Granite Mountain 7626′, Granite Mountain Throne 7295′ and Granite Mountain Overlook 7185′
Sonoran Desert
Total Time: 6:20
Elevation Gain: 3000′
Distance: 11.0 miles
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Metate Trailhead, pit toilets
During a weeklong trip back to Arizona, I failed miserably at finding a climbing partner for attempting anything technical in Sedona. I briefly considered climbing Weaver Peak, the closest P2K summit to Phoenix I had left to climb, although it’s known to be a notorious bushwack which wasn’t how I envisioned my day to myself. After perusing the map of Arizona, I realized I had never actually been to the summit of Granite Mountain, the striking summit above the town of Prescott. Although I had been climbing on the huge cliff face partway up the mountain, most recently on the multi-pitch of Dislocation Buttress, I had not ventured higher up the mountain. With the goal of getting back to Phoenix for dinner, I left our rental early, driving north on I-17 through endless construction and hooked northwest towards Prescott. It was about 7:45 when I set off from the otherwise empty Metate trailhead, quickly connecting with the main trail to Blair Pass.
The massive central cliff of Granite Mountain was striking in the morning glow, home to a number of numerous classic climbs, all of which were currently closed due to falcon nesting. I reached Blair pass in under 30 minutes and turned north, the trail more aggressively gaining elevation as it switchbacked up the mountain. I took a short break at the climbers turn off use trail as it was just on the edge of shadow and would be my last respite from the sun for some time. I looked up at Dislocation Buttress above, the rib of rock splitting the easier Swamp Slabs from the harder climbing on the central face.
Once the sun crept over the cliff I started moving again, quickly climbing over 7,000′ to a shallow saddle between Granite Mountain Throne to the west and the overlook and end of the trail to the east. The trail does not actually go to the summit itself, but rather an overlook a few hundred feet above the top of the main cliff face.
Having never been to the overlook, I decided to stop their first, briefly entering a burn scar before winding through a patch of tall healthy pines. The trail abruptly dead ends at a small rocky outcrop, although there was an interesting looking granite subpeak just above the end of the trail. I decided it would be worth the scramble, and follow a faint use trail to a nice class 3 slot on the southwest face, topping out on the sub peak ~1.5 hours from the start.
The views were excellent to the south, with the main summit of Granite Mountain dominating the terrain to the north and east. I scrambled off back to the trail and backtracked to a very obvious junction and well traveled use trail splitting a grouping of healthy pines.
Easy to follow at first, the use trail followed a drainage in and out of the burn scar, eventually reaching an excellent campsite in a stand of pines beneath some granite slabs. Beyond the campsite, the path became a bit more difficult to follow with numerous cairns scattered across the mountainside.
I attempted to follow the cairns as best I could until it seemed I was trending too far east, eventually cutting up a gully more directly towards the summit. I did have a GPS track downloaded with me, although I resisted the temptation to check it often, trying to strike a balance between adventure, efficiency and too much bushwacking. But cross country travel was relatively tame by Arizona standards, and I found some cairns at the top of the gulley, now just a few hundred feet below the summit. From afar, it looked like the highpoint was surrounded by cliffs to the west with an easier slope to the south and east. However, up close, it was easy to see that “cliff” was a fractured rock face with numerous ramps, and there was likely multiple options to scramble up and through. But I trended towards the easier option, following cairns up the southern slopes until I lost them again hitting the western summit before 10:30 AM.
From there, it was clear there were at least two more summits to the east that were higher, and I scrambled over to the central summit first, finding a benchmark but no register, then the highest eastern summit finding the register and second benchmark. I took a long break at the summit, enjoying the hazy views of the San Francisco Peaks to the north and the Red Rock of Sedona partially hidden by Woodchute Mountain. Despite the lack of a true trail, the summit was more popular than I realized, seeing several parties a week during the spring and fall.
From above, I could see a more obvious use trail following a prominent drainage below, and I aimed for this as I dropped off the summit, picking up a well cairned path as I descended. I was able to follow this fairly well until I reached the indistinct ridge at the top of the gulley I had ascended. Finding this not too pleasant on the way up, I took a different path down although was quickly cliffed out, ultimately needing to traverse back to the same gully to reach the basin and pined campsite where I took a break in the shade of the large trees. I had overall made great time, and looked like I would probably have time to tack on the unofficially named summit of Granite Mountain Throne to the west. Heading back to the shallow saddle west of the overlook, I found Granite Mountain Throne to be less than a half mile off the trail, although with a few false summits in between.
I calculated a quick turn around time to ensure I’d be back by dinner and started cross country up the slopes, finding plenty of patches of granite to stay above the brush. Getting over the first small false summit was easy, but I quickly encountered the worst brush of the day on the far side.
I had hoped to pick up a game trail straight up slope to the highpoint, but needed to cut a ways to the north to find larger pockets of granite to scramble over the thorns and chapparal. I found a number of cairns just below the summit, featuring an impressive class 3 summit block, overhanging on most side but with an easy ramp on the northwest aspect.
It took 35 minutes to hit the summit from the trail, a few minuted behind my intended schedule but easy to make up on the descent. I dropped off to the north, this time swinging wide to avoid the worst of the brush and finding a faint ducked path that helped me avoid the worst of it. It was 1 PM when I reached the trail and I charged downhill back towards Blair Pass, pausing only to dump water on myself now in the peak heat of the day. I ran into the first hikers of the day in the valley below Blair Pass and hit the car exactly at 2 PM, my goal finishing time to the minute. After a quick rinse and change of clothes, I headed back to Phoenix for dinner.
Hmm, I didn’t realize there were trails to those mountains. I guess humans are like billie goats…get into anything lol. In my youth, I had hiked a lot but not now with knee problems and all.
What did you have for dinner😉😁