Hike Dean Peak Hualapai Mountains BLM, AZ

Apr 30, 2021 — Dean Peak is the slightly smaller eastern neighbor to Hualapai Peak, but it looks more interesting from the surrounding roads because of its rocky summit area. Without having a trail to its summit, Dean Peak sees very little visitors. I initially planned to skip the peak today since I heard there was a fire near Hualapai Peak, but I'm glad I didn't bail since the only remainers of the fire were a few visible tendrills of smoke.

It might be tempting to approach the peak from the west from its saddle with Hualapai Peak, but apparently that route is brushy. That route also might be shorter, but there are lots of ups-and-downs that bring the elevation gain to being similar to the route described here. I drove to the trailhead, signing into a register along the main road (I believe since the hike crosses private property they just want to see who's on their land). Reaching the trailhead is doable by pretty much any vehicle, except the last mile or so has a slightly higher hump between the tire tracks.

I started up a very obvious ATV road, which winds around the eastern ridge of Dean Peak. The views weren't particularly nice until about halfway up when Hualapai Peak came into view. Aside from a short section that seemed overgrown and out of character for the rest of the road, it was just easy walking so far. The road continued into coniferous forest, finally giving me some shade. At the base of the steeper southeastern slope, the road basically disappeared and I just started up the slope, some very minor ankle-high bushwhacking required. I thought the approach from here to the summit was really pretty, but it could have just been my excitement to finally get into a new mountain environment desert after a long desert season. About 1000 feet of vertical brought me to the base of Dean Peak's fun-looking summit, where unfortunately some prickly bushwhacking comprised pretty much the final quarter mile. Aside from the the brush, there was a bit of easy Class 3 on good rock that helps to avoid some of the thickest brushy stuff. You can likely keep the route Class 2, but be prepared for even more scratches. There are multiple options for navigating the cliffy terrain to gain the summit, neither route that I took feeling better than the other. Aside from the summit area, the bushwhacking on the rest of the route was nothing to complain about.

Back at the base of Dean Peak, I realized I had a lot more time before sunset and decided to continue along its northeastern ridge to Peak 7141. I might just be a junkie for ridgelines, but I'm so glad I did this bonus! The route I chose started down steeply on forested terrain. As the slope angle reduced, a barbed wire fence continued along pretty much the entire ridgeline, but it never got in the way. I passed some Class 2 granitic bouldery stuff and some really light bushwhacking and found myself at the straightforward approach slope to Peak 7141. The summit block of the peak is a stiff Class 3 heart-shaped (at least it appears as such from the angle I approached from) boulder move. I continued east from the summit along the ridge, some more very minor bushwhacking and pretty views along the way. Rather than continue along the ridgeline, I dropped south into a drainage. I don't know if it would have been better to stay along the ridge longer, but descending from the ridge looked potentially steeper and more brushy. The descent I took was overall fine, just some light bushawhacking and then boulder-hopping within my drainage of choice (Class 2) back to the main wash that would utlimately lead to my car. Once in the main wash, I stumbled onto a very old road that kept getting interrupted by erosion, but it helped to avoid a couple of minor dryfalls. There was also some sections of water trickling in the watercourse.