Hike Warm Springs Wilderness Loop Warm Springs Wilderness BLM, AZ

Dec 10, 2021 — The Warm Springs Wilderness is located south of Mount Nutt, and its interesting topography when viewed on a map got me psyched to check out the area, specifically the little peaklets forming a nice horizontal line. While the area includes a bunch of cool volcanic peaks, it's not as impressive as other nearby stuff. Today I was mostly looking forward to meeting up with a bunch of lovely peakbaggers, one of whom inspired quite a bit of my early excitement for the activity, Bob Burd. I tried to keep my fanboy status to a minimum and likely failed.

My initial plan was to come at these peaks from the north, but Chris Kerth located a road leading in from the south, which would thankfully cut off quite a few miles of boring wash walking. To reach our trailhead, turn off Oatman Highway here (34.90637, -114.42953) and follow an overall good road suitable for Crossover vehicles. However, the road becomes quite bad around here (34.90098, -114.39449), which would add an addition 1.5 miles to the hike. Fortunately we had a couple of burly Jeeps in the party so this additional walking wasn't on the itinerary for today. The trailhead is located at the Warm Springs Wilderness boundary.

The large group of us set out to the northeast through a wash, Peak 2550 the first on our agenda. We headed up its southwest slope, encountering plenty of Class 2 and generally loose terrain. A short Class 3 move over a cliff band led up to the summit ridge, where a short Class 3 notch brought us to the summit block. Much of the group stayed behind on the summit to enjoy the views, so Chris Kerth, Tom Grundy, and I continued ahead of the others with the hope to get all the peaks on our wish list. We backtracked off Peak 2550 since its other faces were all cliffs, and then descended through a somewhat loose gully to the north. Peak 2620 was next, and we reached it by heading through a steep gully on its south side that separated it from an unranked jagged bump on our right. We continued to the east side of Peak 2620, where a short Class 3 weakness led up the cliff band and to the summit. Peak 2645 was next, a Class 2 straightforward jaunt to the northeast.

The descent from Peak 2645 was loose Class 2, but it descended into some colorful volcanic features to the east as we made our way to the base of Peak 2700, which we'd later learn was the best peak of the day. Initially the west face of Peak 2700 seemed to be too serious to scramble, but Chris spied a potential series of ramps that could work. After some Class 2 and a somewhat exposed Class 3 move on a nice zig-zagging ledge system, we stumbled on a series of unexpected cairns. They weren't very helpful, but it was fun to realize someone else went this way and that there'd likely be a way up. After a few unlikely switchbacks on the excellent-quality Class 2/3 rock, we got to a flatter section at the base of a cliff face below the summit. We kept left around the face and ascended a steep Class 3 section above a serious-looking crack (with some light exposure), leading to the summit.

We descended Peak 2700 via a loose, dirty chute on its south/southeast side, but I recommend going back down the same way. It's more fun and less gross than what we did. All other faces of the peak seemed too fortified to locate another route down. After wrapping around the southern side of Peak 2700, we made our way to its saddle with Peak 2753. A Class 2 slope led around the northwest side of this peak, avoiding cliffy terrain on its west side. Class 2/3 stuff led to the summit area, where a short down-climb just before the high point into a notch and minor Class 3 move brought us to the summit. I recommend backtracking slightly and finding a Class 2/3 descent option from Peak 2753's rugged east face. Heading down directly from the summit would result in loose Class 3/4 terrain.

Just ahead was Peak 3042, the last of our little baby peaks for the day before we continued to the mesa-like summits farther east. We kept to the left of the intimiating west face of Peak 3042 and wrapped to its northwest side. Here we scrambled some loose Class 2 and got to a flat section below the summit cliffs. While there might have been an easier way around around the north side (we didn't check), we headed up a Class 3 chute, navigating somewhat loose rock and entering a notch.  Fortunately, to the left was the high point since the right side was sheer. From the notch, a Class 2/3 section led to the left around a headwall and light Class 2 got us to the summit.

Peak 3042's south/southeast sides are riddled with brushy gullies. The first major one leading down to the ridgeline to Peak 3714 is the most efficient, but a bit brushier than another option farther along the east side. Either way, get back to the ridgeline. We headed east along the crest, making our way to the west slope of Peak 3714, which appeared to be pretty intense from below. Ultimately it went at Class 2 with two small Class 3 cliff bands, which you could easily make harder. Once above the cliff bands, the ridgeline stretched for a half mile, big volcanic boulders making the start a bit tedious and then slowly giving way to easier terrain.

From the summit of Peak 3714, we dropped down Class 2 terrain to the saddle with Peak 3418. More Class 2 took us along a minor ridge and flatter walking brought us to its summit. Peak 3418 has cliffs on pretty much all sides, but Chris had found a potential ramp option in prior research, so we decided to head for it. This required heading south into a drainage and then following the top of a significant cliff until a Class 2 option presented itself via a cement-looking slope. Along the way we passed a few interesting and out-of-place rock formations. We side-hilled as we slowly descended on loose terrain in order to head over a hump and reach the drainage on the west side of Peak 3418. At the bottom of this drainage we saw a very cool and unlikely standalone pinnacle, and upon looking back noticed quite how severe the western cliffs of Peak 3418 were. Happy to have found that weakness, we continued west through the drainage for a few miles either within the wash or by using burro trails, and got back to the trailhead.