Last Saturday, January 15, I left Tucson and drove to the Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct between Phoenix and Quartzsite, Arizona, just north of Interstate Highway 10. My goal was to climb Big Horn Peak, the 180th more prominent peak in Arizona with 1400 feet of topographic prominence. Though Big Horn Peak is way down on the Arizona prominence list, it has a very distinctive appearance and offers a complex route with significant rock scrambling around and above cliffs.

I arrived at the aqueduct and began my hike in at noon. I crossed a footbridge just below a water drop that sounded like a river rapid. The water was running strongly. Once across I followed dirt roads and crossed a locked gate and a barbed wire fence. Then I began hiking directly across the desert towards Big Horn Peak.

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