Mount Ballard 7,370′ and Fissure Peak 7,375′
Southern Arizona
Total Time: 4:30
Distance: 4.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 2100
Crux: Class 2
Companions: Holly, Cara and Steve Whittingham
Trailhead: Old Mule Pass, no services
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Bisbee is a small mining town in southeast Arizona. Nestled in the Mule Mountains, the once booming copper mine has become a haven for the eccentric and a fun weekend getaway. Not high above town are two summits- Mount Ballard and Fissure Peak, each vying for the Mule Mountain range highpoint and status of an Arizona P2K. Luckily they’re quite close, and most people tag them both to ensure they’re hitting the highpoint. After a Thanksgiving full of rain, the guilt of overeating for several days was the catalyst for the steep hike for our group. We parked at Mule Pass above the tunnel entering Bisbee.
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AllTrails reports that the route enters private property, but the use trail starts north of a barbed wire fence and it seemed to me we didn’t need to cross any private land starting out. The trail quickly gained a ridgeline and the two summits were in clear sight 1000′ above.
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There was much grumbling among the group as we started up the steep but easy to follow use trail, following the ridgeline more or less directly. After a few shallow false summits, the use trail cut across the northern facing slopes, bring us across some patches of snow that had fallen in the higher elevations from the Thanksgiving storm. The mix of ice and mud made footing a bit challenging at time, but small rocks jutting out provided just enough traction to keep anyone from falling.
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We thought we were at the summit of Ballard only to find ourselves on the last false summit, with a forest of tall cholla covered in snow to navigate. Another 5 minutes along the use trail brought us to the top of Ballard with incredible views of Miller Peak across the valley coated in snow. Although brushy, you could see the snowy Chiricahuas to the east and numerous peaks across Mexico to the south.
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Fissure Peak dominated the view to the south, and trip reports said the route there was considerably brushier than the route up Ballard had been so far. A bit of backtracking brought us to the much thinner route to Fissure, descending about 300′ to the saddle between the summit before reclimbing almost the identical amount.
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We indeed found the use trail up Fissure Peak to be much fainter, and we had to dodge yucca and brush up the ridgeline past a deep gully below the summit for which the peak is named.
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The summit of Fissure Peak less obstructed views compared to Mount Ballard, and we enjoyed the views of snowy Miller Peak to the west, the Chiricahuas to the east, and Mount Lemmon and Mount Graham to the north.
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The summit only sees 6-7 people per year, and we signed into the register before heading back the way we came. We passed the only other hiker of the day at the saddle between the two summits, making our way back much quicker now knowing the path of least resistance through the brush.
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Back on the more established use trail heading up Ballard, we quickly descended back to Mule Pass, taking about an hour to descend over 1000′. Back at the car, we left Bisbee and headed into Tombstone for a round a drinks before driving back to Tucson for the night.