January 1st, 2015
Muggins Peak (1,424')
This was part of the annual New Years trip for 2015. This year it was a long haul out to Tucson with the main goal of finally getting to explore Cave of the Bells after missing out the previous year.
New Years 2015
- 01/01 Muggins Peak (this entry)
- 01/02 Tucson Mine Exploration
- 01/03 Cave of the Bells
- 01/04 El Dorado Hot Spring & home
Muggins, in addition to just looking cool, promised some 3rd class rock and wasn't incredibly long which was a plus since we'd be driving to Tucson (-ish) afterwards.
We got out there late and not knowing if we could camp at the trailhead we elected to drive a short ways up 95 and headed for what looked like a promising area.
We weren't alone at the trailhead. A local Yuma Meetup group was just coming back to the cars after having hiked the loop around Muggins and a second vehicle with an older couple arrived while we were getting ready. Popular spot.
We got a little beta on the peak but it was in the form of things people had heard from friends. So we were either in for a trivial climb or something incredibly difficult we'd be lucky to survive depending on who you asked. Nice folks though.
We followed a use trail through a narrow canyon and made a beeline for the peak.
Out route is the gully between the two summits.
As usual it looked easier the closer we got.
It was standard loose hillside except for this spot which took some care. We came down a different way to avoid having to downclimb it.
Once we reached the saddle we decided to try the right pinnacle first.
This was the trickiest bit to get up. It's going to be a little more awkward now since one of the bottom footholds gave was as we were coming down.
At the summit we found a register in a small white box.
Backtracking to the saddle we went for the other summit. We didn't know if they both had registers or what and everyone wanted to do both.
There were a few low 3rd class moves on the this summit as well. As before the only difficulty came from the fact the rock wasn't completely solid.
The summit had a nice view so we hung out for a while before retracing our steps back to the saddle.
Coming down we left the southwest gully and went southeast. This bypassed a single loose 3rd class section and went faster since it wasn't as steep.
We got back to the trailhead and found we had it to ourselves. For the record there was decent camping here complete with a fire pit. We'd have been a lot better off coming here the night before.
We had some more driving to do and ended up camping at Picacho Peak State Park which I'd recommend avoiding if possible. More here.
We got out there late and not knowing if we could camp at the trailhead we elected to drive a short ways up 95 and headed for what looked like a promising area.
We found the above signs where I'd been hoping to camp (picture from the following morning) so we cast around desperate to find somewhere to sleep. We ended up camping not to far away in a location I'm not 100% wasn't a back corner of some farmer's field but we weren't disturbed for the few hours we were there. It is a bit hard to sleep though when you imagine every sound is the shotgun wielding farmer here to chase you off his land.
We drove further east on the 8 and followed signs to our trailhead.
We weren't alone at the trailhead. A local Yuma Meetup group was just coming back to the cars after having hiked the loop around Muggins and a second vehicle with an older couple arrived while we were getting ready. Popular spot.
We got a little beta on the peak but it was in the form of things people had heard from friends. So we were either in for a trivial climb or something incredibly difficult we'd be lucky to survive depending on who you asked. Nice folks though.
We followed a use trail through a narrow canyon and made a beeline for the peak.
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| Jen & Kristen approaching Muggins |
As usual it looked easier the closer we got.
It was standard loose hillside except for this spot which took some care. We came down a different way to avoid having to downclimb it.
This was the trickiest bit to get up. It's going to be a little more awkward now since one of the bottom footholds gave was as we were coming down.
At the summit we found a register in a small white box.
Backtracking to the saddle we went for the other summit. We didn't know if they both had registers or what and everyone wanted to do both.
There were a few low 3rd class moves on the this summit as well. As before the only difficulty came from the fact the rock wasn't completely solid.
The summit had a nice view so we hung out for a while before retracing our steps back to the saddle.
Coming down we left the southwest gully and went southeast. This bypassed a single loose 3rd class section and went faster since it wasn't as steep.
We got back to the trailhead and found we had it to ourselves. For the record there was decent camping here complete with a fire pit. We'd have been a lot better off coming here the night before.
We had some more driving to do and ended up camping at Picacho Peak State Park which I'd recommend avoiding if possible. More here.
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