Safford Peak 3563′
Southern Arizona
Total Time: 3:05
Distance: 3.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 1580′
Crux: Class 2-3
Companions: Holly, Cara and Steve Whittingham
Trailhead: Sanctuary Cove Trailhead, no services, $5 donation recommended
Safford Peak is a rather distinct mountain in the Tucson Mountains on the border of Saguaro National Park. Otherwise known as Sombrero Peak, the mountain has over 1000′ of prominence with a distinct summit block rising over a plateau resembling the wide brim of the namesake hat. Trip reports online describe it as a bit of a scramble with challenging route finding. Some even put it in the same category of difficulty as nearby Pusch Peak and Picacho Peak. Naturally I was intrigued. So on a beautiful post-rain Sunday morning in Tucson, Holly, Cara, Steve and I drove west to a small trailhead called Sanctuary Cove, owned by a religious non-profit and open to the public. Safford Peak rose straight out of the desert directly above, the fresh morning air scrubbed clean by the rains the day before.
There was a network of trails all connected within the Sanctuary, and we headed more or less directly towards the mountain, passing an All Creeds Chapel tucked into the Saguaro and Palo Verde. We continued past as the trail steepened. Somewhere along the way we got on an incorrect use trail up slope, but some easy cross country put us back on track just below a radio tower on a sub peak above.
The trail briefly flattened as we hooked south to a saddle formed by the named summit of Safford Peak and a small unnamed bump to the east. The trail we were on continued up and over the saddle to the south, but we cut up a very well defined use trail to the west, heading directly up slope towards the summit.
There was a group on the descent stopped near a boulder, and in over-hearing their conversation in passing, it sounded like they had turned around well before the summit. Looking at the east face of Stafford from below, it looked as if there was a straightforward line directly up a steep basin cutting across the face. But as we reached the base of the summit cliffs, I was surprised to find that the trail continued south, weaving around the summit to the backside. We passed a wide a loose gully on the south face that seemed like a shorter but looser alternative, and continued on the main use trail all the way around to the west side and high saddle between Safford and Panther Peak.
So far the entire route had been a rather easy to follow use trail, but the last bit looked a bit more scrambly to the top. Still, the route was easy to stay on with plenty of cairns marking the path up to the summit. The scrambling section took at most 10 minutes, and we topped out on the summit ridgeline, crossed a shallow gap, and topped out on the high point.
We sat down just below the summit on the east facing slopes, enjoying the views of Mount Lemmon and the Pusch Peak Ridgeline with some fresh snow, Picacho Peak and the Tortalina Mountains to the north and Kitt Peak, Baboquivari and Coyote Peaks to the south.
We had made excellent time, under two hours, and we took our time at the top before heading back down the way we came. Aside from passing a party on the short scramble section we didn’t see another group until we were back at the main trail on the saddle between Safford and the subpeak below.
Back on the main trail, we followed it south switchbacking to the collection of trails in the Sanctuary Cove proper. Our route on the return took us directly past the chapel, where a few guests were busy taking pictures.
We reached the car shortly after noon, taking only about 3 hours round trip, and finding the hike far easier than Pusch Peak from a few weeks prior. From there we grabbed lunch before driving back to Phoenix, and I kept driving north for a one day jaunt in the Grand Canyon…
