Santa Rita Mountains Archives – GlassMountains Trip Reports

Elephant Head, Arizona, January 2025

February 5, 2025 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Friday, January 24, I joined a large Southern Arizona Hiking Club outing to climb Elephant Head, a rock buttress on the west end of the Santa Rita Mountains. There were 16 of us, 5 men and 11 women, led by Bill Bens and Tammy Derickson. This was the first visit for many of us. The climb of Elephant Head was more than I and others had expected. But everyone reached the top and returned without incident to our cars in good spirits.

The South Face of Elephant Head from the Quantrell Mine Trail

We met that cold morning in Tucson and caravanned south, then east, leaving asphalt and finishing the drive on dirt/gravel roads. Bill set a brisk pace from the beginning and I tried to keep up from near the end of the group. At a few rest stops I was able to get some photos but otherwise I just kept moving.

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Santa Rita Peak 6280+, Arizona, January 2022

February 10, 2022 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Thursday, January 27, I visited the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson. Specifically I explored the northern extension of the Santa Rita Mountains that leads towards Mount Fagan. Here a ridge of little peaks has over 1000 feet of topographic prominence. However, it is not obvious from maps which peak is the highest and therefore gets the coveted prominence.

Left to right: Peak 6290, Peak 6280+, Weigles Butte, Helvetia BM, and Harts Butte from AZ Hwy 83 north of Sonoita

There seemed to be three candidate peaks. On the latest topographic map Weigles Butte has a surveyed elevation of 6284 feet. An unnamed peak about a mile south of Weigles Butte has a surveyed elevation of 6290 feet (“Santa Rita Peak 6290”). Between these two is another unnamed peak, without a surveyed elevation, but with a contour interval indicating it has at least 6280 feet (“Santa Rita Peak 6280+”). The current consensus amongst peakbaggers is that Peak 6280+ is the highest. Matthias had recently climbed this peak and thought the same. This ridge is quite visible from our bicycling routes on the east side of Tucson. So I decided to visit these peaks to decide for myself.

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Mount Hopkins, Arizona, December 2020

December 17, 2020 by Paul McClellan 2 Comments

On Thursday, December 3, I hiked to the summit of Mount Hopkins in the Santa Rita Mountains of Southern Arizona. The Santa Rita mountains form the southern border of the Tucson basin. The highest peak of the range, Mount Wrightson, rises about 7000 feet above Tucson. It is accompanied to its west by lower Mount Hopkins. Both peaks are quite visible from bicycle routes in Tucson. I had hiked Mount Wrightson in March 2015, but had not yet visited Mount Hopkins. So it was past time to do so.

Mount Hopkins from the Super Trail (2015-03-10)

Mount Wrightson from the Agua Caliente Trail

I drove to Madera Canyon and parked at the end of the road with access to several trails. I followed the Old Baldy, Vault Mine, and Agua Caliente Trails to a saddle below Mount Hopkins on its east side. It was quite windy and cool in the morning, but I was sheltered from most of the wind while climbing up the steep north side of the peak.

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