The Mountains of Arizona
www.surgent.net |
|
Ziegler Mountain • Marshall Mountain I returned to Show Low for the first time in almost exactly a year. The weather state-wide was warm but stable, the afternoon thunderstorms not yet a factor. I wanted to get out of Payson for a day and tag a few volcanic mounds on the Springerville Volcanic Field. I had these four peaks on the main agenda, but also left open other peaks as a possibility too. These four peaks --- Ziegler, Marshall, Ecks and Doyle --- lie close by one another and none looked too long. A couple had tracks to near their summits. Afterwards, it occured to me the four peaks form the acronym "ZMED". That was an actor from way back in the 1980s. He was famous for being in something or other, I am not really sure and don't feel like googling it. I assure you the order in which I hiked the peaks was mostly random, dictated by their relative placements to one another and the road net to each. It stands to reason the names of these mountains were named for individuals, but the only reference I could find was for Ecks, named for Ecks Nicholls, a rancher in the area (cf. Will Barnes).
Date: June 6, 2021
• Elevation: 7,721 feet
• Prominence: 421 feet
• Distance: 2 miles
• Time: 50 minutes
• Gain: 560 feet
• Conditions: Sunny and pleasant, minimal clouds
Arizona
•
Main
•
PB
•
LoJ
•
Interactive map
I left Payson at 5:40 a.m., arriving into Show Low about 90 minutes later. Traffic on the AZ-260 was light. In Show Low, I got snacks and drinks, then set out for the first peak of the day, Ziegler Mountain. I followed the US-60 through town to Penrod Road, then south on Penrod and then east, aiming for the hills. I actually took a look at the Twin Knolls first. These lie just east of Porter Mountain. But I did not stay long. They were not on my agenda, and I figured if time permitted, I'd get these on the way out.
I was now on Sitgreaves Forest Road 45, also designated at Apache County Road 3144. The road is paved, then groomed gravel, then paved through one private insection, then gravel again. I could see Ziegler Mountain easily and used it to gauge my position on the road. When abeam of it to the west, I turned onto FR-283, which is still marked as FR-267 on the topographical maps. This decent road runs generally southeast, south of Ziegler Mountain and north of Marshall Mountain. I did not go in very far, less than two miles.
I then turned onto what should be FR-283A. The maps calls in FR-267A and there are no signs at the road itself. This road runs north, up the east base of Ziegler Mountain. The maps show no paths to the top, but a study of the satellite images show a path wiggling from the summit down the east slopes, connecting to this road. This secondary track was better than I was expecting, and I was able to drive about a mile and a half, to a gate spanning the road roughly at the boundary of Sections 29 and 32 (see the map, this will make sense). The track veers west from here. I parked in a clearing and got suited up. I started hiking at 7:50 a.m., temperatures in the mid 60s and sunny.
This track is suitable for ATVs only. It runs west, then curves south, then a long sweep north and steeply up a hillside to gain the upper summit ridge. Sections of this track are covered over in boulders and other sections heavily eroded, with a steep V-channel through its center. Walking it was difficult because the gravel acted like ball-bearings. Instead, I walked alongside the track whenever possible, where footing was better.
The uphill hike covered a mile and only took 20 minutes. The summit was not far ahead, capped by a small cliff of agglutinate rocks. They can be easily climbed from the south, or walking around the back, ascended via grassy slopes from the north. I scampered up the boulders and in seconds was on top. The views were better than I was expecting, as there were openings in the trees to see the countryside. The register was tucked inside a tupperware bowl and in a rock crevice. Someone had been here just five days ago and there were many signatures, many more than I was expecting. A number were hunters. There were random trinkets in the tupperware bowl which suggests this may be a geocache too, which could explain the higher-than-normal amount of visitors.
As usual, my stay up top was brief. I started the walk down, having to go slowly on the steep gravelly sections. I went slow and still slipped a few times. I was back to my car at 8:40, a fifty-minute hike. It had gone well and I was pleased to get one into the books. I drove back to the main road and set my sights on the second peak, nearby Marshall Mountain.
Elevation: 7,703 feet
• Prominence: 343 feet
• Distance: 0.8 mile
• Time: 50 minutes
• Gain: 340 feet
• Conditions: Sunny, warming up
LoJ
Back on FR-283, I went just a few tenths of a mile, then turned onto FR-283B, which goes south past a corral and tank. It ends in a clearing which today had some piled logs ready for transport. The whole area was slightly messy. I parked in the shade of a tree and started uphill. This would be all cross country, so I used a trick from a couple weeks ago: I used my trusty roll of pink surveyor's ribbon to flag my route as I ascended.
The uphill was through a mix of grass, scrub, some succulents, and a lot of trees. I had to zig-zag often to find open lanes. I found a number of game paths and possible human paths, and even an old road bed! I have no idea where it would have originated and it did not offer me any advantages, so I crossed it and continued uphill.
Quickly, I was nearing the top ridge. I came upon a cliff of agglutinate rock, about 15 feet tall in places. This was surrounded by dense mountain oak. I found an opening to its right and continued upward. The summit was not far ahead, and I was there about 20 minutes after starting. The top is marked by a small cairn and temporarily, by some chicken wire leaning against a tree. There were no views and I did not stick around.
