Mae West Peaks

Off Interstate 10 just west of Benson, AZ is a dirt road passing through some private land then crawling along state land before reaching the "trailhead" for Mae West Peaks, the highest point in the Little Dragoon sky island. An abundance of mobile boulders makes up the ridgelines of this untamed peak; certainly not for the faint of heart nor the unsure of foot.

Getting There

This is not your standard hike-with-published-trailhead. The area is mostly state land with some BLM and private sprinkled in. The primary use appears to be hunting, though I didn't see any wild animals on my trip.

First, get off of I-10 at exit 312 and head north on ZR Ranch road. Right off the bat, you'll pass through a large ranch arch denoting ZR Ranch.

ZR Ranch arch just off I-10

Following this road, the ranch house will soon come into view. If you turn left once you hit the large dirt area in front of the house, you'll see a gate with a sign-in box next to it and a couple of Arizona Game and Fish signs. The landowner has graciously allowed travel across his land via this easement, so please be respectful of the property.

This sign-in gate is the first of four gates, with the last being the one you park at as the trailhead. There's also two windmills along the drive, one right before the second gate and one at the trailhead. Make sure to leave all the gates as you found them, they were all closed when I drove through so that's how they all ended up. If you have trouble counting to four (even a musician can do that!) don't worry because the last gate has a prominent sign on it denoting foot traffic only beyond. Based on Peakbagger reports from ye olden days it looks like you used to be able to drive up further and cut anywhere from a mile to a mile and a half off your hike (with the caveat of needing 4x4). Times are a-changin'.

Daniel Coulter on Peakbagger has a good GPS track for the drive, go check it out if you actually want to bag this one.

Route

The standard route follows an access road up the canyon before the road turns straight up a finger ridge on the north side. The road ends halfway up, terminating at a stock trough. From here, continue up the finger to the ridgetop. Note: there is no defined trail for this hike. I followed others' tracks, but feel free to choose your own adventure!

Once on the ridge, proceed up it to the first promontory where you can either follow Daniel Coulter over the top or Reed Russell sidehilling around the bottom (both these tracks can be found on the Peakbagger page for Mae West Peaks).

Past this, you will be right at the final saddle before the summit block where again you will be faced with a Coulter vs Reed decision to either surmount the rock head on or sidehill again. Either way, the final few yards to the top are the easiest.

Map of the route I took

Elevation vs. Time

Elevation vs. Distance

The Trip

Sunday Morning

Waking up at my camp on the side of the Huachuca range, I had no plan. I had briefly looked the night before at what possible peaks I could do as a consolation prize, but nothing really stood out to me. I had seen Mae West, as well as nearby Glenn Peak, but they both seemed like the kinda hike I didn't want to do right then - lots of cross country and bushwhacking. Plus not a single person that did Mae West said it was enjoyable, simply a box to check on the Arizona P2k list. After a brief moment of thought, I figured I had nothing better to do and set off toward the Little Dragoons.

I deliberately chose the slower of the two most direct routes to get to ZR Ranch specifically because it traveled through the town of Tombstone. Not only is Tombstone a well-known Arizona mining town, but it is also the location of Boothill Graveyard which is featured in Johnny Cash's Ballad of Boot Hill (yes, for some reason "Boothill" is one word when referencing the graveyard, in contrary to the English language and Johnny Cash) . The intro lyric reads directly off Les Moore's headstone and goes like this:

Here lies Les Moore
Four slugs from a .44
No Les, no Moore

Creative back in the day, weren't they? Some headstone inscriber is laughing in his own grave to this day, I guarantee it. Les Moore, mad lad, is of course buried in Boothill along with a variety of other old West troublemakers (and some individuals that weren't). After shilling out my six dollars for entry to the privately-owned graveyard and a short talk with the sweet Southern-sounding desk lady I was able to peruse the grounds freely. They provide you with a pamphlet listing all the known graves sorted by row and number, each with a sentence or two about how they died. At any rate, here's what I came for:

Les Moore's iconic headstone in Boothill

Although a variety of the headstones looked almost brand new, I came to learn that the graveyard maintainers just do a good job putting my sixer to work and keeping them fresh. Most of the headstones are original (in terms of the wood and the inscriptions), including Les Moore.

Amongst the criminals and sharpshooters are also a couple innocents, one of which being poor old George Johnson. He gets a mention here because of the quip some clever guy threw on his headstone (Maybe the same guy as ol' Les? Who knows?).

Poor George's headstone

Some other honorable mentions include Chink Smiley (a Chinese worker), "Two Chinese - Died of Leprosy", Rook ("Shot by a Chinaman"), and one from the list of those who they know are buried here, but not exactly where, whose name matched one of my roommates' names (I texted him and told him to quit holding out on us, tell us where he's buried).

I wandered around a bit longer, but didn't want to dilly dally too much since I still had a small hike to do. I left Tombstone without going downtown, that would have to be for another time when I have more time.

