Hike House Mountain Mount Nutt Wilderness BLM, AZ

Jan 18, 2021 — It was going to be difficult to top the intense fun from yesterday's Secret Pass Breakfast Peaks, but this nice hike still had some great views of the area without the scary scrambles. I'll note in advance that the eastern portion of the mini-loop leading through a canyon adds some Class 2+/3, and including the big rock formation we called "Scary Spice" increases the route to Class 4. If you want to keep the day to minimal scrambling, stick to the out-and-back to House Mountain. We headed into the area from the north, navigating into Golden Valley and turning here (35.22611, -114.30686) onto Egar Road and following it to here (35.18532, -114.30685) onto Bolsa Drive. We followed this road to its end where it turned left and a road diverted to the right here (35.18003, -114.34214). We followed this road past a cattle guard and continued west. 2WD could make it to the parking spot, but expect some sand.

We started south into a narrow drainage that separated two cool rock formations and continued up to Peak 3955. We tried a few options, all leading to scary scrambling. Ultimately the best option leads up a steep slope, wrapping around the peak's east side and to a Class 2 scramble on the summit block. We backtracked and wrapped around Peak 3955's west face, heading to Peak 3960. This peak's summit was a bit more obvious to attain, a Class 2 slope leading up the southeast slope. We continued south toward House Mountain, passing over the head of a canyon we'd later descend.

We choose not to follow the brushy drainage that led south and instead ascended a somewhat brushy and often rocky slope. It wasn't unpleasant, but did take some effort. Once we cleared the slope, we meandered along the ridgeline to the summit of House Mountain. The views in all directions were really nice. We initially planned to drop down to the east and get another peak out there, but the cliffs fortifying House Mountain felt too treacherous to attempt a route down. Instead we backtracked to the head of the canyon we passed over earlier and decided to explore. There were some fun Class 3 boulder obstacles, and most are likely avoidable if you take the extra time to look for options. The canyon was pretty, but didn't get as narrow as we thought it might. We passed some graffiti and shortly after, a parking lot. From here we headed to a saddle to the northwest, the most efficient way to get back to the trailhead.

At the saddle, we noted an interesting rock formation which we dubbed "Scary Spice" on our right. With time to kill, we thought it would be fun to try a route up, locating a narrow chute on the formation's west side. We headed up the chute to its head (Class 3) and reached the eastern summit of the formation, realizing the western summit was likely a little taller. We headed back into the ascent chute and traversed an exposed slab with good holds (Class 4), continued along a ledge with an inconvenient bush, and then worked up a Class 3 slab to the summit. While not much of an accomplishment, it was a fun add-on.  I don't normally like to call small features like this "peaks", but this one was interesting enough to warrant it, we thought.