Humphreys hike on Sept. 18, 2007

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    • #6912
      highpointersclub
      Participant
      [Ed: Imported from Americas Roof ‘Summit Trip Reports’ forum]
      [By: Lynn Arave on September 22 2007 at 8:00 PM]

      Got lucky on the weather here. Almost ZERO wind on a peak that seems to be known for high winds.
      It helped too, that I postponed the hike for a day in hopes of calmer weather.
      Very rocky trail here. Given my injured ankle too, I wish I’d have taken at least one of the two ski poles in my trunk along.
      Much of this hiking terrain in the upper reaches of this hike reminded me of Mount St. Helens.
      After hiking this peak, I finally understood the geography of the San Francisco Mountains and realized that you can’t see Humphreys from 95 percent of the town of Flagstaff below. All the vast majority of residents see is Agassiz Peak! (I doubt most Flagstaff residents even realize that fast too.)
      Obviously this is a sacred mountain to many Native Americans and it was extra special. Incredible vistas on top!
      I also find the fascinating that there are apparently no year-round streams coming from these mountains.
      As I recall, one Indian tribe called these mountains the “place of high snows,” but I think another gave it some dry peaks kind of name for its absence of streams flowing.
      I also know the Native Americans do not like the idea of snow being made out of reclaimed water on this sacred mountain either. They have blocked such snowmaking in court.
      Anyway, as a volcanic mountain, this is an intriguing place. A 15,000-foot high original volcanic summit is believe to have existed here, until it collapsed/blew up or both, some 200,000 yeas ago.
      The ranking by many of this being the 10th hardest high point seems about right. I’ve done Elbert and it is a little easier than that.
      You can’t camp above 11,400 foot elevation in these mountains. That’s fact. However, I’m not totally clear on the ski lift usage to hike Humphreys peak. I know there’s a unique flower on the mountain, but it appeared that only a few hundred yards of connection trail would be needed to link the top of the ski area with the existing summit trail. That doesn’t seem like much of an intrusion on this flower and might mean some less capable hikers could summit the peak via the ski lift taking them halfway there.
      I also heard you can’t hike to Agassiz Peak itself because of the flower preservation.
      The Humphreys trail begins at the Arizona Snowbowl’s lower parking lot. You have to look for wooden posts in the upper reaches of this trail at times.
      I also didn’t find a USGS metal marker on the summit. It may be there, but if so, it is very obscure.
      This is a peak you can zip up and zip down, but I found an hour’s stop on top worth the view.
      Took me 3 1/2 hours to summit on a day I was recovering from an illness the 2 days prior. Got down in about 2 hours. I’m not sure I saw one cloud during the entire hike.
      I had one companion with me .
      I somehow went off trail once in the first mile of the hike by not noticing an obvious turn in the trail and crossed a rockslide instead.
      I made a correction back in 5 minutes to the trail, but my companion had already gone down looking for me.

    • #6913
      highpointersclub
      Participant

      Some Questions

      [Ed: Imported from Americas Roof ‘Summit Trip Reports’ forum]
      [By: Ed H on September 23 2007 at 5:11 AM]

      Interesting report, thanks for sharing. Good timing on the weather. What was the temperature? What was the temp difference from the trail head to the summit? You did not mention other hikers. Were there many other other hikers on the mountain on a Tuesday in Sep?? What time of the day did you leave the T/H??

      Thx
      Ed H

    • #6914
      highpointersclub
      Participant

      Did anyone see a flag?

      [Ed: Imported from Americas Roof ‘Summit Trip Reports’ forum]
      [By: Sean M on September 26 2007 at 3:18 PM]

      I went up Humphreys in August and the weather was not so good. I made it to the top but was chased off by approching thunderheads. Not much view in the clouds. I never saw the marker or a flag, but I did see the ammo box register. That was my 10th state hp and my 1st western one.
    • #6915
      highpointersclub
      Participant

      Sept. 19

      [Ed: Imported from Americas Roof ‘Summit Trip Reports’ forum]
      [By: Mark S on September 28 2007 at 12:50 PM]

      I was up there the day after you, Lynn, on a 3-state swing and the wind was just crazy. Definitely no flag up there. Didn’t look for a marker, but if there was one, it probably blew away.

      Trip report on Summit Post:

      http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/340896/western-wanderlust-state-highpointing-2007.html

    • #6916
      highpointersclub
      Participant

      Follow-up to initial report

      [Ed: Imported from Americas Roof ‘Summit Trip Reports’ forum]
      [By: Lynn Arave on September 29 2007 at 5:27 PM]

      I had hit the trailhead about 8 a.m. On summit by 11:30 a.m.
      There was a lady with her dog that went to the summit; a couple from California; a couple from Calgary Canada and also another man who also all summited that morning.
      Very uncrowded day on the trail, along with the lack of wind.
      Temperature was mid-40s at trailhead when I started. It was also mid-50s on the summit when I got there.
      There was no flag on the summit; no apparent USGS marker and nothing outside the register box to indicate you are on Humphreys.
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