Mount Humphreys, AZ and Beyond

• Destination: Mount Humphreys (12,633')
• Date: March 10, 2009
• Starting Point: Arizona Snow Bowl Parking Lot (ca.9300')
• High Point: Mount Humphreys summit (12,633')
• Round Trip Distance: ca.8 miles
• Equipment: The ten essential, snowshoes or skis depending upon conditions
• Difficulties
Routefinding (all trail once snow melts), moderate snow

Having a break from the onslaught of work I decided to get away from the rain and head south. Aside from the fact that my parents live, for the most part, in Arizona I was also drawn to the area by several other attractions up to and including the sun.

I flew into Las Vegas where I rented a car and headed east to Lake Mead. It took well over an hour to drive the first 17 miles to Lake Mead. While Hoover Dam is certainly an impressive man made structure I had spent the last year looking up at the highest dam in Washington so I was more annoyed by the traffic than impressed by the engineering. The new section of highway that includes a massive bridge over the Colorado River above the dam is over schedule and presumably over budget.

My first stop was Flagstaff Arizona where I intended to hike to the summit of Mount Humphreys the next day. At 12,633 Mount Humphreys is the highest peak in Arizona but it would have to wait until another day as snow and high winds hit the area the day after my arrival. Oh well, there were other things to see, like the Grand Canyon... I have seen it but would like to return someday to actually explore it.

After the day of snow and high winds the weather reverted back to the norm for Flagstaff: cold and windy. The ascent of Mount Humphreys is via a trail which I lost about the time I found it but there are no real mysteries. I hiked up to eventually gain the ridge connecting Mount Humphreys and Agassiz Peak which is all part of the Humphreys massif, the remnants of a once much larger volcano. The massif is surrounded by much lesser peak and in general Mount Humphreys is not all that inspiring of a summit but there was more to see in the desert SW... The temperature on the summit of Mount Humphreys was in the low 20's but felt colder because of the wind. By that evening I was enjoying the 70 degree weather in Phoenix.

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