5 Miles, 3300ft elevation gain, pine trees, aspen, snow, tundra and 360 degree views.
Summiting Humphreys Peak (the tallest peak in Arizona, 12,633 ft) has become an annual tradition and the official “let’s get our butts in shape before our other high elevation summer hikes” hike. We usually head up to Flagstaff on a weekend in June which is perfect timing because it is ahead of monsoon season and at peak Phoenix heat.
The trailhead is at Snowbowl ski resort with a starting elevation of 9,300 ft. We arrived at about 7:30AM to a nearly full parking lot. The trail sets off across one of the ski runs for the first 300 yards before it winds through dense forest of pines and aspen on the west side of Humphreys Peak and Agassiz Ridge. There are 7 long switchbacks and nearly 2000 ft of elevation gain, before we finally began to climb out of the forest.
At about 10,400 ft the trees began to thin and became more stunted. We were met with sweeping views to the west of Kendrick Peak and the Coconino National Forest. At 3.75 miles and 11,800 ft elevation we go to the intersection of the Humphreys Peak Trail and the Weatherford Trail on a low point between Humphreys and Agassiz, commonly referred to as “the saddle.”
We took a 20 minute break, ate a snack, hydrated and soaked up the views of the Inner Basin.
The last 1.5 miles and 1000ft of elevation gain are the hardest on the entire trail. It’s a pretty pleasant hike to the saddle, but it gets down right tough from there on. 1000ft gain in 1.5 miles is no joke, but start at 12,000 ft… well you get the picture.
The terrain looked like something from Colorado or the Sierra. We walked across fragile summertime tundra with a few snow banks and no trees. The rocks are black which reminded me that Humphreys used to be an active volcano. It was such a stark, yet somehow beautiful landscape.
When we got to the summit we took the obligatory “We made it!!” pictures with the summit sign and proceeded to scarf down lunch. You burn some calories gaining 3,300 ft!
The hike down was smooth sailing. It’s fairly easy walking on the nicely graded trail, but man our legs were tired after the thigh busting ascent. The last couple miles were tough, but we powered through and flopped down onto cushioned seats of our car thankful to be off of our feet. On the drive back to Flagstaff, I kept glancing back at the summit and couldn’t believe we had been up there just a few hours before. The sheer dominance of Humphreys Peak is what makes this hike worth it.
