Mount Tipton DPS

Updated: December 02, 2013
Post By: Matthew Hengst

What:
Mount Tipton (7,148')
When: December 2nd, 2013
Where: Near Kingman Arizona
Who: Matthew Hengst, Kristen Lindbergh
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

This was the 6th and final day of the 2013 Turktacular and rather than bum around Sedona for part of the day I wanted to grab a peak a little closer to home.

Tipton is in the northwestern corner of Arizona just north of Kingman but close enough to the California border where the drive home after was reasonable. Also unlike many of the peaks on the DPS list there isn't anything obvious nearby to combine it with if you want to drive out there for the entire weekend. (I've seen it listed with Spirit but I'd already done that with McCullough for last years Mustache Mosey)

The trailhead isn't the easiest to find particularly in the dark. The initial turn off 93 was hard to find, the dirt road near the start had us swimming in loose sand, and near the supposed 2wd and 4wd trailheads things get decidedly high clearance if never actually 4wd. Trailhead details vary a bit between the usual sources but the climber.org version is as always the most reliable.

After a few false turns we eventually we pulled up to the wilderness boundary and passed out.

The next morning we got moving after breakfast and were finally able to have a look around.

One might be tempted to think the peak was the interesting thing in the background...

But it's not. Those are Cerebat Pinnacles and while they look increasingly interesting as you get higher they are quite a bit lower than Tipton which is off to the right in the first picture.

The first part of the hike past the barrier follows the old road. This made for easy going but somehow we lost it at Indian Springs and ended up doing a bit of bushwhacking until we reconnected. Soon after the road petered out by a small closed contour and we cut off to the east following some occasional ducks.

It wasn't fast going terrain wise but the navigation was easy. Basically climb up the drainage to the southwest swinging south until you can jump on the western ridge of Tipton. From here you just pound out the gain up the ridge.

We had an easier time coming down sticking to the far western drainage hugging the hillside instead of the more central one we'd taken going up. Both had occasional ducks with bushes to thrash through in between. Also once on the western ridge it's better to stick to the rocks right on the ridge instead of the vegetation filled slope.

The higher up you go the prettier it gets with increasingly dense trees and a somewhat lessened supply of prickly bushes.

The register up top dated back to 1974 and was full of familiar names.

The way down went quickly though we were in the dark one we got off the ridge.

The drive back to Orange County proved to be rather brutal after the previous nights limited sleep. We were on the road late enough dinner had to consist of a quick stop at a truck stop Denny's at Kingman and we didn't make it back to Orange County until 3 am or so..