I’m a climber, and at least in my part of the world, the term “death march” has a very specific meaning. I’ll get more into that in a minute, but first, I want to say that in no way do I mean any disrespect to the other, much-more-common use of the term. The usual definition goes something like this:
A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees with the intent to kill, brutalize, weaken and/or demoralize as many of the captives as possible along the way.
Here in my desert southwest, climbers use the term in a different way. I’m not sure if the name suggests that you could die doing it, or that you are taking your life in your own hands by attempting it, or that it wouldn’t really surprise anyone if something really bad happened to you if you tried such a thing. Maybe it just means a really long hard day. Maybe it’s the raw numbers – a lot of miles and/or elevation gain – coupled with doing it in a remote area far from any help if you got into trouble. In any case, a climber’s death march is usually self-inflicted, meaning that nobody made you do it – it was your choice. Of course, it could also happen by accident – conditions could change in the course of a climb, forcing you to alter your route or make other decisions that create the day from hell. In any case, I’d like to share with you some of my own favorite death marches. Again, this list is just from my own point of view – other climbers may disagree with some of them, or would add others of their own choosing to the list. One last thing to note – these treks are to the range high point only, and the figures for vertical gain include all of the extra up-and-down encountered along the way (what I call double-gain). All distances are round-trip, out and back the same way.
Agua Dulce Mountains – this lovely range sits just north of the Mexican border. The only sensible approach to the high point is from the Camino del Diablo to the north. Following old roads on foot will get you down to Quitovaguita Benchmark with no problem, but Bad Guys abound in that range, so beware. Carry plenty to drink, and be prepared for 20.3 miles on foot with 2,300 feet of climbing. I did it in the October heat many years ago – it was over 100 degrees, and I wasn’t smart about it, suffering terrible leg cramps because I became dehydrated. Go in the cool of winter if you can.
Aguila Mountains – isolated, beautiful to a fault and completely off-limits deep in a military bombing range. In spite of that, at least 10 intrepid souls have made the journey to the range high point. The 2 options left to you these days to try to tag it are as follows:
1. Drive to the southern end of agricultural fields south of the freeway, then walk across miles of flat, trackless desert to reach the range high point and climb it from the east. This has also been done by bicycle. Either way works, but you’ll put in a solid 23 miles before you’re done, and this is a stealth climb. 2. You could walk or bike in from Sentinel on the freeway, following a military road all the way. It’ll take you right to the eastern base of Eagle Benchmark, the range high point. This route will cost you 45 miles and 1,300 feet of gain, and is an outrageous stealth.
Cabeza Prieta Mountains – another range right by the Mexican border, bristling with peaks – the way I went in to do this one way back in the day was pretty crazy. There is a road way out in the middle of nowhere that runs from Tule Well in the south to Tacna in the north. I started from that road and headed west, crossing many miles of desert and finally reaching Surprise Canyon, where I headed north and up the slopes of Cabeza Benchmark. I did it so long ago that recent maps don’t even show the old road I followed. I know that the 15-or-so others who’ve climbed the peak went in by different routes than I, and I can’t blame them. My route covered 28 miles and involved 2,500 feet of climbing. I’d never do it again, nor would I recommend it to anyone.
Sierra Pinta Mountains – to me, this was a kissing cousin to the previous peak, because my starting point was from exactly the same spot on the Tule Well road. In fact, I camped there a couple of cold January nights back in 1988 and did the 2 peaks back-to-back. For this one, I followed the old road southeast to historic Heart Tank, then climbed to the top of Pinta Benchmark. While descending the peak, I watched one of our winter dust storms roll east across the desert towards me. I hunkered down for a good sand-blasting until it passed. In climbing this mountain, I logged 22 miles and 2,650 vertical feet by the time it was done. At least 25 people have climbed this peak, and I’ll bet all of them did it the same way I did. By the way, none of them did it in the summer, and for good reason – in hundred-degree heat, this one could do you in.
Trigo Mountains – this one starts way out west near California and the Colorado River. It’s not as long an undertaking as most of the others in this piece, but it is a route-finding challenge. You don’t want to get lost out here, as it’s in a U.S. Army proving ground and is completely off-limits. You need to stealth your way in through a series of canyons to reach this remote peak. Once on the summit, you’d be standing where only a dozen others have before you. So seldom-visited, a 2013 ascent was the first it had seen in 20 years. All ascents have been done from the west, and this one, although it only covers 15 miles, requires 4,250 feet of climbing to reach the summit. Pick your time carefully if you want to try this one, and keep a low profile.
