Four years, four long years! That’s how long I’d been working on this list, and now it was almost done. The list was the biggest, boldest thing I’d ever done. Creating the list was the first step, then heading out and climbing the 205 peaks on the list of all of the Arizona mountain ranges was what obviously had to be done next. What a journey it had been, and the end was now in sight. A few more trips would wrap things up, and so it was that in early November of 1989, I found myself leaving home once again for a stay of several days in the mountains, where I’d camp and climb.

I was living in Tucson, and on a Friday, November 3rd of 1989 to be exact, I left home around eleven in the morning and headed north. Wrangling my way through metro Phoenix and to its far northeast side, I ended up at the Cave Creek Ranger Station. The staff there was very helpful, and their knowledge of the back roads in the Tonto National Forest helped me plot a course to my destination. Their station was along Cave Creek Road, near where the road to Bartlett Lake headed east. This was the start of my back-road adventure, and I called it Mile 0.0

For a short distance, this Cave Creek Road, known as Road 24 in Forest Service parlance, passed by the Tonto Hills subdivision, then headed north into the hills. It passed Rackensack Canyon, then followed the upper part of Cave Creek for a bit. After 11.3 easy miles, I arrived at Seven Springs campground. Continuing north, I followed Little Maggie May Creek, then climbed up on to Magazine Mesa. At the 15-mile mark, I arrived at a junction with Road 41.

Now I took a major change of direction, heading west instead of north. The road climbed up to about 4,300 feet just south of Magazine Mountain, then spent the next several miles dropping gradually down to about 3,200 feet at Sycamore Canyon. There I was, just over 20 miles out from the ranger station. The road had been pretty decent so far. I crossed New River, then headed north along Road 37. Climbing once again, I reached 3,740 feet at the 23.7-mile mark. A locked gate was just ahead of me. Now it was time to head west along Road 603, which I drove for a mile and a half and parked.

An easy climb put me quickly on top of something called Red Ridge, at 4,434 feet elevation. There was no sign of any previous visit. Back down to the truck, parked at 4,170 feet, I decided to call it good. I’d camp there for the night at the side of the road. I was 25.2 miles from the ranger station, and it appeared that I had this part of the New River Mountains to myself. I prepared a hot meal and turned in for the night.

The next morning, at first light, I lit out on foot to climb my first peak of the day. I started down the dirt road, and when I had climbed about 200 feet, I left it and headed cross-country, passing just north of Point 4556. That put me on a ridge which ran north-northwest. From down below, it looked like it wasn’t too brushy a route. There was a lot of rock, though. As I neared the top of the ridge, I crossed several false summits, then arrived on top of Benchmark Mountain. There was no register, so I built a cairn and left one.

Not lingering, I dropped off the west side, losing 300 feet in the process. Up and down over several bumps, I passed the upper end of Top of the Mountain Canyon as I traveled the ridge connecting Benchmark Mountain to its higher neighbor, Peak 5936. This was the highest point of the New River Mountains, and I saw a group of 7 deer as I was on the ridge. I scrambled up the southeast side of the summit, and was surprised to see no sign of a previous visit. However, I know that records show that Bob Moore from Phoenix had been there 4 years earlier. I left a cairn and register on this one too. The next 2 photos are courtesy of climber Scott Peavy. This first one shows the summit block of the high point.

This next one is a view from the high point, looking back to the southeast to Benchmark Mountain, the peak I’d crossed earlier.

For any number of reasons, I decided not to head back the same way I’d come up. Dropping south from the summit, I was soon on its long southeast ridge – this I followed down until I reached Lion Canyon at around 4,500 feet elevation. The canyon would lead me right down to the road below.

The canyon was quite brushy in spots, and there was plenty of water in it. While dropping the last 400 feet in the canyon, I decided to arm-wrestle with a prickly-pear cactus, and the cactus won (I was picking those fine, hair-like stickers out of my skin for days afterwards). Once I reached the road, I followed it east and uphill, passing by Tunnel Spring, to arrive back at my truck after a mile and a quarter of road-walking. The entire climb of the two peaks had taken a total of 4 hours.

A couple of guys on dirt bikes were at my truck. They soon departed for places unknown, and I got ready to leave. Turning my truck around, I headed back east on Road 603, then south on Road 37. There were hunters everywhere, maybe the Saturday had drawn them out of the city. Their vehicles were parked along the road and they were walking. In my experience, hunters never venture far from their vehicles.

