Hike Florida Peak North via Windmill Canyon Florida Mountains BLM, NM

Oct 17, 2020 — North Florida Peak has been a nagging peak on my agenda, its elusive Class 4 move stopping me from giving it an attempt solo, and its remoteness meaning getting a friend with excitement for brushy peaks like this would be a rare occurence. Kevin and Joe were those people! This being Kevin's 4th attempt at the peak, we set out with climbing gear and high hopes. Unless you have a burly vehicle, I recommend parking just off the main road, labeled Gap Road. The side road leading into Windmill Canyon is awful and we moved faster hiking than we would have in a car. The road ends a mile or so later anyway. For some reason, I was expecting at least some sort of trail. There was none aside from the wandering cow trails that facilitated some easier brush avoidance earlier on. However, the cow trails stopped after a while and we had to fend for ourselves as we gained elevation. I recommend sticking to the drainage of Windmill Canyon as much as possible. It seemed to give us the best luck in avoiding the desert brush unpleasantness. I also don't think I can describe the route we took because anything you choose will result in at least some significant bushwhacking. We had slightly different routes on our ascent and descent, and despite the occasional appearance of a cairn, we felt like there was really no "best route" or social trail we could stick to for longer than a few minutes.

The last 800 feet or so leading out of Windmill Canyon up to Florida Peak (the southern, shorter one) seems up for debate as to the best option. I think I liked our ascent more, which followed a minor ridge on loose scree/talus straight to the summit. On the descent, we took the minor drainage to the east of Florida Peak. Research shows that the least good option is to ascend to the saddle of Florida Peak and North Florida Peak, I suppose because it's particularly brushy or loose, though I'm not sure. Overall expect to have some unpleasant cactus encounters and a few falls from loose dirt/rock.

Once on the summit of Florida Peak (Class 2), we took in the views of the intimidating North Florida Peak summit spire. We headed north along the ridge, wrapping around a few minor rock outcroppings along the ridge (Class 2) and eventually making it to the notch between the high point of North Florida Peak and a smaller pinnacle next to it. Also visible here is a pretty cool rock window that many seem to use as a consolation prize if unable to complete the peak. We took in the route from the notch, eyeballing the crux. It looked rough from here, and the exposed drop-off on the left was severe. I started up as Kevin got a rope and gear ready. I grabbed a solid rock which was covered in animal pee. Lovely. I scrambled up a little, came down, tried again. And then committed without a rope, which is rare for me. I'd call the move exposed Class 4, but it's ony one move and the holds are all quite good. The rock was advertised as loose, but I thought it was solid and I was confident to pull the moves.

The whole pinnacle pitch goes like this: some nice Class 2 leads to the base of a large boulder that I'll call a chockstone. A Class 3 move facilitates grabbing one of a few hand holds above the chockstone, and within the crack formed by chockstone. The Class 4 move required pulling up and over the chockstone using good foot holds, and then you're on a safe ledge. A Class 2/3 set of steps within another crack leads up to the summit from here. Photos below may be more helpful to analyze the route. The views were quite nice of the expansive desert.

For the descent from the summit block, we set up a retrievable anchor on a big boulder that was just deep enough in the gravelly summit to be confident the webbing wouldn't pop off the top. Don't expect an anchor to be waiting for you up there. Also, there's slim pickings up there for an anchor option, and I wouldn't have tried it on anything except the boulder we used. Also definitely wear a helmet - we had lots of loose rock falling down on the rappel. And down climbing the 4th class move is doable, but I would have been a bit freaked out due to the exposure.