Maricopa County Highpoint Trip Report
Date: November 3, 2005
Author: Roy Wallen
hiked with Dave Covill
Many of the descriptions on the eastern approach to Brown’s Peak are sketchy.
El Oso Road intersects Route 188 north of Roosevelt. It is at mile marker 255.2
and is 20.8 miles north of the Texaco station in Roosevelt and 10.9 miles north
of the dam at Roosevelt Lake. Take it west from Route 188. Proceed 8.4 miles to
a saddle and take FR 143 to the left (FR422 goes right here). At 9.4 miles,
there is a sign for FR 143 continuing to Route 87 (18 miles away). Turn left
here onto FR 648. At 10.3 miles, you will reach the Pigeon trailhead at the
Arizona Trail and at 10.8 miles, reach the Lone Pine trailhead. There is plenty
of place to park here.
The forest roads were well graded, although with a steeply-rounded crown.
They appeared to have been recently graded. We used 4WD part of the way to aid in
the ascent but a passenger (especially one with front wheel drive) could have
easily made it to the trailhead.
We proceeded up the Lone Pine trail, taking an hour to reach the Amethyst trail
and another hour and 10 minutes to reach the summit. The ascent up the rock
chute is fairly steep and we, unlike Andy Martin’s description, used our hands
much more than for one 8-foot pitch. Dave Covill called it Class 3 climbing,
although there was never any serious exposure issues of more than 10-15 feet.1
We found ourselves getting down into the gut of the steep gulley a few times,
and on the descent realized we would have been better off staying on the
climber's left side (the east side). There was a register on top.
The descent was the way we came, with much care coming down the chute.
We noted the brushy NE ridgeline route mentioned by others, but chose to stay off
of it, preferring ledges to scratches. We took 40 minutes to the Amethyst Trail
junction and another 50 minutes to the trailhead.
1Webmaster comment: Degree of exposure is unrelated to Class rating.
A four-inch-wide balance beam is still just a Class 1 walk even with 2,000 feet of air underneath.