I topped a rise, and there’s a horse, all saddled up, sans rider, running up the road towards me. Then I saw a woman on a horse crossing a hill, shouting to me “Stop that horse!” By then, he has passed me. I ran after him, shouting “whoa” and whistling at him. He didn’t stop. The woman galloped past me and shouted “Thanks for trying”. Hell, I wouldn’t have a clue as to how to stop a runaway horse if my life depended on it. A mile later, I met her son, horseless – he was walking up the road towards where the woman and the runaway were. I moved on, continuing south on Road 37.

When I reached Road 41, I had a decision to make. I could either continue east the way I’d come in yesterday, driving the many miles back to Cave Creek, or I could try something different. There were a couple of other peaks on my agenda, and they were basically in an area to the west. Road 41 did continue to the west, losing elevation and exiting the New River Mountains, eventually depositing one at Interstate 17. Why I hadn’t come in that way, I don’t know. It was certainly far shorter than the route I’d used from Cave Creek – maybe I’d heard that it was too rough. Today, 33 years on, I don’t recall.

What the hell, I decided to go for it and drive on Road 41 to the freeway. I was at 3,130 feet elevation at the junction. Away I went, heading southwest along the channel of the New River. There were a few corrals along the way. I passed through Cholla Basin, and a couple of miles later left national forest land and entered Arizona State Land. On Table Mesa Road, I finished the 13 tooth-rattling-mile drive to reach Interstate 17 at around 2,200 feet elevation. I didn’t need 4WD anywhere along those 13 miles.

Once on the freeway, I headed south for 12 quick miles and took the exit on to Arizona Highway 74. I gassed up, then headed west for several miles, finally turning north on to the Castle Hot Springs Road. Miles later, I had climbed a small peak by the road, and one farther up in Cedar Basin, both quick. Once back out to the CHS Road, I drove to the start of a lesser road and followed it to its end at 3,560 feet. It had been a good day, and I settled in for the night.

By 6:30 the next morning, I set out, climbing up and through a saddle, then dropped down into Rincon Basin. From there, I continued north up a wash and to the top of Crater Benchmark. It took an hour and a half from my truck, and I signed in to a register left by climber friends Barbara Lilley and Gordon MacLeod. Less than 3 hours round-trip, I saw a deer on the way. Back at the truck, I had to change a flat tire, then drove back out to the CHS Road and eventually to the town of Wickenburg. I dropped the flat off for repair, then drove up the Constellation Road into the heart of the Wickenburg Mountains. Some helpful fellows directed me to the proper turnoff I needed, which took me to the shoulder of Morgan Butte. It was a quick 220 feet up to the summit. Back in the 1980s, this was considered to be the high point of the Wickenburg Mountains.

I drove back into town and picked up my repaired tire, then headed north on Highway 89 for about 30 miles to arrive at a place called Peeples Valley. It didn’t take long to find Sorrell’s Road, which I followed west for 3.4 miles to Sorrell’s Ranch. There, I met the elderly Mr. Sorrell himself, a nice guy. He remembered fellow climber Bob Martin who had been there the previous April. I asked his permission to come back the next day and park on his land to climb a peak, and he was fine with that.

Now that I had that scoped out, I drove back out to the highway and a further 6 miles north to Kirkland Junction. I left the highway and drove a dozen miles through beautiful ranchlands to Walnut Grove, then another 6 miles almost to Wagoner. I turned east and, 5.4 miles later on good roads, found myself in the Prescott National Forest and parked for my next climb. I was 2 miles southwest of Indian Springs Camp at 4,050 feet elevation. This was a beautiful area, and I was camped in a perfect spot, just 900 feet below and less than a mile from the high point of the McCallister Range. I changed my tire back and turned in early.

In the dark the next morning, I started west through open country, fairly brushy but quick and easy. I was soon on Peak 4923, the range high point, and signed in to the register left by Bob Martin. Once back at my truck, I drove back out of Cellar Basin and all the way back to Highway 89. It was short work to drive back in to Sorrell’s Ranch, where the owner opened his gate for me. I managed another 1.3 miles on the road before it was so brushy and overgrown that I had to stop at 5,000 feet elevation. I parked and set out on foot – it was easy going at first as I headed west. As I climbed, it became progressively more brushy, until the last 800 vertical feet were a real bushwhack. I finally topped out on Weaver Peak 2 hours and 5 minutes after leaving my truck. The views were great, and I signed in to Bob’s register. I put on all the clothing I had with me, and really got into the bushwhacking on the way down. I was 3 hours and 37 minutes round trip.

I stopped at the ranch house and thanked Mr. Sorrell for his courtesy, then drove all the way back to Tucson. It had been a good trip, with 8 summits for the 4 days out. Weaver Peak was #173 on my climbed list of the Arizona mountain ranges, so there were only 20 more to climb to finish. Things were definitely winding down.