Hike Pecan Peak (Peak 3680) Mount Nutt Wilderness BLM, AZ

Dec 07, 2024 — The eroded, brightly colored volcanic wonderland surrounding Pecan Peak appears otherworldly from most directions, and its summit seems insurmountable. Years ago, we had hiked what we dubbed the Secret Pass Breakfast Peaks, but we were disappointed to realize that Pecan Peak seemed to lack any viable route since it looked like nothing more than a chaotic jumble of volcanic lumps. Despite this, Matt and I decided to give it a try, opting for a southwest approach that seemed the most promising. These desert peak puzzles are thrilling and absurdly fun, especially when there’s no available information about them. Unofficially named Peak 3680 by its elevation, we called it Pecan Peak to align with the Mount Nutt naming theme. To our knowledge, there was no evidence of a prior ascent, which wasn’t surprising given its obscurity. Earlier that day, we had tackled Nutty Peak, another summit coincidentally labeled as Peak 3680. Both offered excellent routes, making this a high dopamine sort of day.

Take the graded Silver Creek Road to this junction (35.07866, -114.45004) and head north. We continued on an ATV trail here (35.08221, -114.44619), following it up Mossback Wash, which was mostly sandy. Some sections had deep tire ruts, and there were side roads leading along rougher ATV trails. My track includes the best options from our exploration, and a Crossover SUV is fine as long as you find the easiest ATV trail options. We parked at a pull-out on the Mount Nutt Wilderness boundary and hiked cross-country until we entered a major unnamed wash. We saw ample tire tracks and briefly regretted not driving this unofficial road after over a dozen ATVs passed us as they nonchalantly and illegally drove through the wilderness area.

We followed the wash, enjoying the colorful cliff bands above and eventually reached a serene cottonwood oasis at an unnamed spring, a beautiful and unexpected feature within the wash. Farther up, we encountered a few obstacles as the wash narrowed and the terrain grew rockier, revealing lovely little cliff faces on either side.

A note about our route choices: we made the loop shown on my attached map, going clockwise. Initially, we decided to attempt a route up the south face of Pecan Peak. The route is Class 4+/5 if you take the southern route, and only Class 3 from the north. The southern approach involved a difficult, exhilarating scramble up a long, committing, and unlikely chute. While dangerous and often brushy, it was cool enough to include in this write-up, though I didn't take a lot of pictures because at the time I figured it was not going to work out. Our descent route off the north side was more scenic, involved tricky route-finding, and traversed wildly interesting terrain. I recommend taking the northern route as an out-and-back unless you want to add extra spice to the outing.

For our ascent, we left the drainage, heading north onto a slope dotted with pinnacles that introduced some interesting slickrock. Our route led to a tough Class 4 chockstone hidden among hoodoos. There may be other ways up, but this worked for us. Pecan Peak soon came into view above, an impossibly steep, ribbed face of bright rock. We aimed for the major drainage to its left, which required descending into a side drainage and accessing the intended one via some weird route-finding. Slickrock continued into the main drainage as the walls began to tower over us. To our surprise, the drainage quickly turned into a short, deep slot canyon. At the narrowest point, a Class 4 move over a chockstone brought us into a small room. We thought the route might end here, deep among the towering pinnacles, but a very steep crack formed a partial chute low-angled enough to scramble.

The chute progressively steepened to a crux about 40 feet up that I overcame by stemming, since the rock was too loose to trust for handholds. I’d rate it as Class 4+ or low 5th due to the exposure and stemming moves required to make progress. The chute continued, with varying difficulty, past a couple of large bushes we had to wrestle through. One bush’s roots held a cluster of rocks, so we climbed an adjacent face to avoid a potential rockslide. Helmets would have been wise. It was a substantial undertaking that lasted far longer than we expected, and at a certain point we really, really hoped we didn't have to descend this way later. We passed under a couple of massive boulders, one of which housing a cute little cactus garden, scrambling through a rabbit hole formed by one to emerge onto a slab and out of the chute. A final headwall covered in brush led to the summit ridge. The route was fun, despite the frustrating brush.

We spotted bighorn sheep scurrying away to the north just below the summit and watched their path to possibly find an easier descent route. Though these animals navigate incredible terrain, it was worth following their tracks. From the summit, we enjoyed views of the cottonwood oasis we had passed, the Breakfast Peaks to the north, and North Mount Nutt to the east.

For our descent, we took our time navigating the lumpy terrain, testing various wrap-arounds. A few tricky spots required route-finding to keep the difficulty at Class 3. One sketchy section with bad exposure was avoided via a slickrock chute. The ridgeline descent offered stunning views of the summit, its unique northern ridge, and the bizarre rock formations surrounding it. At a low point along the ridgeline, we debated the best way down and discovered an exposed but manageable, walkable ledge. Exploring farther north revealed only serious drops.

The descent east from the ridgeline was slabby, with Class 2 that required some careful footing. From the base, we gazed back at the ridgeline and summit. Our descent route was almost invisible from below and we might have missed it completely had we attempted the route in reverse. We continued around the east side of the peak, following a drainage below. Thankfully, animal trails allowed us to bypass most of the dense brush.