Hike Mount Trumbull Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, AZ

May 31, 2022 — Mount Trumbull is a high-prominence and remote mountain deep into the Arizona Strip. The hike is short and the drive incredibly long, but at least you can pair it with Mount Logan nearby. Fortunately, the summit is reached via a nice trail and being way out here alone is therapeutic in a weird kind of way. You'll likely pass a few cars on the overall well-graded road system in this region, but a car breakdown would be a pretty bad situation.

Reaching the trailhead can be done by coming from St. George or from Colorado City. From St. George, head here (37.00009, -113.56024) and go south on BLM 1069. Continue south on the Mount Trumbull Loop Road here (36.74764, -113.54648) and make a left here at the Mount Trumbull Schoolhouse (36.41196, -113.32542) and follow this road east to the trailhead. Alternatively, you could come from Colorado City. Navigate here (36.947, -113.00556) and head generally south/southwest. At this junction (36.48498, -113.0462) you could go either left or right: staying right is slightly shorter, but has a teeny bit more navigation to contend with on the web of roads, while left (south) leads here (36.38849, -113.06005), where you can take a right to reach the trailhead. The latter seems to be more well-traveled, likely because this part of the route is used to access the Toroweap Overlook. All options use overall good roads, and while a passenger car could likely make it, I wouldn't want anything less than excellent tires this far away from civilization.

Once at the official trailhead, which included a bathroom and small parking lot, I started southeast along the wide trail. It initially ascended slowly through the forest, but gained some traction once it reached the base of Mount Trumbull. With only a few short switchbacks, it climbed in an ascending traverse up to the rim above. I'd say the best views of the hike are along this section.

Once I reached the rim, the trail climbed at a much lower grade for the remainder of the hike. I was content to walk at a nice pace through the forest since it took so damn long to get out here, so I might as well enjoy the hike rather than rush up and back (for a change). At around 7700' the trail became a bit more difficult to follow, but little flags placed on tree limbs helped guide the way. There was one more short section of ascent to gain the summit area, and a cairn marks what might be the high point. However, I headed a little farther to get a decent view to the north and to what may actually be a slightly higher point.