Not many climbers have ventured into the mountain range we know as the Sand Tank Mountains. Most of those who have, have gone in to climb the range high point, which is easily accessed. Much of the rest of the area occupied by the range is largely ignored, one of the main reasons being that a lot of it is closed to the public, in a forbidden area of the bombing range. Curiously, the northern tip of the range has Interstate 8 running right through it, as opposed to much of the rest of the range which is quite remote. I want to share with you the adventures I’ve had there, but it’s hard to know where to start. Maybe in the north.
That northern tip of the range, the part that sits to the north of Interstate 8, contains only 2 peaks. It runs from northwest to southeast, and is only 2.5 miles long. The higher of the 2 peaks is called Mitch BM, and because it has a fair bit of prominence, 872 feet, it is more of an attraction. The other summit, known simply as Peak 1703, sits farther north. If you drive just over 2 miles east from where I-8 cuts through the range, you’ll come to an unlocked gate on the north side of the freeway. Drive that road northwest and it’ll take you close in to both of the peaks. So much for the easiest part of the range to access, practically freebies – it all gets tougher after that, with longer and tougher drives or longer approaches on foot. Before we go any further, I strongly encourage you to click on each of the links – doing this will give you a photo of each of the peaks. Not only that, you’ll see a map – if you click on the map, it’ll open up a full-page map to show you the peak and all its surroundings.
Okay, just south of I-8 but in the same general area, we find 2 more peaks which are most easily accessed by parking on the shoulder of the freeway and walking south. They’re not far, but climbing them both will eat up half a day, and they’ve both attracted a bit of attention because they’re not too hard to reach. They are Peak 2098 and Peak 2030.
Just east of the town of Gila Bend is a freeway interchange known to locals as the Butterfield Trail exit. A road heads south into the desert from there, and by following it south and east a few miles you can get to a good parking spot for a group of 4 peaks clustered fairly closely together. I went there one fine morning in June one year and climbed them all in a loop, but it was a pretty stupid thing to do, as it hit 110 degrees that afternoon. When I returned to my truck, I had to change a flat tire, which ended up being a real wrestling match. In any case, those 4 were Peak 1990, Peak 1820, Peak 1885 and Peak 1514.
Less than 2 miles to the southeast of that group of 4 sits a pair of peaks which the topo map showed neither having the 300′ rise to be a hard summit. Recent LIDAR studies have shown that Peak 1719 does in fact have 306 feet. Peak 1718, it turns out, only has 293 feet, but I climbed them both anyway one hot October day back in 2016. This is a nice, quiet area. I found a leg-hold trap for animals in the saddle between the 2 peaks.
One peak which is a prominent landmark seen by anyone traveling the Interstate between Casa Grande and Gila Bend is a double summit commonly known as Squaw Tits. That name is so inappropriate on so many levels that we were happy to see it officially changed to Isanaklesh Peaks in 2021. It is an Apache word which means a female deity whose name translates as “Mother Earth”.
If we travel a couple of miles southwest of Isanaklesh, we enter an area of 2 fine desert peaks. One of them is simply known as Peak 2540 – this elegant beauty is rarely climbed. Only a mile east of it we find Peak 2502. This one fools you – it doesn’t look like much from the desert floor to its north, but if you make it to the top, the last feet are a fun scramble on interesting pillars of good rock.
Only about a mile to the southeast of Peak 2502 sits another small mountain simply known as Peak 2302. This one is easily reached by driving to an old stone house known as Farley’s cabin. I don’t know who Farley was but his hand-dug well is shown on maps as Mesquite Well. The house is still standing, and sometimes water can be found at the bottom of the well.
About 20 miles east of the town of Gila Bend, along Interstate 8, sits the ruined building known as Big Horn. It used to serve as a stopping point for travelers between Casa Grande and Gila Bend on what was once Highway 84. From there, a road heads southwest through the desert. It’s a real chore to drive – in the dozen or so miles to the old Papago Indian Chief Mine, the road goes up and down through more dips and washes than Carter has liver pills. About 3 miles into that drive, off to the west, sits a group of 3 peaks.
Peak 2441 sits closest to the road; Peak 2260 sits half a mile to its north; Peak 2300 sits a mile west of Peak 2441. Peak 2260 has seen several ascents – the other 2, not so much. From near those 3 peaks, a road heads south to an abandoned mine; from the mine, a very rough track takes you farther south, and a ridge walk will take you to the top of Peak 2665 where I met an indocumentado near the summit. He seemed afraid of me and took off before we could talk.
If you are on Interstate 8 and in the vicinity of Big Horn, you can look to the south and see a long wall of mountain stretching from east to west. This is known as Javelina Mountain, and it runs in a gentle arc for a distance of 6 miles. It is important because it contains Maricopa Peak, the highest point of the Sand Tank Mountains. I know of at least 25 climbers who have gone in to its summit. I myself made it there in the company of the legendary peakbagger Bob Martin way back in the spring of 1987.
