Feb 09, 2019 — A popular trail leads from the trailhead from Usery Mountain Regional Park to the very anticlimactic Wind Cave. Pretty much the entire trail is within Tonto National Forest, but you ahve to pay to park since the parking lot isn't within the National Forest, eyeroll. After making it to Wind Cave, which really is just a concave section along the limestone wall and I probably wouldn't have given it a second glance, continue past the "trail not maintained after this point" sign and follow any number of social trail leading up Class 2 scrambling to the summit of Pass Mountain South Peak. The ridgeline stretches north to the true summit and has a couple of Class 2 spots, but is overall very straightforward. There were even cairns and white spray paint dots to help along the way.
From the summit of Pass Mountain, you'll see the Pass Mountain Loop Trail to the north. Follow a gully to the north of the peak and locate cairns to avoid deep gullies and excessive bushwhacking in order to make it down to the trail. I decided to go counter clockwise on the trail to shorten the trip, but heading clockwise would extend the hike by a few miles if you choose to.
Please consider helping me out if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all site fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing these trip reports is unpaid. You can also hire me as a web developer. I really appreciate it!
If you find my site helpful, please help me replace my many broken cameras, fund my website fees (hosting, APIs, security), or just support my countless hours of work. I pay for all expenses myself, and all trip reports I post are unpaid and unsponsored, so any support is really appreciated!
If using PayPal, please select their option for "Sending to a friend" so they don't take out fees, thank you.
My site is free to use, but consider sending me a few bucks to help keep it running. Thanks in advance!