Hike Dome Mountain Loop Tonto National Forest, AZ

Jan 19, 2023 — The high point of the Goldfield Mountains, Dome Mountain is a nice hike done on its own since a decent trail leads to the summit. Awed by the colorful cliffs of this little range, I decided just Dome Mountain wouldn't be sufficient, so I formed a loop that links in East Dome Mountain and South Dome Mountain. I approached from the south by entering the Bulldog Canyon OHV Area. A gate with signs mentioning a Tonto Motorized Vehicle Use Permit seemed daunting, and not knowing the difficulty of the roads anyway I just started hiking. The ATV road I took followed Trail #1356 heading north toward the little basin at the base of my planned peaks. There are a couple of spur roads and many unmarked roads, but keeping north did the trick.

At about 2400' an unmarked singletrack trail popped in on the right, my ascent route. I'd be returning to this junction from the left fork later. The trail was in excellent shape as it made its way in a slow ascent, traversing below the western base of East Dome Mountain. The colors here were amazing, bright lichen-covered rock hanging over a sloped cliff. The trail led me up to the saddle separating Dome Mountain and East Dome Mountain, where a far less-good social trail took me east. While I was able to stick to this trail I had to pay attention since it didn't follow the most obvious course. 600 feet of elevation or so later and I was on the summit of East Dome Mountain, which had views toward the Four Peaks and the Superstition Mountains in the distance.

I backtracked to the saddle and started up toward Dome Mountain. Though I didn't see anyone all day, this trail is easy to follow so I assume it's fairly well-traveled. It keeps to the right of a rock spine, then weaves up to the top of this spine before ascending the peak's southeast slope to the summit, never exceeding Class 2. Most hikers will probably want to turn around here since the rest of the hike is largely off-trail and not particularly interesting, though it adds some adventure to the day.

Dome Mountain had some nice views, but I was feeling particularly good and wanted to keep moving. To the south was my last peak of the loop, South Dome Mountain. I spent a minute looking around for the potential of a social trail rather than just dropping straight off the steep slope, with success. However, this social trail is only helpful for the first couple hundred feet of descent, since once I reached the base of Dome Mountain it sort of disappeared and I was on my own through the desert, though there wasn't any bushwhacking and the terrain was relatively flat and easy.

The notch marking the saddle separating the two peaks had a small cliff that I had to wrap around on the right in order to reach. Once within the notch, I headed up the more rugged and lightly brushy slope to South Dome Mountain. I found it easiest to keep just right of the rocky-looking ridge crest and do some Class 2 side-hilling to gain the summit. I returned to the notch for my planned descent, dropping east on the loose and steep slope. With careful planning, the bushwhacking can be kept to a bare minimum. At around 2800' there's a small cliff with a vital Class 2 weakness. Past here I hiked down the mostly pleasant slope into the drainage below, where there were some cool slickrock features. Once the drainage became brushy I left it and continued descending on the north side of it, though you can probably go whichever way looks least brushy to you. I made it to the road I had left earlier, which ascended a couple hundred feet and completed my little loop. It was overall not a bad descent, but certainly not as easy as just hiking back along the trail would have been. If you want to hike to South Dome Mountain, you may want to return over Dome Mountain rather than use my descent.  I was happy it was cool enough out that snakes were unlikely.