Graham County High Point Trip Report
Mount Graham
Date: July 19, 2003
Author: Scott Surgent
This was my second visit, first since May of 2000. Not much new to report regarding the legal access issues,
but I have a few thoughts on that matter anyway.
We stayed the night in Safford on Friday, and drove up the highway (AZ-266) to the end of the pavement
and beyond to a camping area, from which we gained the jeep trail and the 'main' road to the summit.
In other words, same route as I did in 2000 and presumably that of many others. After a week of temps of
115, 116 and 117 and lows in the 90s in Phoenix, it was *wonderful* to be up in the high country with
gentle breezes and temps in the 70s. We made the hike up in 1:45, and down in 1:30. Lots of insects.
This makes AZ HP #5 for Beth, and #5 for my 2nd go-round.
Random comments
The mountain, we found out afterwards, was closed for a few days the previous week after lightning had
started 4-5 small fires, all of which were quickly extinguished. Our timing was good. Rain had fallen the
night before and the ground was damp most of the way up. Storm clouds were building as we descended.
The route up the jeep path is so obvious and defined I concluded a lot of people must hike this,
relatively speaking. Yet the summit register held just a dozen of or so entries, and I recognized most:
Richard C, Gail H, EE, Adam, Ken A, Jobe, plus a few random stragglers, and one entry of over a dozen names
belonging to a family on a reunion (more below). So I guess most hikers still don't bother with the summit.
The family who held a reunion on the mountain were subjects of a search by many agencies in central AZ,
including Maricopa county, when the grandparents, who were setting this whole thing up,
got lost on a scouting visit. Both were found alive in critical condition. After they recovered,
they went ahead with the reunion and it was nice to see all those names in the register.
Also, a search team signed in as well. The only other name of interest was that of a U of AZ policeman.
The summit is still closed to the public, and I can only conclude that there aren't a higher numbers of stealths
because the obvious route is the only one that is posted (i.e., from the end of the main highway at the gate).
The jeep route is not posted. Although the summit is Coronado National Forest land, it is patrolled by the
UA police because of their telescopes, and I assume they pretty much stick to the jeep roads between the
actual observatory complexes and the summit. I can't imagine the National Forest or the UA posting
sentries on the main southerly approach. I have to think that they really don't mind hikers and just don't
want anyone vandalizing the observatories which are over a mile away. In other words, you'd have to really
make an effort to get caught!
The next day we drove out to the town of Klondyke and into the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness area,
which has some awesome cliffs but hiking isn't allowed without a permit, and we didn't have the permit,
so we figured we'd come back some other time when it's cooler. Klondyke is an old boom town that was big in the
1920s and now has about 10 people, and is 30+ miles on dirt road from the nearest paved route.
But they do have a functioning general store and it is the last place for drinks for the few visitors
to Aravaipa Canyon. Very interesting.