Wabayuma Peak, Hualapai Mts AZ

Harlan W S & Jodie S
April 6, 2019

Thanks to Jodie for being so calm about driving her Jeep Wrangler so high; that saved up about 5 miles of walking round-trip.  She was also willing to be adventurous.

If one starts the walk from 4200' at the BLM boundary, there is no need to touch private land, and a modest 4x4/HCV (with careful driving and good recovery equipment) will do. If you don't want walk the flatter boring parts, there is a rough 4x4 road with a small stretch that crosses land owned by two holding companies; but there are no boundary signs anywhere in this stretch, and the land is littered with construction and mining trash. Earlier on, one passes through two small areas of the "Walnut Creek Ranch" which are currently owned by the Francis Creek Ranch LLC and 9N Holdings LLC. There are two unlocked gates, a few "No Hunting" signs, and a sign that says "no public right of way," but is unclear to which road the sign refers.  Most of the land is owned by BLM, and is apparently leased for grazing. The entire Walnut Creek "Ranch," which consists in vast part of leased BLM land, has entered into a Arizona "Reacreational Access Agreement" with AGFD ( https://azaccessmap.com/map.html click appropriate box on right bottom of map screen). I spoke with the folks at the BLM office in Kingman, and they agreed that if the gates were not locked and there was no prohibitive signage, it would be OK to cross the small deeded parcels to access USA land. The biggest warning was that there used to be survivalists up there, and they had killed someone 20-30 years back.

This is definitely not the normal route to Wabayuma, and this page may be the first documentation of the northern approach. The normal approach is by driving on the Hualapai Crest Road, either from the east Hualapais (near the ranger station), or from the west Boriana Mine area.  The Hualapai Crest road is long and in bad condition; when I tried it in late 2017, there were fairly major washouts and big boulders in the road. I may try the Boriana Mine approach, just for completeness; but I'm not fond of 20-mile days that involve running on rocky dirt roads.

2020 Note: The Boriana Mine Road has recently been bladed, a simpler approach.

00map
Location map. One takes
the Griffith Road exit
off i-40.
 00map1b
A bit closer location
map, with land use.
 0map0
Now close-up,
the hike. See detail
maps below for a few
critical sections.
DSC02298
This stretch of 200'
was responisble for most
of our injuries. I had
mapped out a clearer
route from Google
Earth, but didn't check
as we stepped into the
manzanita
 DSC02298jodie4 DSC02298z1mapa
Here is the way to
avoid the terrible
manzanita. Go east
to open ground and
follow an animal
trail.
DSC02298zz1mapb
Same area, but
Google earth rendering.
 DSC02300
Jodie after escaping
the manzanita.
 DSC02301
One of many sharp
peaks in the area
DSC02303 DSC02304
You can avoid
most cliffs by
staying east (L).
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This tree is in a
chute that avoids
the cliffs
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This is the summit
from the NE side.
Because of the colors
I had used to mark the
GPS routes, I thought
the summit was still to
the S, and went to
another peaklet
 DSC02311
View W from near
Wabayuma summit
 DSC02312
That's Wabayuma
to N
DSC02312xxmapa
Here are some details
for the summit. I
went NE of top
to scout a descent
route, but decided
we should take the
devil we knew.
 DSC02312yymapb
Same as last map,
but Google Earth
 DSC02313
DSC02314
Now Jodie and I
start up true
Wabayuma.
 DSC02314jodie12
Jodie's photo of me
checking...
 DSC02314jodie8
DSC02316
View from top of
only "class 4" stretch,
maybe 10-15'. (That
was the comment in
the only TR I found.)
Big holds, no big
exposure. We climbed
down face-out.
 DSC02318
After summit I
immediately
checked down
route to NE;
here I'm looking
back to summit.
 DSC02319
View ESE from
summit
DSC02320
Jodie on summit
 DSC02320jodie0 DSC02320jodie11
Jodie's view NE
from summit
DSC02320jodie9 DSC02321
Hayden (L) and
Hualapai (R) from
summit
 DSC02324
DSC02325 DSC02329 DSC02330
DSC02332
Heading down, about
to drop down cl 4
 DSC02333 DSC02334
DSC02335 DSC02335Jodie5
Jodies pic of me as I
head around E side
of peak on way back
 DSC02335Jodie6
More around E
side of peak
DSC02340
Jodie reaches NE side
of peak after scratchfest
 DSC02341 DSC02342
Possible class 4
way up NE side
DSC02342jodie13
Jodie's pic of me
exploring one
start to NE route
 DSC02345
Jodie feels her oats
and runs down on
old road
 DSC02348
DSC02349
random sharp
peaks W of
Wabayuma
 DSC02351
Koi in abandoned
cattle tank
 DSC02354
Thimble Mountain
to W
DSC02358
Wabayuma from
near Highway i40