked across the saddle and up the slope to the summit ridge. I came to the lower eastern summit first, then walked along a smaller ridge to the western summit, the highpoint. Gosh, that was an easy hike!

The top had a cairn and a register, so I signed in, plus fine views of Lake Mead and the surrounding mountains. These mountains feel and look like Nevada mountains, and I have to remind myself I'm actually in Arizona. It had taken me a little over an hour to get here, a hike of just over two miles. As I had read beforehand, this was an easy, uncomplicated peak with terrain amenable to making fast time.

The breeze was still heavy and cool, so I didn't stick around for very long. I got down to about that rocky knob, at which time the cloud bank moved on and I had sunnier skies. I stopped often to shoot photographs, now with much better lighting. All of my "ascent" images here were taken as I hiked out.

The hike out went fast and easy. I just had to watch my footing on the steep parts. Otherwise, I walked at a normal rate, and was out and back to my car in about an hour, an overall hike of about 2 hours and a little extra. I was delighted how easy and fast this hike had gone and was happy to have included it into my agenda at the last minute.

Back at my car, I did not change. I just piled in and drove out. The road back to Greggs Hideout Road went better now that I had gravity on my side. Once on Greggs Hideout Road, I pointed the car south and got back onto Pierce Ferry Road.

My plan was to head south. How far I got, that would remain to be seen. I was over 400 miles from Bisbee from here and not really eager to do all that in one day. I got myself into Kingman, then over to the US-93 exit toward Wikieup, where this story continues.