About a decade ago, I was deeply involved in a project to climb all of the peaks in the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in southern Arizona, which had been kind enough to give me a permit to climb on their nation. One fine April morning, I went back out to the Castle Mountains in the Hickiwan District. I had only 3 peaks left to climb in order to finish off all of the 17 peaks in that range. I got a late start, as my wife and I had been entertaining high-school classmates of mine until late on Saturday. I almost didn’t go, as I was feeling rather bleary. In any case, by the time I started out on foot, it was after 9:00 AM.
I arrrived at the village of Ventana, where all was quiet on this Sunday morning. After a bit of rather conspicuous snooping around, checking out various roads at the edge of the village, I found the right one. It headed east through flat, open country. I stopped after three miles, right at the base of my first objective. It was already a warm day, with a predicted high of 85. It was an easy climb up the north side of Peak 2850. Here’s a view from the summit, looking northwest.You can see the village of Ventana – it is a small place, with a population of 135.
Looking towards Ventana
There is no store or gas station. The small church is rarely used. In the far background are the Sand Tank mountains. I suspect that the village’s name, which means “window” in Spanish, comes from either the open cave mouth in the south side of Cave Mountain 5 miles to the south, or the huge natural arch another 3 miles south of that. Another possibility for the village’s namesake is Window Mountain in the southern part of the range, which also has an arch of its own.
Cave Mountain
The arch
There were wildflowers and butterflies everywhere. I built a cairn and left a register on the summit. I was able to phone my wife to update her on my position, then I headed southwest to the desert below. I crossed the saddle and started up Peak 2856, the next on my list. It didn’t take long and I stood on top. Again, no sign of a previous visit by anyone.
Looking southwest to Peak 2856
I had reached a milestone of sorts – this was the 300th peak I had climbed on the list of the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation peaks. It felt pretty good, with about a hundred still left to do after this one to finish off the list.
My 300th peak on the reservation
As I was leaving the summit area, I almost stepped on a snake. It didn’t rattle at me, and slowly moved away, seemingly unconcerned with my presence. Here’s a picture I took of the serpent.
Mohave rattlesnake
My climber friend Dave Jurasevich, who knows about these creatures, identified it as a Mohave rattlesnake and had this to say: the Mohave is the most poisonous rattlesnake in the US, with a venom similar to the Cobra (highly neurotoxic) and about 12 times more potent than the Western Diamondback rattlesnake. Getting tagged by a Mohave is a very grave thing indeed as cardiopulmonary function is quickly affected, causing cardiac arrest, cessation of breathing and death. You want to steer clear of those guys at ALL costs!!
I dropped off the peak to the north down to the valley below, crossed a low saddle on the west ridge of Peak 2850 and before long I had returned to my truck. 2 hours 25 minutes had been spent in climbing the two peaks.
I drove part of the way back to Ventana, and parked by a large man-made tank which still had a surprising amount of water in it. For those of you who don’t live here in the desert, we call a pond a tank. It’ll be bone-dry in another month, though. Since this next climb was so short, I brought up to the summit a register in a half-gallon jar. I try to use up the heavier ones on the shortest climbs. I left it in a cairn I built on the summit of Peak 2650 , then went back down to the truck.
Peak 2650
I wanted to include this last photo. These brilliant blue flowers were common in the area – I don’t know what they’re called, but I sure enjoyed seeing them.
Desert flowers
This short climb was the last of the 17 peaks in the Castle Mountains. This range doesn’t boast high peaks, but what a variety! Two of them are roped technical climbs. One (the range high point) is a fun Class 4 romp involving route-finding. One has a big cave. Another has a huge rock arch. And the entire range has great natural beauty.
These three easy peaks had taken so little time that here I was heading back home by 12:45 PM. About an hour into my trip home, I was just east of the town of Sells on Highway 86 when I noticed a helicopter circling ahead of me. As I drew level with it, I saw an undocumented immigrant with a small backpack walking nonchalantly along the side of the road. It was a Border Patrol chopper, and I’m sure they picked him up soon after I had passed. Otherwise, the trip home was uneventful.