Window Peak, Arizona, November 2016

In November I hiked the Ventana Canyon Trail and climbed Window Peak in the Santa Catalina front range. This took me two attempts. On November 9 I hiked the Ventana Canyon Trail beyond its end to a scenic saddle on a ridge at about 6500 feet. I had hoped to climb Window Peak, but I ran out of time and energy to go that far and turned around after climbing 3600 feet. I returned two weeks later and succeeded.

The Ventana Canyon Trail ends at its junction with the Finger Canyon and Esperero Trails. I hiked Mount Kimball from Finger Rock Canyon a year and a half earlier and I savored the view of it rising far above me from this junction.

I continued up the Esperero Trail to the saddle and ridge line above to scout the route and enjoy more views before descending. On this day I saw only four others high on the trails and it was remarkable how distant from Tucson it felt high in the canyon.

Two weeks later I returned for another attempt on Window Peak. This time I succeeded. I took the Ventana Canyon Trail up the canyon and the Esperero Trail past the Window to access Window Peak. The trails were rocky so I took it slowly. I took many photos up high. It was a full day.

I took several photos from the Window, a natural arch along Esperero Trail above Ventana Canyon. Then I continued up the trail to a saddle west of the Window Peak summit. From here I followed the trail across brushy southern slopes to a prominent southeast Saddle. From here the summit was visible as the rightmost column to the northwest.

I hiked up the slope northwest following cairns and boot tracks to the brushy gully between the summit column on my right and another column to my left. From here I climbed over an overhanging boulder, stemming across to a small tree and stepping on a branch lying in a crack beside the overhang to make this move. The climbing was easier above the overhanging boulder and the obvious route lead to a roomy summit.

I carried a small level and convinced myself that the summit was about 1-2 inches higher than an adjacent pillar to the south that would have been much harder to climb. I had a nice view of Mount Kimball and Ventana Canyon far below.

To the east I viewed Cathedral Rock. Cathedral Rock is the high point of the Santa Catalina front range and is the 82nd most prominent peak in Arizona with 1917 feet of prominence. Cathedral Rock is going to be a very difficult outing for me some day.

I descended the same route, taking advantage of the small tree once more. I stopped for more photos at the Window on my descent. The afternoon light was shining through the Window.

I paused beside the Esperero Trail below the Window to view Window Peak once more in the glowing afternoon light.

I had a long and careful descent down the rocky Ventana Canyon Trail. The sun was setting when I reached a viewpoint overlooking the lower canyon towards Tucson. From here I still had and hour and 1200 feet to descend on the rocky trail. I needed my headlamp the last half hour before reaching my Jeep. I have posted my trip statistics and GPS track here.