Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

March 12, 2017

2504m

Flagstaff / SR 180 Corridor, AZ

Slate Mountain is not a mountaineering challenge by any mean and in fact, it’s often overlooked considering its proximity to Humphreys Peak – the state highpoint of Arizona. However, often it is those small peaks that offer better views and this isn’t an exception. The easy-to-access Slate Mountain Trail provides unobstructed vistas of the San Francisco Peaks, Kendrick Peak as well as other nearby volcanic features if weather cooperates. The hike is a mere stroll up a forestry road and only takes about 300 m elevation gain so suitable to anyone who can walk.

On the 4th day of my spring break vacation I happened to have about a few hours to kill and this seemed like just the right idea. The drive from Grand Canyon to Flagstaff only takes 2 hours and yet I had the entire afternoon ahead of schedule. I waited till 3 pm in the MacDonalds of Tusayan before making my drive over. First of all I wanted to avoid the afternoon heat and secondly I was kinda timing to watch sunset from the summit. The drive following SR 64 and then SR 180 due SE was quiet and fluent, but the final 2 miles on the dirt road was a different game. A few muddy sections provided challenges to my Toyota Corolla and not wanting to ruin my new car I opted to park half a mile short of the trail-head. This was still fine as the ascent wasn’t supposed to be long anyway.

The road has quite a few confusing branches and if not because of GPS technology I’m sure I’d have to waste more time searching around. In any case I walked the remaining section of this dirt road to the start of Slate Mountain Trail. The initial bits of this trail still felt like a trail but soon enough it merged onto a forestry service road which would eventually bring me to the summit. There were lots of switchbacks and some seemed totally unnecessary but at this point I wasn’t particularly keen on any bushwhacking so just followed it up.

The views were expansive throughout the hike and that’s especially true for the upper portion. Humphreys Peak and Kendrick Peak definitely stole the show. The summit was, however, largely wooded and more than half of the panorama was blocked. For that reason I abandoned the idea of watching sunset from the summit so after a long rest I started down earlier than what I had planned for.

Going down was nice and easy and there’s literally nothing to note for. I did not go really fast though as the sky was gradually changing colours so numerous photo breaks were in the order. I got to watch some evening alpenglow from different parts of this trail and I have to say it’s well worth the effort.

Back to the car I carefully negotiated those few muddy spots and got back onto SR 180 without any issue. There was still about half an hour’s drive to the city of Flagstaff and once there I randomly picked a burger place for dinner. And then after grabbing the following day’s food in Safeway I moved to a nearby MacDonalds to kill some time. At about 10 pm I went out, drove to a “dark spot” and slept in my car.