On Sunday, November 4, I joined Matthias Stender and Scott Peavy on a climb of El Capitan Mountain, the highpoint of the Mescal Mountains southeast of Globe, Arizona. El Capitan Mountain has 6568 feet of elevation and 1808 feet of topographic prominence, making it the 92nd most prominent peak in Arizona. None of us had ever visited El Capitan Mountain before, though we had heard from our peakbagging friend Michael Berry that the mountain was very brushy and we expected a challenge.

Scott had scouted out a potential route we hoped would reduce the brush we would need to deal with. The three of us parked along Arizona Highway 77, crossed the highway, and mostly followed a gated primitive road to near its end as it crossed a gully beneath the WSW Ridge.

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