Hike Peak 2840 and Scone Peak Loop Whipple Mountains BLM, CA

Feb 22, 2023 — This loop visits three peaks within Whipple Wash in the eastern Whipple Mountains. A few years ago on my first visit to this area I hiked a few peaks by hiking through Whipple Wash, but skipped Scone Peak along the way. And then on a later trip we visited Peak 2840 from a different direction and didn't manage to make it over to its neighbor, Peak 2562. So today would be a cleanup to get all three peaks using a wonky route that had lots of unknowns, and a late start to avoid poor weather meant we had to move quickly. What Chris and I ended up doing was a really excellent loop around the dramatic cliffs lining Whipple Wash.

Any car can make it to the trailhead, the spot where the road crosses Whipple Wash. It might be tempting to drive south within the wash, but this is designated wilderness, so please don't. After a short walk through the hazy afternoon desert, we headed southeast into a side drainage which had a Class 3 dryfall obstacle, and followed this until it became too brushy, choosing to ascend via the rocky slope instead. Our first goal was to reach the saddle separating Peak 2840 from Peak 2562. From below there appeared to be a sheer wall at that spot, but Bob Burd reported there was a way up, so we continued. Occasional Class 2+/3 on large boulders led us up the slope at one point, but it was mostly just a steep undertaking on rocky terrain before reaching the cliff base above. We located the unlikely weakness Bob mentioned, a Class 2/3 ramp leading harmlessly to the saddle. This being his first time here, Chris was baffled by the existence of this ramp, enjoying the novelty of the glorious Whipple route weaknesses and ledges that seem to appear out of nowhere.

From the saddle we first headed up to Peak 2840, one of the most prominent peaks in the Whipples. The ridge appeared pretty craggy, so we chose to ascend via a wide ramp/slope to the right of the ridge. When we reached a dropoff, we were forced to ascend to the ridgeline via a very fun scramble with a few fun Class 3 moves mixed in. The ridgeline was straightforward from here to reach the summit.

After backtracking to the saddle we started up toward Peak 2562 next. We kept left of the rocky crest, wrapping around on an easier slope, which progressively steepened and became more rocky. Class 2/2+ led us to the summit, where the views were outstanding, especially down into Whipple Wash. We could see Scone Peak on the opposite side of the Whipple Wash narrows, a significantly smaller peak than our current one. After studying the complex terrain separating us from our third peak, we briefly considered backtracking and wrapping around using a more likely route. This was only a brief thought, both of us pretty excited to attempt a route off Peak 2562's western slope. On a topo map this looks like an impossible feat, but satellite imagery hinted at a slight chance we could escape through a narrow weakness. This small shred of hope manifesting as mere pixels on a screen was enough to convince both of us, so we merrily descended west in search of a route/dream.

The descent from Peak 2562 was quite eventful. While the slope we chose was mostly just steep slickrock or typical volcanic desert choss, there were more than a few short cliff bands that we needed to work around, including one small chimney that provided some stemming fun. Fortunately we weren't shut down yet by any of these cliff bands, but as we dropped significant elevation we noticed the desert floor below was still an incredible vertical stretch away and a cliff was approaching quickly. Knowing full well this could be disastrous and we'd spend our remaining few daylight hours route-finding or re-ascending the peak, we continued onward anyway. We dropped into a gully that funneled us into a series of fun Class 3 dryfall moves and to the top of what looked like a sheer cliff, even from as close as 30 feet away. Miraculously, a gorgeous, eroded cave on the left provided a slope we needed to descend from the top of the potentially route-ruining cliff. Somehow the route continued as Class 3 and then we were on the final Class 2 descent slope to reach the drainage below. Yet another ridiculously unlikely cliff weakness in the Whipples.

As we descended through this unnamed drainage, we looked to the left and saw an incredible cave high on the cliff face and gawked at it. This was a hidden gem, and though we had no time to get closer to it, we fantasized about rappelling from the cliff above it to get a good look. Our drainage would continue into Whipple Wash and ultimately back to the car, but we still wanted to reach Scone Peak and a ramp on its south side would provide access to its upper reaches. We could see it from afar and it didn't seem too stressful an endeavor, so we left our drainage, ascended a small hump, and dropped into Whipple Wash higher up where we could start up yet another Class 2 slope. This slope led up to a short Class 3 move to gain the wide ledge we'd noted earlier (a Bob Burd discovery), which ascended beneath a tall cliff and wrapped up and around to safe terrain. I should also mention the views down into Whipple Wash's narrows were pretty unbelievable from here.

The plateau-like feature housing Scone Peak was wide, like most peaks in the Whipples. We were on the far south side of it, but could see Scone Peak on the north side across a wide, deep gully. To reach the summit, the most resaonable course of action seemed to be to wrap all the way around this gully and approach Scone Peak from the west. So basically we weren't anywhere near the peak yet. After some Class 2 side-hilling we reached the final ascent for our day. Class 2/3 took us up the west slope/ridge of Scone Peak, little cliff bands serving as an occasional obstacle. A small false peak just before Scone Peak added a little "screw you", and then a fun Class 2/3 spiraling route got us to the summit.

Our final undertaking for the day was to get back to Whipple Wash, but neither of us was keen on returning the same way. Instead, we figured it couldn't hurt too much to attempt a route down the peak's western slope, so we backtracked a short way and started down. Pretty far below we could see a deep canyon in the fading light. Our original plan to just drop down to it was thwarted almost immediately, but a convenient burro trail took us safely along the slope and down into the drainage, just above a major dryfall. The trail continued on the opposite side of the drainage, descending along the slope to avoid the dryfall, and then ultimately dropping us into the drainage. From here there weren't any more obstacles, but there also wasn't any more light. And naturally, I'd forgotten my headlamp. The moon was very bright tonight and we could also see two planets blaring down at us, so we lucked out for the x-th time today and enjoyed a moonlit walk through the drainage. I didn't have light for photos in this drainage, but I'd been this way on my Cupcake Mountain hike, so you can some there.