Sunday Afternoon

Arriving at the sign in gate, I was greeted by a barking dog that wasn't my own. This dog didn't leave the front yard of the house, though the owner did stand on his porch eyeing me suspiciously. I signed my name in the book and passed through the gate post-haste to avoid any potential human interaction. I did note the last sign in/out was from an individual the day before who noted he was scouting for hunting; most of the other entries were hunting related as well. I guess not many people want to just hike for fun in the middle of nowhere!

The drive up the ZR Ranch road was actually quite pleasant. There was no real rocky sections to challenge my 2WD and the ocotillo were blooming all around, including another little yellow flower that I am once again unfamiliar with. I really should buy an Arizona field guide.

The unidentified yellow flower - ooo prettyyy

The downside of being a solo wanderer is that there is nobody to hop out and open the gates, which makes the whole process a bit more tedious (I haven't been able to successfully train the mutt yet). This road is also the first time I've been up close and personal with some old-style windmill pumps. The first had a broken pump shaft, the second was working as intended, and the third later on during the hike was stopped. Pretty neat to see these still (somewhat) operational.

An aesthetic windmill photo, ready for the fair!

Another windmill image, pick your favorite

Stopping briefly at one of the stock tanks, I noticed a plethora of massive goldfish swimming around. I had heard of this practice before, but never seen it myself. The goldfish act like a natural filter, eating all the algae and bugs that would otherwise infest the tanks. For remote tanks like this, it makes sense. I wouldn't want to come out here and manually clean the bastard when I can have a few ten cent goldfish do it for free.

Arrival at the final gate happened around 1pm. Much later than I intended, but I still felt confident I could knock it out before sunset at 6:20. I stepped foot away from the truck a short time later, around 1:15.

The trail starts off heading up the dirt access road you came in on, just past the fourth gate. A previous Peakbagger spoke of a pedestrian gate off to the side; I did not notice it (I read that trip report conveniently after I finished the hike) so instead I clambered over the full-sized gate. Just about 0.75 miles up this road you'll encounter the third and final windmill. Another 0.2 miles and you reach the first major checkpoint: the prodigal New Road.

Reading through old Peakbagger reports has become a new pastime of mine. I've come to recognize the names of many old heads and up-and-coming whippersnappers through the sheer number of trip reports these individuals have written and published (some of higher quality than others). At any rate, the reports for Mae West noted that the "old" route consisted of heading up a finger ridge at the head of the canyon and bushwhacking the whole way to the top. Surely the most direct route, but absolutely no longer the most efficient. Route pioneers like Daniel mentioned above were greeted in 2023 by a newly blazed road halfway up to the ridgeline on the left side of the canyon. Both this and the 2021 Walnut fire having slicked off the vegetation from the majority of the Little Dragoons caused the standard route to shift majorly to include this new road.

The road itself is very steep (one guy had driven up it - crazy man), but fairly short at only 0.4 miles. This gets you to a water trough and tank installed on a small flat spot. Here, Dan's (and others') track continues straight up to the top of the ridge. This is the way I took on the way up, but I would recommend walking over to the water tank and taking the nice cow trail to the top instead of roughnecking it (this option being discovered on the trip down).

A look from near the top of the ridge, and a clear view of both the First Promontory and the summit block.

Another 0.2 miles and 150ft of gain gets you the ridge line. A fairly decent grade ridge walk brings you to the next decision point, what I call the First Promontory. Technically, it is one of the three Mae West Peaks, though it itself is not listed on Peakbagger so thus irrelevant to me. Your options here, and from now on, split into the general tracks of two past summiteers: Daniel Coulter (again) and Reed Russell. I had both of their tracks downloaded so I could follow along and maybe forge my own path as well.

Coulter's track takes the more direct, but more technically challenging route whereas Reed's track takes the safe, albeit longer, bet. Around this first promontory, I chose to split the difference between the two. Reed went low, sidehilling a ways below the promontory while Coulter climbed over it. Not knowing how difficult the climb would be for me and the dog, and not wanting to lose as much elevation as Reed did, I chose to hug the base of the rock and sidehill around. Best of both worlds, right? Wrong. Instead of a nice clean little sidehill around the base, I was forced into two small mini-climbs, no cow trails to help, and a multitude of loose scree. I urge you to instead take Reed's route. Cow trails abound where his track leads, making the going much easier (another revelation had on the way down).

A wonderful sidehill around the First Promontory

Once around the First Promontory, I was able to take a rest from trying not to break my ankles at the final saddle before the summit block. This is your second and final decision point. Again, two options: follow Coulter straight up the Class 3+/4 scramble and make your trip exciting, or sidehill with Reed again and utilize the short Class 3 ramp he touts just around the bend. Being tired and cranky at the level of loose crap underfoot every step of the way, I reasonably chose to continue with Reed and the loosest rock I have ever had the misfortune to navigate.