A drainage known as Sand Tank Wash has its humble beginnings high up on the south slope of Maricopa Peak. It then flows west and northwest for a distance of 34 miles, finally to empty into the Gila River near the town of Gila Bend. There is an old road along this part of the wash, but it has seen better days as the desert slowly reclaims it. This old 1940-ish truck lies buried along part of the road.
The old 1940-ish Ford truck
Out towards the western end of the 6-mile-long ridge sits another summit which has been given the name Javelina Mountain – other than the range high point itself, it is the only other true summit along the ridge. It is seldom visited. Farther west and not part of the ridge we find Peak 2965. And not much over a mile to the northwest of this one sits Peak 2551. These last two sit to the north of Sand Tank Wash. On top of Peak 2551, I found quite the stash of supplies used by drug cartel smugglers: sleeping bags, blankets, large plastic storage containers filled with food, water, stoves and other supplies. It’s always concerning to run into these stashes, as you don’t know if thugs are lurking nearby just out of sight.
A mile north of Papago Indian Chief Mine sits Round Butte, which rises up on the east side of Sand Tank Wash. One mile west of its summit we find a man-made water catchment known as a guzzler, meant to collect water for wildlife, and only half a mile to its southwest sits Peak 2575. These 2 peaks are seldom visited. Which brings us to a large peak sitting only a mile and a half to the northwest of 2575. This one has a name, and it is called Blue Plateau. It is indeed a plateau, stretching 6 miles from the summit all the way to the lowlands to the north and west. This peak is more of a draw than others, having over a thousand feet of prominence. Even so, barely over a dozen have made the effort to reach its summit.
The long flat summit of Blue Plateau as seen from a few miles to the north.
Let’s go back to Maricopa Peak for a bit. One day back in the winter of 2011 on a very chilly day, three of us drove into the area for a bit of climbing. Andy B and I dropped Andy Martin off along the road on the south side of the peak and then continued 3 miles farther west where we parked on a prominent rise. Andy Martin climbed Maricopa Peak, then followed it up with a climb of Peak 3689 to the south of the road. That is one fine-looking peak, and Andy gets credit for being the first one up it. I followed in his footsteps 3 years later, and while on the summit I drooled over the exciting possibility of a traverse along the high ridges all the way south to the Bender Spring area. I never followed through, but someone could have a great time doing just that.
When Andy had completed his 2 climbs that day, he walked the road west to the parked truck to meet us. Andy B and I had spent the day completing a tour of 4 really nice peaks to the south of the road. We walked all the way south to Peak 3089, then returned north to pick off Peak 2922, Peak 2949 and finally Peak 2940 back near the road. It was a great day for all of us.
A few years later, Jake Cramer and I were camped one warm summer evening in September about 2 miles southeast of the Papago Indian Chief Mine. As darkness approached, a man walked into our camp, catching us completely unawares. Turns out he was an indocumentado, on his own for the last few days after the Border Patrol had arrested the rest of his group. All he had were the clothes on his back and a jug of water. He begged for food, which we gave him. He was traveling at night, and if he pushed really hard he might make it to Interstate 8 by morning, where he could use his burner phone to call the cartel for a ride to Phoenix, then disappear into the metropolis as his next step to the promised land. Later that night, Andy B arrived. After a night’s sleep, the next day we three headed south to bag a few peaks. First on the agenda was nearby Peak 2608, followed by Peak 2740. We followed those up with a climb of Peak 2849, then dropped down to the desert floor to the south. The heat was oppressive. I alone went to the top of Peak 2500, then descended to rejoin Jake. We headed east and met up with Andy B atop Peak 2660, where Jake saw his first desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). As the 3 of us descended the peak to return to our vehicles, the heavens opened and a monsoon rainstorm of biblical proportions soaked us to the arse. Water squished in our boots all the way back.
The storm as it approached us from the south.
An old dirt road runs west from Papago Indian Chief Mine. It lies to the south of the Blue Plateau area. So far in this piece, I haven’t spent time discussing the fact that much of the Sand Tank Mountain range lies within the Barry M. Goldwater Range (formerly known as the Luke Air Force Range). The Range used to include much of the land all the way up to Interstate 8, but control of the northern area has been ceded to the control of the BLM. So far in our discussion of the Sand Tanks, we’ve stayed within the BLM area, but that’s about to change. By the way, 4 of the 5 peaks discussed in the paragraph before the above photo lie just inside the BMG.
South of the road mentioned above, we find a few more peaks of interest. Peak 2060 sits a mere 600 feet inside the BMG. Two miles farther west sits Peak 2100, and this one is just over half a mile inside the BMG – still close enough for a good stealthy sprint if you’ve a mind to. About 3 miles to the northwest of 2100 we find another mountain simply called Peak 1740. This one is kind of cool, because it sits squarely inside the BMG in an area used by the military. It’s only about a mile and a half inside the BMG, but it has a radio tower and a heliport along the summit. It’s a bit of a heart-thumpin’ stealth to climb it.
There’s much more to tell about the Sand Tank Mountains, but I think for now I’ll leave off here and come back next week. Stay tuned, the really good stuff is yet to come.