Hike Wabayuma Peak Wabayuma Peak Wilderness Area, AZ

Oct 27, 2022 — Wabayuma Peak is a high-prominence peak in the Hualapai Mountains, located south of the much better-known Hualapai Peak. It's in a remote area and takes a lot of effort to reach the trailhead, though the hike itself is a trail for much of the time. To reach the trailhead, head east on a graded road here (34.84931, -114.11087). I was unpleasantly surprised when the road deteriorated well before I thought it would, resulting in a slower and longer drive than anticipated. Crossover vehicles should be able to make it, though the switchbacks around here (34.93805, -113.91136) get rockier and steeper and I engaged 4WD once for peace of mind. Once along the ridge, the drive becomes easy again until the trailhead.

After collecting my nerves from the drive (I've recently gotten two flat tires, and I'm way the hell out here), I set out along the Wabayuma Peak Trail, which is mostly an old roadbed converted into a hiking trail. It's overgrown enough that it certainly doesn't feel like a road, and I found myself enjoying the ridgeline walk quite a bit. Idyllic remote Arizona chaparral mountain views were in all directions, made more enjoyable by the lack of bushwhacking typical for the region. The trail gains about 800 vertical feet before descending a couple hundred to reach a saddle on Wabayuma Peak's southwest face, though I was still a distance from the peak itself.

I left the old road remains and located a cairned trail that began ascending the slope. It was actually in pretty good shape, though the brush encroached enough to snag my legs and arms a few times. The trail switchbacked a bit as it seemed to be deciding where on the slope face it wanted to ascend. It emerged into more forested terrain and beelined through pines up to a false summit. Here the trail seemed to end completely except for a few cairns, so I continued northwest just below a second false summit, where Wabayuma Peak came into view. I was actually pretty surprised to see how rocky and cool the summit looked from here since I actually hadn't seen any photos of the peak before now. I had a moment of excitement at the potential for a scramble.

Separating me from the peak was a brushy-looking slope that seemed like it needed some unpleasant sidehilling. Instead, I recommend dropping a hundred feet into the conifers below to avoid the slope and instead use the somehow very different forested terrain to reach the saddle on Wabayuma Peak's southeast side. Once there, I headed up the somewhat brushy slope to reach the start of some Class 2 scrambling, leading to a flatter section with a nice view of the summit block. To gain the summit, a lightly exposed Class 3 set of fun moves leads left of some brush and up to Wabayuma Peak.