Battle Axe Butte

Battle Axe Butte- Arizona Trail 2008

Every year for my birthday, I like to go on an adventure to a place I’ve wanted to go for a long time. Recent birthday events have included climbing Weaver’s Needle and visiting The Wave. Earlier this year when Wendy and I spent a night on The Spine, we visited the artesian well and I looked up at Battle Axe and knew that this would be my birthday present to myself.

Sunrise on Battle Axe from The Spine

I had to work at the Superior Eco-Tourism Fest on my actual birthday, so I planned on hiking it sometime the week before. I contacted John to see if he was interested, and we found a day that worked for both of us. I thought it would be a good idea for him to get a preview of the Grand Enchantment Trail and was excited when he said he’d never seen the area before. John and I hadn’t met before, but I have exchanged messages with him on HikeArizona.com. Last year, he hiked the entire Arizona Trail as dayhikes from south to north. Then he hiked it all again from north to south! Incredible. Some days he hiked over 30 miles- the speed required to cover that kind of terrain that fast boggles my mind.

This is one of my favorite places in all of Arizona, the striped cliffs, the artesian well, and the toothy ridge of Battle Axe. I have admired it for years and have countless pictures of it from all directions. It is on the old Arizona Trail route and when I hiked through here in 2008, it was covered with so many wildflowers that they completely covered the trail.

Up the ridge

We parked at a spot that I’d camped in 2008 and made our way up the ridge. I told John that it was going to be a little different pace than he was used to because I require silly things like breaks and water. He was more than gracious and patient. As we neared the first scramble, the scenery got ever more interesting.

John waits patiently

John sped through the scramble, I went a little too far right and had to backtrack. There are plenty of ledges to hike up and the brush isn’t too bad. We saw the spire from the description and headed for the chute to the right of it. The slickrock chute was great and then we followed along the wall toward the saddle. The whole route was a lot more stable than I’d expected.

Juniper!

We reached the saddle with great views to the south and took a minute to look at the route. John was able to scramble straight up from the saddle on the ridgeline and I followed. I carefully picked my way along the jumble of white rock. To my left was a massive sheer drop, so I tried not to look that way. We reached a spot that gave me pause. To get across it, I had to climb up over one of the ridgeline rocks and lower myself down onto a small catwalk to get across. Fortunately, John found a way to lessen the exposure by climbing down and around instead of all the way across. Still a move that got my heart moving.

Looking at the lower summit

John right before the catwalk

Summit Ridge of Battle Axe Butte- photo by John

Once past the catwalk, it was smooth sailing to the summit. We signed in the small, rarely used register and took what was probably John’s longest break ever. The views from the top were spectacular! I was so excited to be atop Battle Axe- something I never thought I would do 5 years ago, looking up at it from my campsite on the AZT. I showed John where the GET route he would be hiking went and eyed up peaks to hike in the future.

Summit view to the southeast

The Spine

Pinals and Battle Axe Rd.

The scramble down was no problem at all and we went back through the chute near the spire and down to the ledges. We stuck to the ridgeline on the way back and found two large cairns. In no time at all we were back to the trailhead. Afterward we drove up Battle Axe Rd for a bit. Never get tired of this area, always more to explore!

View of our route

In Wildlife Rehabilitation news, baby bunny season has started and we rescued a Great Snowy Egret who had been caught in a fishing line. They had to go out with a boat and cut it out. Poor thing. Here’s Janet Miller, founder of Wildlife Rehabilitation Northwest Tucson giving it some food. This year’s Birds, Blues, and Bellydance fundraiser will be on April 20th 7-10 pm at Sky Bar- 536 N.4th Ave in Tucson. Mark your calendars, it’s going to be a great time!

Janet feeds a Great Snowy Egret