Yavapai County Highpoint Trip Report
Date: May 29, 2007
Author: Ben Knorr
Followed bits and pieces of all the trip reports currently on cohp.org and found
all to be accurate and helpful. I followed the Senator Highway approach and
didn't have any complaints about it at all. The road was indeed quite dusty
towards the final mile or so to the gated driveway up to the summit. There is
much logging activity happening near this gate, so watch out for the trucks and
cranes for now. It should also be noted that there are private driveways around
this gate and should not be blocked when parking there.
I hiked up to the summit in beautiful weather (maybe 75° F at 11:30 AM) and
immediately found the highest point for a quick picture. While I was up there,
John (Jon?) the caretaker asked if I'd like to come up to the fire lookout.
We had a long conversation about all sorts of interesting topics, including some of
his close calls with fire while he was on station in years past.
During our 2+ hour conversation, we overheard chatter on the radio about new smoke on the
eastern horizon. Surprisingly, it was over a hundred miles away but it was
visible with the naked eye. The map setup the Forest Service uses blows my maps
out of the water. If you're in the area, I'd recommend that you drop by for a visit!
It should be noted that John drives his Nissan Sentra up and down from the
summit at least once a week. The gated road looked quite rough!