The final saddle, looking up at the route to the summit block

Not only does the small stuff move and avalanche down the slope with every step, but the medium and even large rocks do the same. Disgusting. Oh, and don't forget to dodge the razor-sharp yucca as you slip-slide across this madness.

Upon reaching the aforementioned "ramp", I tried to get Belle to go ahead of me. I knew for sure she could do it, I'd seen her surmount taller cliffs before. But she had one little slip and chickened out and went to the base of the ramp to lay down. Already being halfway up the ramp when she passed me on the way down, I said screw it and just left her. She'd be fine, she's not a runner and she knows her way around the rocks better than I do. I'll catch up with her on the way down. Up the chute I went, and then a very short and very easy walk up the final maybe 40 yard stretch to the true summit.

Once achieving my goal, I spent some time looking for the benchmarks. LIME and reference mark 2 were easy to find, but RM1 was not. I figured it was under a bunch of organic matter so I abandoned my search. As I was turning back to go sign the summit register, who else comes bounding up to the summit than the Rockin' Rez Dog herself! I had been a bit miffed that Mae West would be my first peak that Belle couldn't make it to the top of having come most of the way, but not to fear! The Beast found her own way up, determined not to let dad have all the fun.

Belle happy to have crashed my solo party on top

The view of Dos Cabezas

The view back from whence I came. Hike down that ridge on the right, then the truck at the mouth of the valley!

The view of Glenn Peak - another day, maybe (it's off in the distance, Russellville Peak is the close one)

LIME benchmark - 1935!

It was getting late, and I still had to deal with all the gnarly madness, so after signing the register I moved on. Cool note though, the register had entries from the '70s and '80s from the Southern Arizona Hiking Club (SAHC). Crazy how old some of these entries can be.

The oldest register I have found!

Belle had no problem with the chute on the way down, nor did she have any problem with the rocks. I, sadly, did. Every step was a fight not to roll down the mountain while also getting stoned by my own rockslide. Once reaching the high saddle, I pulled out the trekking poles. What vegetation remained after the fire was prohibitive of such utensils on the summit block.

The Class 3 chute - the 'easy' route

It was on this next section that Belle showed her true colors. She happened to be above me, cruising along, happy as a clam, malice in her eyes, when she kicked a footlong-sized boulder directly at me. I hopped out of the way just in time to only get my pinky toe crushed. Who needs that toe anyway? It just gets banged on everything all the time. I vote we remove it in the next evolution of humankind. After a moment of recovery and silence for my bruised toe, of which Belle took no notice, we continued on.

At the bottom of the First Promontory, I noticed a prickly pear cactus that had a ripe-looking fruit on it. The problem was that it was a number of feet above my head and across a fence. I extended one trekking pole to full length and tried unsuccessfully to knock down the tasty morsel. Belle again took an opportunity to test her luck with cactus. A hole right at my feet had a couple rotting cholla segments in it, and of course she had to stick her snout down in there. As penance for her stupidity, I paused to take a picture before assisting with the removal.

Belle looking too happy for the state she is in

The trip down had no other interesting notes other than the slight deviations I recommended on the way up. There were a few head of cattle around watching us at the base of the steep road; Belle took the opportunity to practice her herding and spent some time trying to move them around while they ignored her.

A nice late afternoon view before heading off the top of the ridge line into the valley

Ok I lied, there was one mildly interesting thing at the base of the steep road. A large patch of very bright white quartz pieces were lying about. Normally quartz isn't interesting to me, but these were some decent size chunks (up to 6 inches in diameter) and they were pure, alabaster white. Typically I see quartz with black veins in it or a little more muddled, but just how homogenous these pieces were kinda mesmerized me. Either that or I was just delirious. You'll have to drag your butt out there to decide for yourself.

The end of the trail was, as always, much longer than it was on the way in. Many more ups and downs than I remembered and I was impatient to get out and find a campsite before dark. Conquering the final obstacle (the locked gate) concluded this peak. Certainly one I will never come back to and glad to have behind me.

Sunday Evening

Since it was so late, I decided to just bust butt down the road and find a good pullout to camp in instead of going all the way out toward Willcox and my next hike. The desert at this time of day and year was a very pleasant 70 or so degrees. At my chosen campsite, I walked around for a bit with no shirt on enjoying the mild weather while watching the sun set. The shower bag got its first use in many years as well; my head was all crusty with dirt from the past few days and it felt so good to wash some of that off.

My camp setup, featuring shower bag! I knew the basket would be useful for something.

The view from my camp was phenomenal! Looking out toward the west and toward Benson from a small vantage point reminded me why sometimes I do like the desert. Forests are beautiful, but sometimes you just can't get the wide open viewpoints as easily as you can in the desert.

The view when I first parked at camp

The view after sunset

Once the sun went down, I crawled in bed. I planned to just relax the next day, but that's not how it went; you'll have to read the Dos Cabezas report to know what actually happened! To leave you on this fine desert evening, here is a very cinematic photo of Belle on the final stretch to the truck.

An image straight from Secondhand Lions