Moccasin Mountains – when I did this one, I started in Utah, crossed over the state line into Arizona and stealthed my way to the top of Moccasin Benchmark in the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation. It wasn’t the 17-mile trip, or the 1,700 feet of vertical gain that did me in, it was the miles of walking on soft sand. It was a slow kind of hell to slog through it, and my legs were really sore by the time I was done. To compound my pain, I then climbed the high point of the Moquith Mountains while I was at it. This involved climbing up through the Vermillion Cliffs for another 2,400 feet of gain to reach Moquitch Benchmark, then coming all the way back down and slinking back north to finish in Utah. Only a dozen or so other fools will admit to doing the same thing. You need to be careful trying this two-fer, as it could do you in – most of us did it in the summer, and that could be pushing your luck.
Pinaleño Mountains – the highest point of this range is Mount Graham, which at 10,720 feet elevation also happens to have the highest prominence of any peak in the state (6,340′). The entire summit area is off-limits to everyone these days, closed in order to protect the endangered Mt. Graham red squirrel. So, no matter how you try to climb it, it’s a stealth. The quickest way to get to the top is to walk along a dirt Forest Service road heading north from the paved Swift Trail. That’ll require about 11 miles or so and around 1,800 vertical feet – not too bad. Just don’t get caught. Or, you could sneak in the back way like Dave Jurasevich and I did many years ago, approaching from the north. We started much lower down, and our 16-mile day involved far more climbing. The very convoluted ridge we chose had countless ups and downs along it, and by the time the day was done, we had done 6,520 vertical feet of climbing. That end-of-May ascent had started in 100-degree heat at the bottom and finished in the snow up top. However, nobody is ever going to catch you if you go in the way Dave and I did. In retrospect, we both look back on that one and consider it a death march.
Sierra de Santa Rosa – this small range by the Mexican border is completely over-run by Bad Guys, smugglers coming up from Mexico working for the drug cartels. You need to keep a sharp lookout when you’re there. There are 3 ways you could try this one.
1. The quickest and easiest way is from the east, from the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. This route is a quick 8 miles and 1,200 feet of elevation gain. Just one problem, though – it’s off-limits. You’d be trespassing, so it’s a stealth. 2. You could legally approach it the way I did. Drive from near the Lukeville border crossing and go east to park at Blankenship Well, then walk east along the border for several miles. Leave the border and head northeast for more miles to reach and climb Peak 2921, the range high point. If you return the same way, you’ve covered 21 miles and gained 1,900 vertical feet. 3. The third way is to start at the eastern loop road in Organ Pipe National Monument known as the Ajo Mountain Drive. Park there and head southeast cross-country to reach the peak. You’ll have to cross about a zillion washes in the process, and not counting any of that double-gain, you’ll have 2,200 vertical feet to gain and 21 miles. Good luck, you’re in for one helluva day, even if you try it in the winter. Try it in the 110-degree summer heat and you’re a dead man.
Growler Mountains – I’d be surprised if 25 people have climbed this one. It’s not that it’s such a long trip – you can park legally and put in your 15 miles and 2,500 vertical feet, but this area is crawling with Bad Guys. Running into cartel scouts in this area is to be expected. If you’re worried about the fact that they may be carrying guns, don’t – just bring one of your own and be prepared to use it when you go to climb Gro Benchmark. It’s de rigueur!
Pajarito Mountains – what can I say about this climb that hasn’t already been said? To see the full story, read “Masked Men With Guns” on this website. Suffice it to say that if you go to climb this peak just across the border in Sonora, you’re in for an exciting day. Most who have done it have started on the U.S. side, crossed illegally into Mexico, climbed the peak, then crossed back illegally into the United States. You will almost certainly be met by masked men carrying automatic weapons, and will likely crap your pants. Although this peak is in Mexico, the reason why some go to climb it is that it is on a list created over 30 years ago that has played an important part in some of our peakbagging lives. The climb of Cerro el Ruido will cost you 15 miles and 4,300 total feet of elevation gain, and has made its way on to this piece because it is so outrageous a climb – the term “death march” could be truer than you know for this one . You can see its location here:
https://listsofjohn.com/qmap?lat=31.3179&lon=-111.1140&z=12&t=u&P=300&M=Desert+Mountaineer
Mohon Mountains – back in the 1980s, there was a real mystique about this peak. How to even approach it? The problem seemed to be all of the private and leased land that surrounded it for miles in every direction. I tried writing to landowners to get permission, to no avail. I finally decided I’d need to sneak in. In a 24-hour push with an overnight bivouac high on the mountain, I finally reached the summit. To do it, I used a mountain bike and my own two feet, but my southwestern approach covered 33 miles and 5,080 vertical feet. Mohon Peak has been climbed half a dozen times in the last 5 years, compared to only 6 ascents in the 23 years before that. Back in the day, it certainly qualified as a death march.
