On March 13, 2005, Andy and I left the area of Cerro Cubabi in Sonora, Mexico by mid-afternoon. It had been quite a climb. Sure, we had summitted alright, but had taken one helluva spanking in the process, getting pretty dehydrated like a couple of desert newbies. We drove back to the border and crossed into the USA at Lukeville, Arizona, then continued north for 27 miles to Why and then a few miles more to the village of Schuchuli, which is the westernmost community on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation.

There, we turned south on Indian Highway 5. This seems to have been a major road years ago, but has been superceded by the newer paved Highway 1. Although Highway 5 is a dirt road, you can drive 50 mph on it for much of its length. It heads south for 14 miles, flanked by the Gu Vo Hills on the east and the spectacular Ajo Range on the west. When we reached Gu Vo Pass, we took a lesser dirt road south for half a mile, then connected to a major east-west dirt road. This road heads west across the Barajita Valley. There are a few homes in the first mile or two, but after that there is no one. After about five miles, the road branches. The well-travelled portion heads south, but we continued west on a faint but still very driveable track for almost two miles more. We parked in a lushly-vegetated meadow. Because of all the weeds and flowers,  there were hordes of mosquitoes and even ticks (Andy found one on his arm and removed it before it could do any damage).

We were camped only about one mile northeast of Mount Ajo. The eastern flank of the Ajo Range reared up 2,000 feet above us, and we could see huge cliffs and spectacular towers everywhere. It was late afternoon and the sun had already set behind the range, so we couldn’t see our proposed route too well. We had come here to climb Peak 4540 which is the third-highest peak in the Ajo Range. However, what we could see looked promising. Retiring early seemed the smart thing to do after our ass-whuppin’ in Sonora.

The next morning, we were moving upslope fairly early. We had decided to climb a gully which went directly up to the northwest to a saddle between Peak 4540 and its immediate neighbor to the south, Mount Ajo (4,808′).

Although our route was very direct, it soon became extremely brushy. We climbed up the rock on one side or the other as well as we could in order to minimize the thrashing we were getting from the brush. Finally things opened up on the upper slopes.

There were a lot of nice wildflowers in bloom here. After 1,400 vertical feet of climbing, we reached the saddle at about 4,140′. What a sight! All of the high peaks of the northern Ajo Range were in plain view. Huge cliffs were everywhere.

We found a boundary marker placed by the National Parks Service. The ridge we were on denotes the boundary between the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation on the east and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to the west. It was an open windswept place.

We climbed northeast up the ridge and soon arrived at the open summit of Peak 4540. There we found a helicopter landing pad, as well as what looked like a radio repeater for the 2-meter band, with a solar panel.

We found a register –  Bob Packard’s name was the only one in it that I remember. The views were nothing short of spectacular, so we soaked them up. It was a 2,500-foot drop to the desert floor to the west.

We also noticed a walk-up route from this side of the range to the summit of Mount Ajo.

During our descent, at about 3,200 feet elevation in the gully we encountered a juniper tree. It was fairly large, with a trunk diameter of 12 inches or so. There were two others nearby but higher up. We were shocked to see a juniper tree at such a low elevation. In this photo, the juniper fills up the lower right; the organ-pipe and saguaro cacti are in the background.

Lower down, Andy posed by the mother of all thistles.

The climb finished up without incident, and once back at the truck we relaxed. This is a spectacular area and I highly recommend it for its many fine peaks. Yes, it is in the notorious Gu Vo district but it is worth the effort to get there.

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