Hike Ragged Top and Wolcott Peak Ironwood Forest National Monument, AZ

Apr 02, 2024 — Ragged Top is an impressive silhouette when viewed from Interstate 10, a volcanic icon poking out on the horizon amidst a sea of saguaro cacti. Matt decided to drive from Phoenix to meet me for this short outing, always an excellent friend always willing to put in the effort to hang. The road to the trailhead is in great condition until this southern turn-off here (32.46760, -111.47479), where a Crossover SUV or better is required due to large lumps in the road.

Ragged Top, and its shorter neighbor Wolcott Peak which we'd be hiking to after, towered above. We started up an old road toward Ragged Top's base, which faded away shortly after. Although we located some semblance of a social or animal trail at times, the majority of the initial ascent was a steep side-hill on brushy terrain. The goal was to wrap around to the peak's west side where we could slip into a major gully that ultimately led us to its west ridge. This gully is hard to miss, and you can see the entire route up from below it. Aside from some Class 2+ boulders to scramble over, it's just a steep hike with some loose rock.

Once at the saddle on the west ridge, the scramble became more fun since we were out of the dirty gully and instead touching solid rock for the remainder of the ascent. Nothing exceeded Class 2+/3, though toward the top, you could get into trouble if you get off-route. We found the going straightforward enough, honestly a bit underwhelmed after having high expectations for this peak. The views were okay, though there really aren't many peaks nearby so it was mostly open desert with tiny-looking saguaros dotting the landscape.

We backtracked to the saddle we'd come up, deciding to descend to the south to form a loop. After being funneled through a weakness separating sheer faces, we received a view of Wolcott Peak ahead. Descending on the loose volcanic slope, we picked our way down to tamer terrain below. I got stuck with more cholla than I'd like to admit, caught up in conversation with Matt. There are some small cliff bands to be aware of that need to be avoided, but route-finding isn't the difficult part here; it's avoiding clusters of cacti and prickly plants.

A bit of side-hilling and we made it to the western base of Wolcott Peak, starting up the initially tame slope. We found the ascent of this summit more interesting than Ragged Top, despite its smaller stature. Extended slabs offered some Class 2/3 scrambling, rock outcroppings added some small puzzles to work around, and the summit view toward Ragged Top was very neat. We backtracked to the saddle and picked up a good trail back to the trailhead.