Bates Mountains – the high point of this range is the wonderful Kino Peak. First climbed in 1952 by a Sierra Club team which included my hero Barbara Lilley, this peak has seen a lot of attempts and a lot of failures. For many years, until fairly recently, the area was off-limits to everyone – Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument had closed the area to the public. Why? – simply too dangerous. Over-run with Bad Guys working for the drug cartels, it was a real crap-shoot trying for Kino. Sure, I went in to the area during that time, as did plenty of other climbers – you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do, right? You were bound to see plenty of evidence of indocumentados if you went. During those years, the main ways in were as follows:
1. You could park at Bates Well, then head south. You’d start in the dark and finish in the dark. Many never made it to the summit because of route-finding difficulties on the Class 3-4 north face – Kino kicked a lot of asses over the years. I don’t know of anybody who was stupid enough to try it in the summer. It was a 19-mile trip by this route, and depending on your exact route and how many gullies you crossed, could be as much as 3,000 vertical feet of climbing. 2. During those years of closure, some peakbaggers came in from Arizona Highway 85 far to the east. They were determined, covering 21 miles and 3,300 vertical feet. 3. Nowadays, when all approaches are legal, coming in from the Puerto Blanco Drive to the south is the way to reach Kino. You’ll still be rubbing shoulders with Bad Guys, but you can’t beat the stats – only 14 miles and 2,700 vertical feet. Hopefully, you won’t be among the 50% who fail to reach the summit.
Well, Folks, I’ve save the best for last – these final 3 Arizona death marches will kick anybody’s ass.
Crater Range – the high point of this range is way out there off everyone’s radar, with the exception of the crazy few who insisted on climbing it – 9 are known to have done it. It is a total stealth, as illegal as you can get, deep in an Air Force bombing range. There are only 2 ways to reach Peak 1838, as follows:
1. You can come in from the east, from Arizona Highway 85. If you do, you need to stay away from the main road in Childs Valley, and stick to Ten Mile Wash for cover – you’ll never be spotted there. This will be a 25-mile round trip with only a 600-foot elevation gain. 2. There is another way of doing this climb, but it’s pretty insane. You could park at the edge of agricultural land south of the freeway, then head south-southwest for what will seem like forever across endless miles of flat, open desert. Talk about a death march! This little outing will rack up 39 miles, and only climb 1,000 feet in the process. Don’t try this unless you tell next-of-kin exactly where you’re going.
Granite Mountains – another of my favorites. Years ago, there was a legal approach that got you in pretty close, but that ship has sailed. Nowadays, here are some ways you could get at Granite Benchmark. There are 3 routes worth considering, so here they are:
1. Park at Charlie Bell Pass, and start heading west. You’ll cross the Growler Valley and then reach the range and head up a valley to the summit. This trip involves a mere 29 miles and 3,300 feet of climbing, and is currently the easiest way to do the climb. Seems easy enough, right? Try telling that to the guy who died trying it solo a few years ago in August – the heat killed him – a death march in every sense of the word. 2. You used to be able to drive in from the west – you still can, but not as close as back in the day. Nowadays, that route adds up to 36 miles, but it does have the advantage of only requiring 1,800 feet of climbing. Oh yes, that route is now a stealth across the bombing range. 3.Here’s a third option, in case you don’t like routes 1 or 2. You could also approach the peak from the Camino del Diablo to the south. Only problem is, you’d be declared certifiably insane if you tried this 72-mile monster. It does have one advantage, though – it’s only 1,600 vertical feet of climbing.
Bryan Mountains – 2 of the ways we used to approach the high point of this range are no longer viable, but I’ll tell you about them anyway.
1. I call this the Andy Bates route, because he’s the only one I know who’s ever done it. Years ago, you could park at the northern end of the Granite Mountains on their west side. Andy did that, then walked south down the San Cristobal valley to climb the range high point, San Benchmark. His route involved only 23 miles with 1,100 feet of gain. Yikes, some of you may think that that seems a lot. Well, how about this next one. 2. Back in the day, you could park at the Cabeza Prieta boundary, then follow the old road south to reach the west side of the range. From there, it wasn’t far to the summit. This was the quickest way for the few of us who ever did climb the peak, a sweet 32 miles and 1,100 vertical feet.
Over the years, many of us considered the Bryan Mountains high point the toughest one to reach. Well, guess what – it still is. If you look at all of these death marches, and consider their shortest approaches today, especially the legal ones, the Bryans still win. From the south, their closest approach today is from the Camino del Diablo and clocks in at a respectable 37+ miles and 900 vertical feet. Try that one on for size.
So I hope that gives you a good idea of some of our death marches here in Arizona and what’s involved in tackling them. If you get the chance, come and try one or two of them – it’ll be an adventure!