Mount Humphreys, Mount Agassiz, Hualpai Peak

Summer 1958

By: Dick Kenyon

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Arriving by taxicab at midnight at our camp in the Ponderosa pine forest on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Arizona, Andy and Shirley Smatko, Fred Jensen, and John Robinson joined the group of Desert Peakers who had come on Memorial Day weekend to climb Mt. Humphreys, the highest mountain in Arizona.

Andy's brand-new car had been demolished east of Kingman when the driver inexplicably fell asleep and the car collided with the wall of a highway cut. Al Finney received a fractured jaw and multiple lacerations, and was taken to the hospital. The rest of the group miraculously escaped injury and, after seeing that Al had been taken care of, continued to Flagstaff by bus, where they hired a cab to search for our camp.

The next morning the Flagstaff police arrived and arrested a member of our group. He had bought gasoline that morning and absentmindedly forgot to pay for it. He was released after paying for the gas. We then drove up into the San Francisco Peaks, through the magnificent aspen groves, to the Arizona Ski Bowl. Bob Bear led 13 hikers to the summit of Mt. Humphreys (12,7914'). About half the group then traversed the ridge to bag Mt. Agazziz (12,340') from which they glissaded down into a canyon that led directly back to the Ski Bowl.

That night camp was made at Hualpai Mountain Park, southeast of in the well-forested heights of the craggy Hualpai Mountains. On Sunday the group walked up a steep truck trail to the rocky summit of Hualpai Peak (8,265'). A dense cluster of radio and TV antennas violated the summit.


Detailed information for visiting one or more peaks mentioned in this article can be found in the
Desert Peak Section Road and Peak Guides

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