I retraced my route downhill, flag to flag, removing them as I descended. I was back to my car soon, this hike also taking 50 minutes but covering less distance. I exited back to FR-283, then to CR-3144, now taking a circuitous route for the next pair of peaks.
Elevation: 7,880 feet
• Prominence: 320 feet
• Distance: 2 miles
• Time: 1 hour
• Gain: 385 feet
• Conditions: Warming up
PB
•
LoJ
I backtracked onto the main road, CR-3144, heading northeast. In a few miles, it descended off a bench and into a small hamlet of homes. The map does not indicate a name for this village, but the town of Vernon is about three miles east. Maybe this is West Vernon. I found FR-44, and proceeded southbound on it. This is a good gravel road that gains a few hundred feet in three miles to situate itself between Doyle Mountain and Ecks Mountain.
For Ecks Mountain, I turned left (east) onto FR-3 (ironically, just after the milepost 3 marker on FR-44). This secondary road was a wildcard, but it turned out to be in fine shape. I was able to drive in about a mile and a half, the last bit on FR-5, to place me at the saddle south of Ecks Mountain. I parked abutting a tree, always looking for a shady spot for the car.
From the saddle, two roads go upward. I walked the right branch, marked 3O (as in the letter "O") on the map. It gained somewhat steeply about 150 feet, then angled left and started a traverse across Ecks Mountain's west-facing slopes. The trail was mostly level along this stretch, and then dropped about 50 feet, where FR-3P spurs off and gains steeply to the ridge north of Ecks Mountain's summit. I followed the track south along the ridge until it petered out. Beyond it, I followed a weak path through the trees to the summit.
At first, I walked to a generic hump of ground with low rock outcrops thinking this was the top. The forest here is very thick with no views. Hiking back, I saw a massive rock outcrop, standing a good ten feet above the ground. It was offset from the hump of ground, but its top would surely be higher than the hump. Thus, this was the highpoint. I scaled the rocks and gave the top a slap, then signed into the log book. How I missed this rock outcrop walking in, I can't explain.
The hike out went well. I cut through the trees from FR-3P to 3O but didn't really save time or distance. I was back to my car soon, by now the weather really getting warm. I had been gone an hour and covered 2 miles round trip.
Elevation: 7,659 feet
• Prominence: 309 feet
• Distance: 1 mile
• Time: 45 minutes
• Gain: 310 feet
• Conditions: Sunny and very warm by now
PB
•
LoJ
I backtracked back to FR-44, then north on it briefly to FR-44A, which cuts west across the south base of Doyle Mountain. I then drove a weak track uphill not very far. The track split, and I once again parked under a shade tree. At least I wasn't parked along the main road.
This would be presumably an all cross-country hike, but the forest here was much less dense, more scattered pinon and junipers than the bigger ponderosa. I just picked a line and started uphill. Not five minutes later, I come across a narrow ATV track. This was unexpected. So I followed it upward and it went almost all the way to the top. It simply vanished, and from its end, I poked through moderate brush and branches to get on the summit, which was open with views, but full of downed brnches and brush. There was no register I could find, and I did not stay long.
The hike down went quickly, and this journey took almost no time at all. The temperatures were now in the mid 80s with an intense sun, and it was just after noon. I had tagged four peaks here on the Springerville Volcanic Field and was feeling pretty happy about that. It was also early, and I thought about other hilltops I could claim. I drove back to take another look at the Twin Knolls. And that's all I did. When I got there, it was very warm and I just did not have the desire to hike through brush. I called it. Four hilltops was a good haul and I decided to get started driving home.
The drive from Show Low westbound across the plateau on AZ-260 went well. It was trafficky but with passing lanes on a regular basis, I could get past the slowpokes and people hauling trailers. Once at the lip of the rim, where the 260 drops a couple-thousand feet into Star Valley and Payson, the highway is now four lanes and I made even better time.
Then, about four miles east of Star Valley, where the highway reduces down to two lanes (one in each direction), I hit an awful jam. We were essentially stopped, only inching along a few feet at a time. Ugh, I thought. It was hot and I was tired and sweaty and dirty and hungry and thirsty. I thought about bailing off at a turn-around and getting on the eastbound AZ-260, then taking the Control Road in, but I think others had the same idea, and that road, when crowded, would be horrible. So I just gutted this one out. It took almost 40 minutes to go the two or three miles to the pinch point.
Ironically, once past that, now on just the two-lane portion of the highway, things moved again, and the last half-dozen miles back to Payson went alright. I tried not to be annoyed, but that jam really sucked. I was home a little after 3 p.m.. I know from experience that Payson gets clogged with traffic on Sundays, and I knew I'd probably get caught up in it today, but I never thought it was this bad.
I was pleased with how the day went overall. I was able to visit four peaks and get out of town for the day. This may be it for Show Low for awhile. Being in Payson, it's a fairly-easy 90-mile drive to Show Low, but once I leave Payson, suddenly it'll be a three-hour journey.
Lidar at the 1-meter scale (dataset: USGS 1 Meter 12 x61y379 AZ USFS 3DEP Processing 2019 D20) reports a summit elevation of 7,659 feet and a prominence of 308 feet.
|
|