Mohave County High Point Trip Report
Hualapai Peak
Date: July 19, 1992
Author: Andy Martin
Parked car at locked gate at 6,800', and hiked up road to Camp Levi.
Here we made a blunder, and headed up Hayden Peak, planning to bushwack over
on the 8,000' contour. This turned out to be very rocky, and after reaching
the 8,000' saddle NW of Hualapai Peak, it got very brushy. Brush was so thick
in spots that it was easier to scramble over the rocks. The highest point is a
big split rock, with the east rock higher. I was able to get up it, but the
last move took a few seconds to plan out.
Nifty view from top. Just to the south
was some sort of "radar shack" with an access road. (On June 4, 1995 friends
hiked to the summit by way of this shack). After returning, we made a
beeline downslope, and found some camp buildings. There was water,
which was most welcome. After getting back to Camp Levi we found a Scout group,
and were able to get a ride with them back to the locked gate.
The alternate from three years later led from the same parking spot,
up Aspen Springs Trail, to Potato Patch Lookout junction, and then to
the SE end of Camp Levi Levi. From here they located the jeep road to
the "radar shack". The last 200' vertical upslope of the shack proved brushy,
as witnessed by the scratches and gouges on the participants.
May 30, 1999 update:
Parked at locked gate, and hiked in on Aspen Springs Trail.
If you have the Hualapai Mountain Park Trail System handout, the route is:
1. Start Trailhead
2. Aspen Springs, Stonestep Lookout Junction at .57 Miles
4. Aspen Springs - Potato Patch Junction at .29 miles
11. Potato Patch Tail - Potato Patch lookout Junction at .60 miles
At point #11 you are at saddle 7,480+, with a small shelter enclosed on 3 sides.
Here you get your first look at the summit from the trail.
Continue on the trail a bit, then drop down in the main drainage.
(At about the letter "P" in "PARK" on the topo map). This is just a
shortcut to the road, you can probably get to it by continuing on the trail.
Follow the road downhill a bit, then climb to a saddle 7,400+. From here climb
to a metal shack at perhaps 8,200', just east of Hualapai Peak.
About 100 yards before you get to the shack it is possible to scramble
up a steep bank and follow a faint use route through the brush.
This is rocky, but not as terribly brushy as some other routes,
and leads to the top. Boards, baling wire, and spikes are found at the ruins
of a triangulation station. The BM "Hualapai 1925" is found about 1 foot
lower than the summit block, it is possible to stand here with your head higher
than the summit block. Actually climbing the block is not completely trivial.
A ledge on the north side with some exposure gives access to the very top,
where a witness BM points back to "Hualapai 1925".